Course B4 - Syntactic Structure of German

Hubert Haider, Dept. of Linguistics, Univ. Salzburg

 

Unit 1:                      The functional architecture of the German clause - facts & controversies

               Evidence for a rich functional architecture? Evidence for clause-final functional heads targeted by the finite verb?- No. What is the minimal, empirically adequate functional architecture for the German clause?

Unit 2:                      Verbal clusters

               Syntactic assessment of the clustering properties that are characteristic of the German verbal complementation system, including the IPP (infinitivus pro participio) phenomenon, in a German/Dutch comparative perspective.

Unit 3:                     Sentential infinitival constructions and clause union phenomena.

               Discussion of the full range of German infinitival constructions (with zu+V): sentential constructions (controlled infinitivals), ‘raising constructions’  without raising, the ‘third’ construction, and clause union infinitivals.

Unit 4:                      ‘Mittelfeld’ phenomena (scrambling and related issues)

               Data and generalizations on word order variation  to be captured by an adequate account of German. Given the results attained in unit one, what are theoretical options for covering these data?

 

Unit 5:                     Extraposition - with or without movement

               Empirical issues, controversial theories. Core facts and generalizations,  implications for clause structure theories. Discussion of competing accounts.

 

Unit 6:                     Optionality, optimality, minimality: Wh-in-situ

               Wh-movement and wh-in-situ restrictions in a cross-Germanic perspectives. Implications for current approaches towards optionality and optimality. 

Unit 7:                     The positions of adverbials

               What are the differences in the syntax of adverbials (and other adjuncts) between an OV language like English and a VO language like German? Some implications for current theories on adverb syntax.

Unit 8:                     Missing subjects, expletives, particles  - cues for structural differences

               Dutch, English and Scandinavian evidence for obligatorily lexicalized positions and its contrasts with German. Insufficiency of pro-drop accounts. Implications for more far-reaching structural differences.    

Unit 9:                     On the relation between OV and VO: OV is more basic than VO

               What is an OV property of German, what is the corresponding VO property, and how are these differences accounted for in  grammar theory?