The syntax, information structure, and prosody of German ‘VP’-fronting

Bibliographic Data

ID20344251
AuthorsVera Lee‐schoenfeld (0000-0002-1133-5338, University of Georgia, corresponding author), Vera Lee-Schoenfeld, Anya Lunden (William & Mary)
Year2019
Volume36
Issue2
Pages231-283
Publication date2019-05-26
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Linguistic Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0167-6318 • E-ISSN: 1613-3676
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/tlr-2018-2012
OpenAlexW2904872846
LanguageEN
References cited25

This paper explores fronted verb phrases in German, drawing attention to the difference between passive/unaccusative VPs and fronted agentive v Ps. While both kinds of verb phrases have been discussed in the literature as being frontable, it has been largely overlooked that fronted v Ps typically come with a certain kind of post-fronting context and a rise-fall or bridge-contour intonation, which is characteristic of I-topicalization. We observe that, unlike VPs, agentive v Ps essentially need to be I-topics, with a high tone at the right edge of the fronted domain, in order to be frontable. Given the special context required for fronted v Ps, the situation described by the v P does not contain new information but must already have been under discussion and is now being commented on. We present the results of two experimental studies and appeal to the thetic/categorical distinction to offer a new angle on the definiteness effect that has been associated with fronted verb phrases. We propose that a subject-containing fronted v P is associated with a thetic rather than the default categorical judgment, which means that the fronted subject and predicate form only one information-structural unit (a topic) rather than two (topic and comment). Contributing to the literature on theticity, we observe that, unlike in non-fronting thetic statements, the subject in fronted v Ps cannot be a true definite. We attribute this to clashing intonation restrictions on theticity in non-fronting constructions versus theticity in just the fronted portion of a sentence

Complementizer · German · Linguistics · Syntax · Topicalization · Word order · Computer Science · History · Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism · Philosophy · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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