37. Jahrestagung der DGfS

AG 5: Co- and subordination in German and other languages

AG-Koordination

Ingo Reich & Augustin Speyer (U Saarbrücken)

Abstract

In recent years, research on coordination and subordination saw a lively debate and substantial empirical progress in the field of non-canonical complex sentences. In particular alternating constructions like e.g. weil-V-final vs. weil-V2 (see e.g. Steinbach & Antomo 2010, Reis 2013), V-final vs. V1-conditionals, or symmetric vs. asymmetric coordination have been in the focus of recent research.

Despite the substantial empirical progress, the theoretical concepts to model those properties in syntax and semantics are still poorly understood and somewhat vague. So e.g. the concept of assertoric force, often associated with V2-alternatives, needs to be delineated from other relevant concepts like e.g. backgrounding. And it is still unclear how to precisely model the different kinds of non-canonical complex sentences. We think it promising to start from recent empirical discussions and contrast precise analyses in different frameworks (e.g. minimalism, HPSG, LFG, Construction Grammar).

Moving away from German, it has to be asked to what extent other languages show comparable variation, and whether such variants show similar syntactic, semantic and pragmatic behavior. This should also be looked at from a diachronic perspective. A final question we want to discuss in this AG concerns the use of such constructions:Why do languages provide alternating constructions? Do they differ in their (pragmatic) functionality? Or do we have to take psycholinguistic considerations into account like the processing of old and new information or uniform information density?

The AG is of interest to researchers working on the syntax/semantics/pragmatics interface specializing in subordination and working on German or any other language from a theoretical (synchronic/diachronic), L1-acquisition and/or typological perspective.

References

• Antomo, Mailin & Markus Steinbach (2010). Desintegration und Interpretation: Weil-V2-Sätze an der Schnittstelle zwischen Syntax, Semantik und Pragmatik. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 29: 1-37.
• Reis, Marga (2013). ‚Weil-V2‘-Sätze und (k)ein Ende? Anmerkungen zur Analyse von Antomo & Steinbach (2010). Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 32: 221-262.