TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hinterhölzl, Roland
A1  - Petrova, Svetlana
A1  - Solf, Michael
T1  - Diskurspragmatische Faktoren für Topikalität und Verbstellung in der ahd. Tatianübersetzung (9. Jh.)
JF  - Interdisciplinary studies on information structure : ISIS ; working papers of the SFB 632
N2  - The paper presents work in progress on the interaction between information structure and word order in Old High German based on data from the Tatian translation (9th century). The examination of the position of the finite verb in correspondence with the pragmatic status of discourse referents reveals an overall tendency for verb-initial order in thetic/all-focus sentences, whereas in categorical/topic-comment sentences verb-second placement with an initial topic constituent is preferred. This conclusion provides support for the hypothesis stated in Donhauser & Hinterhölzl (2003) that the finite verb form in Early Germanic serves to distinguish the information-structural domains of Topic and Focus. Finally, the investigation sheds light on the process of language change that led to the overall spread of verb-second in main clauses of modern German.
KW  - information structure
KW  - verb placement in Germanic
KW  - language change
Y1  - 2005
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-8743
SN  - 1866-4725
SN  - 1614-4708
IS  - 3
SP  - 143
EP  - 182
ER  -