Universität zu Köln
Englisches Seminar
der Philosophischen Fakultät
Sprachwissenschaftliches Hauptseminar:
Studies in English Syntax

German word order set against English SVO structure

von: Barbara Groß-Langenhoff

Table of contents

I Introduction

I.1. Typical interrelations between constituents

I.1.1. Dominance
I.1.2. (Strict) c-command and m-command
I.1.3. Government

I.2. Movement transformations

I.2.1. Head-to-head movement
I.2.2. Wh-movement

II Problems in the analysis of the verb’s position in German sentences

II.1. The verb-second constraint
II.2. Sentence formation by movement transformations
II.3. Arguments for leftward verb-movement in main clauses

III Parametric variation between English and German

III.1. The head parameter
III.2. Verb-movement in English and German

IV Evaluation

Bibliography

I. Introduction

In comparison to English, the German language does not seem to have a specific word order. The distinction between grammatical functions like subjects or objects is mainly due to case-inflection and prepositions. For that reason, word order in German sentences can vary to some extent without a fundamental change in meaning.
In our following analysis of German syntax, we are going to consider a possibility of finding the basic German word order. On the basis of the Government and Binding Theory, a widely accepted approach to syntactic analysis, we are going to argue that the structure of a subordinate clause underlies every German sentence. In doing so, we will find that the position of the verb will play a pivotal role.
With the help of a clear characterization, it becomes easier to understand German syntax and to contrast it with other languages such as English. Although the two languages are closely related in historical terms, German sentence structure differs from English SVO (subject-verb-object) word order, which we will examine in chapter III. But before we can embark on the study of English and German syntax, we need to introduce a considerable amount of terminology and syntactic principles, which will form the necessary set of rules in our subsequent analysis.

I.1. Typical interrelations between constituents

As we will work with the X-bar scheme, it is useful to introduce the terms dominance, c-command and government. They formulate typical interrelations between the constituents.

I.1.1. Dominance

A dominates B if and only if
1. the position of A in the tree diagram is higher than that of B
2. starting from A, you follow the branches strictly downwards to get to B
In (1)a. A dominates B, C, D, E, F and G; while B dominates D and E, but does not dominate F and G. Although B is positioned higher, you have to follow the first branch upwards before you can reach For G by moving downwards.

I.1.2. (Strict) c-command and m-command

B c-commands C if and only if
1. B does not dominate C
2. the node which directly dominates B dominates C This is also referred to as strict c-command. In (1)a. B c-commands C, F, G and in turn C c-commands B, D, E. D c-commands only E.

B m-commands C if and only if
1. B does not dominate C
2. the maximal projection that dominates B dominates C

I.1.3. Government

The notion of government is a very complex one in our context. Before we can define it we need to introduce the concepts of L-marking, blocking categories and barriers first.

• L-marking: B L-marks C if and only if
1. B is a lexical category ( i.e. a content word like N, V, A and (most) Ps )
2. B c-commands C and C c-commands B
3. B theta-marks C ( i.e. B assigns a thematic role to C )

• blocking category (BC): C is a BC for G if and only if
1. C is not L-marked
2. C dominates G

• barrier: A is a barrier for G if and only if (i) or (ii)
(i) 1. A is a maximal projection
2. A directly dominates C
3. C is a BC for G
(ii) 1. A is a BC for G
2. A is not an IP
Having clarified these terms, we can now turn to the definition of government:
B governs C if and only if
1. B is one of the heads A, D, V, P or I; otherwise B and C are co-indexed
2. B c-commands C
3. there are no barriers between B and C
4. no X intervenes which shares the properties of B in 1, 2 and 3 and which is c-commanded by B

I.2. Movement transformations

In order to explain different constructions of sentences, we need to assume – for every surface structure – the existence of an additional level of structure called deep structure or underlying structure. From the level of deep structure a variety of surface strings can be derived. The derivational process is realised by movement transformations that are generally subsumed under the term move- (move alpha). The concept move- simply says: Move something somewhere. Necessary restrictions concerning the positions to which elements can be moved are formulated in the following movement rules.

I.2.1. Head-to-head movement

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