Project B11

3rd Phase - Information Structure and Clause Combining

The present project addresses the question which linguistic means are used for information packaging in German text sources originating from the 15th and 16th century. Specifically, the project focusses on two procedures of information packaging, i.e. the foregrounding and backgrounding of information units in complex sentences and (ii) the relative ordering of segments in asymmetric discourse relations. The time slot chosen from the history of the German language is of particular relevance, because we observe language-internally the development of appropriate linguistic markers and language-externally the shift from oral to written forms of narration.


Principal Investigators

  • Prof. Dr. Ulrike Demske

Former Staff Members

  • Anna Theresa Wenzel
  • Luisa Steinhäuser
  • Ulyana Senyuk

Student Assistants

  • Constanze Fleczoreck
  • Alexandra Schramm

Activities

November 2014 Talk Fleczoreck, C.: Kausalsätze in diachroner Betrachtung LVI StuTS, Hamburg
June 2014 Talk Demske, U.: Linksversetzung im Frühneuhochdeutschen. Universität Kassel (invited talk)
May 2014 Talk Demske, U.: On Adverbial Clauses in Old High German. 49th Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo/USA (invited speaker)
March 2014 Talk Schmidt, A. T.: Topic Position as an Indicator of Integration Linguistic Varieties and Variation - Interdisciplinary German Studies Conference, UC Berkeley/USA.
December 2013 Workshop Demske, U., Schmidt, A. T. & Senyuk, U.: Clause Combining and Information Structure - Diachronic and Synchronic Aspects Universität Potsdam, Campus Am Neuen Palais, Room 1.08.0.60/61 Agenda / Abstract
August 2013 Talk Schmidt, A. T.: Clause Combining as Syntactic Coding of Temporal Relations in Old German XXIth International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Oslo/Norway.
August 2013 Talk Senyuk, U.: Interaction between Discourse Structure and Clause Combining. Evidence from a Corpus Study in Early New High German XXIth International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Oslo/Norway.
April 2013 Talk Demske, U.: Left Dislocation in Early New High German Talk on Workshop Syntactic Change and Information Structure,Manchester.
January 2013 Talk Senyuk, U.: Zum Status relativähnlicher Sätze im Frühneuhochdeutschen Colloquium at Humboldt-Universität, Berlin.