Word order in the German middle field – scrambling
Martin Salzmann
June 2024 

first version, comments welcome! This chapter provides an overview of the major empirical and theoretical aspects of word order variation in the German middle field, viz., scrambling. After introducing the German clause structure and providing basic properties of scrambling, this chapter will mostly focus on two aspects, viz., whether scrambling should be analyzed as involving base-generation or movement and, should movement indeed be involved, which movement type it instantiates. It will be argued that while many of the arguments for movement are eventually inconclusive, restrictions on scrambling and evidence for intermediate representations provide evidence for a movement approach after all. Much less conclusive, however, is the question regarding the movement type underlying scrambling. While PF-movement can be ruled out quite easily, the categorial restrictions on scrambling and the reconstruction effects observed do not fall neatly into the A- or A′-movement category. In the last section, further important aspects are addressed, including questions regarding the base order of double object verbs, possible triggers for scrambling and implications for clause structure. It will become clear that despite 40 years of intense research, scrambling still represents a challenge for linguistic theory in that its properties cannot easily be reconciled with elementary assumptions of current versions of the Minimalist Program.

Format:	[ pdf ]
Reference:	lingbuzz/006866 (please use that when you cite this article)
Published in:	Handbook of Germanic Syntax
keywords:	word order, scrambling, german, movement, a-movement, a'-movement, base-generation, binding, reconstruction effects, focus projection, syntax
previous versions:	v2 [August 2023] v1 [October 2022]
Downloaded:	1031 times

 

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