I. BASIC VERB-PLACEMENT PATTERNS IN SWISS GERMAN Matrix clauses: - PDF document

I. BASIC VERB-PLACEMENT PATTERNS IN SWISS GERMAN Matrix clauses: Verb Second (1) a. De Beowulf isch en ganz en tapfere Maa. the Beowulf is a very a brave man "Beowulf is a very brave man." b. Vorem Grendel händ alli Angscht gha. of-the Grendel have all fear had "Everybody was afraid of Grendel." Embedded clauses: Verb-final (2) a. De Grendel gseht [dass de Beowulf en Schtei macht]. the Grendel sees that the Beowulf a stone makes "Grendel sees that Beowulf is in a bad mood." b. De Grendel isch froh [wenn-er-en achli närfe cha]. the Grendel is glad when-he-him a bit irritate can "Grendel is happy when he can irritate him a bit." Extraposition to the right can mask the verb-final pattern: (3) a. ... [dass'-em en Kuss geh hät uf t Bagge ] that-she-him a kiss given has on the cheek "that she kissed him on the cheek" b. ... [dass-er-si hät wöle hürote ] that-he-her has want(ed) marry "that he wanted to marry her" (4) a. ... [dass si schlooft am Mittag ] that she sleeps at lunchtime b. ....[dass si hät wöle schloofe ] that she has want(ed) sleep "that she wanted to sleep"

Verb Second is possible in certain embedded clauses: (5) a. Es git Lüüt [die redet wunderbar Althochtütsch]. there are people who speak beautifully Old High German "There're people who speak Old High German beautifully" a'. Es git Lüüt [wo wunderbar Althochtütsch redet] there are people who beautifully Old High German speak b. Er mue müed gsi si [wil er hät ganz grossi Augering under de Auge gha]. he must tired been be because he has very big circles under the eyes had "He must have been very tired because he had shadows under his eyes." V2 is also possible in complements selected by bridge verbs (e.g. säge "say", glaube "believe", wüsse "know") and which are not introduced by a complementizer.

II. A LOOK AT AN ADULT SAMPLE (of CH) This sample consists of 459 embedded clauses. 411 of these embedded clauses do not involve verb movement, the remaining 48 embedded clauses involve the V2 pattern (not discussed here). Verb placement is grammatical in all of these embedded clauses. - 78 (or 19%) embedded clauses in which the finite verb does not surface in clause-final position : due to Verb (Projection) Raising (V(P)R): ... [ wenn t t i aafosch lisme i ] ... [ subordinator subject (...) t i V VR XP i ] (… when/if you start to knit) due to Extraposition (Extra): ... [ wenn du t i zruggluegsch a dini Ziit i ] ... [ subordinator subject (...) t i V fin PP i ] (… when/if you look back to the time) - 66 (or 16%) embedded clauses are neutral : The position of the finite verb immediately after the subject coincides with the verb-final position: ... [öb Gfahr chunt] ... [subordinator subject V fin ] verb-end (VE) (… if danger is approaching) - 267 (or 65%) embedded clauses are unambiguously verb- final : ... [wem -mer umkeit] ... [wenn t etze prüelet hetsch] ... [subordinator XP XP (...) V fin ] verb-final (VF) (… when/if one suddenly falls over) (… if you had cried now)

Table 1: Adult verb placement (input for child) V-position compl. other wil rel. wo wh Total V2 4 1 48 VE 22 1 1 10 32 66 VE+Extra 1 3 4 VE+V(P)R 7 4 7 4 22 VF 119 7 14 29 23 192 VF+Extra 6 4 10 VF+V(P)R 18 1 2 6 2 29 PPA 21 2 4 34 14 75 PPA+Extra 2 2 5 9 PPA+V(P)R 1 1 2 4 Total 197 16 27 97 79 459 VE = verb-end VF = verb-final PPA = participle auxiliary (e.g. gseit häsch 'said have') Extra = Extraposition (usually of a prepositional phrase) V(P)R = Verb-Projection-Raising

III. 'GERMAN' CLAUSE STRUCTURE • Classical analysis (cf. Koster 1975 and Den Besten 1977) (6) a. De Rochus ässt en Oschtereier. "Rochus eats an (chocolate) Easter egg." b. Das Oschtereier ässt de Rochus. "This (chocolate) Easter egg, Rochus eats." (7) a. CP 4 Spec C' de Rochusi 4 C IP ässtj 4 Spec I' ti 4 VP I 4 tj' Complement V en Oschtereier tj b. CP 4 Spec C' das Oschtereieri 4 C IP ässtj 4 Spec I' de Rochus 4 VP I 4 tj' Complement V ti tj

(8) I weiss [dass de Rochus en Oschtereier ässt]. "I know that Rochus eats an Easter egg." (9) CP 4 C IP dass 4 Spec I' de Rochus 4 VP I 4 ässtj Complement V en Oschtereier tj • Split CP hypothesis (Rizzi 1997, a.o.) (10) ForceP 3 Spec Force' • minimally split CP 3 Force FinP 3 Spec Fin' • [Spec,FinP]= 3 Wackernagel-position Fin IP 3 Spec I' • [Spec,IP]= 3 canon. subject position I ... • all functional projections are head-initial

IV. SUMMARY OF DATA ON VERB PLACEMENT IN EMBEDDED CLAUSES GERMAN - children do not make any verb-placement errors in embedded clauses - counter-evidence: one child (Benny) produces verb-placement errors SWISS-GERMAN DIALECTS - children sometimes produce verb-placement errors in embedded clauses BE: one child (Simone) produces errors in relative clauses one child (J. ) = U-shaped development ZH: children (even after age 5;0) still produce verb- placement errors in any type of embedded clause (infrequent) LU: Before age 5;0 both Moira and Eliza move the finite verb in any type of embedded clause and hardly ever use the verb-final pattern (BE = Bernese, ZH = Zurich German, LU = Lucernese)

Table 2: Verb movement in subordinate clauses: Moira (Eliza) Position of finite verb V-movement no V- movement Clauses introduced by a sub. conj. • wil "because" 434 (28) 294 (21) 140 (7) • wenn "when, if" 635 (68) 357 (46) 278 (22) • dass "that" 347 (41) 158 (32) 189 (9) • öb "whether, if" 61 (6) 26 (1) 35 (5) • wie "as" 22 (1) 10 (1) 12 (0) • bis "until" 26 (4) 11 (3) 15 (1) • bevor "before" 2 (0) 1 (0) 1 (0) • ohni dass "without" 2 (0) 1 (0) 1 (0) 1529(148) 858 (104) 671 (44) TOTAL Omission of complementizer • wenn "when, if" 5 (1) 5 (1) • dass "that" 16 (3) 16 (3) 21 (4) 21 (4) TOTAL Relative clauses • subject relative wo 182 (16) 118 (12) 64 (4) • object relative wo 127 (21) 73 (16) 54 (5) • temporal relative wo 132 (8) 87 (6) 45 (2) • locative relative wo 93 (6) 71 (3) 22 (3) 534 (51) 349 (37) 185 (14) TOTAL Wh-complements • of weisch "know 2sg" 244 (44) 243 (42) 1 (2) • of perception verbs 108 (21) 83 (20) 25 (1) • of non-perception verbs 236 (28) 178 (20) 58 (8) • free relatives 9 (1) 6 (0) 3 (1) • doubly-filled COMP s 11 (0) 3 (0) 8 (0) 608 (94) 513 (82) 95 (12) TOTAL Interrogatives 13 (2) 13 (2) Conditionals 11 (1) 11 (1) 24 (3) 24 (3) TOTAL Bridge verbs 150 (21) 150 (21) Emotive-factive verbs 10 (1) 10 (1) other verbs 34 (0) 34 (0) 194 (22) 194 (22) TOTAL 2910(322) 1959 (252) 951 (70) TOTAL

Verb-placement patterns used by the two Lucernese children Clauses introduced by a complementizer: I. a. % complementizer pronominal SU Vfin ... b. % complementizer Vfin SU ... (11) % wenn ich mach eso (M:4;08) when I make like this "when I do this" (12) a. % dass machsch du das (E:4;10) that make you this "that you do this" b. % dass werdet mini Ohre au bruu (M:4;03) that turn my ears also brown "that my ears turn brown too" Relative clauses: II. a. % wo Vfin … b. % wo pronominal SU Vfin … (rare) Wh-complements: III. a. (%) Wh-constituent Vfin ... b. % Wh-constituent pronominal SU Vfin… (rare)

(13) ForceP 3 Spec Force' 3 Force FinP öb 3 Spec Fin' • [Spec,FinP]= si k 3 Wackernagel-position Fin IP chunt i 3 Spec I' • [Spec,IP]= t k ..... subject position achli ufe t i (if she comes upstairs for a while) Before age 4;11 the subject between the complementizer and the finite verb is always an unstressed subject pronoun. (14) ForceP 3 Spec Force' 3 Force FinP öb 3 Spec Fin' • [Spec,FinP]= 3 Wackernagel-position Fin IP chunt i 3 Spec I' • [Spec,IP]= si ..... subject position achli ufe t i (if she comes upstairs for a while) There are two contexts in the child grammar in which unstressed subject pronouns can occur, either in [Spec,IP] –resulting in Complementizer Vfin pron. SU …–or in [Spec,FinP]–resulting in Complementizer pron. SU Vfin ….

(15) ForceP 3 Spec Force' 3 Force FinP öb 3 Spec Fin' • [Spec,FinP]= 3 Wackernagel-position Fin IP chunt i 3 Spec I' • [Spec,IP]= t Eliza ..... subject position achli ufe t i (if Eliza comes upstairs for a while) Non-pronominal SU move into [Spec,IP]. They cannot move into [Spec,FinP].