Expressive particle verbs and conditions on particle fronting

Andreas Trotzke, Eva Wittenberg

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

In this paper, we propose a new distinction between expressive and non-expressive particle verbs in German. The basic observation for our proposal is that these two classes behave differently in the domain of particle fronting. In order to explain this difference, we will show that certain particle verbs are extreme degree expressions and that, therefore, a possible contrast across degrees makes fronting acceptable, even when the particle in isolation is non-contrastable. Our claims are supported by a rating study probing German native speakers' intuitions about the likelihood of the occurrence of an utterance, without relying on acceptability judgments. We connect these new findings to other forms of noninformation- structural fronting patterns that endow utterances with an emphatic flavor.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)407-435
Number of pages29
JournalJournal of Linguistics
Volume53
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Apr 2017
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Contrast
  • Conventional implicatures
  • Emphasis
  • Extreme expressions
  • Information structure
  • Particle verbs

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