Discourse particles in the left periphery
- This article analyses the German discourse particle wohl 'I suppose', 'presumably' as a syntactic and semantic modifier of the sentence types declarative and interrogative. It is shown that wohl does not contribute to the propositional, i.e. descriptive content of an utterance. Nor does it trigger an implicature. The proposed analysis captures the semantic behaviour of wohl by assuming that it moves to SpecForceP at LF, from where it can modify the sentence type operators in Force0 in compositional fashion. Semantically, a modification with wohl results in a weaker commitment to the proposition expressed in declaratives and in a request for a weaker commitment concerning the questioned proposition in interrogatives. Cross-linguistic evidence for a left-peripheral position of wohl (at LF) comes from languages in which the counterpart of wohl occurs in the clausal periphery overtly. Overall, the analysis sheds more light on the semantic properties of the left periphery, in particular of the functional projection ForceP.
Author: | Malte ZimmermannORCiDGND |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-309130 |
URL: | http://www.zas.gwz-berlin.de/193.html?&L=0%20order%20by%201000%20-- |
ISSN: | 1435-9588 |
ISSN: | 0947-7055 |
Parent Title (English): | Proceedings of the Dislocated Elements Workshop : ZAS Berlin, November 2003 / Ed.: Benjamin Shaer ... , Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung, Berlin, 2004; ZAS papers in linguistics Vol. 35 |
Publisher: | Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung |
Place of publication: | Berlin |
Document Type: | Part of a Book |
Language: | English |
Date of Publication (online): | 2013/11/14 |
Year of first Publication: | 2004 |
Publishing Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
Release Date: | 2013/11/14 |
GND Keyword: | Grammatische Kategorie; Pragmatik; Lexikologie; Modalität; Satztyp; Skopus; Deutsch |
Volume: | 35 |
Page Number: | 24 |
First Page: | 543 |
Last Page: | 566 |
HeBIS-PPN: | 381234371 |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | 4 Sprache / 43 Deutsch, germanische Sprachen allgemein / 430 Germanische Sprachen; Deutsch |
Sammlungen: | Germanistik / GiNDok |
Linguistik | |
BDSL-Klassifikation: | 02.00.00 Deutsche Sprachwissenschaft (in Auswahl) / BDSL-Klassifikation: 02.00.00 Deutsche Sprachwissenschaft > 02.05.00 Grammatik |
Linguistik-Klassifikation: | Linguistik-Klassifikation: Syntax |
Linguistik-Klassifikation: Pragmalinguistik/Kommunikationsforschung / Pragmalinguistics/Communication research | |
Linguistik-Klassifikation: Lexikologie/Etymologie / Lexicology/Etymology | |
Linguistik-Klassifikation: Grammatikforschung / Grammar research | |
Zeitschriften / Jahresberichte: | ZAS papers in linguistics : ZASPiL / ZASPiL 35 = Proceedings of the Dislocated Elements Workshop : ZAS Berlin, November 2003 |
: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-306777 |
Licence (German): | Deutsches Urheberrecht |