LINGUIST List 12.793

Thu Mar 22 2001

Qs: Branching Direction, German Particle "also"

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Directory

  1. Wayles Browne, frequency of branching direction
  2. Simone.Mueller, German particle "also"

Message 1: frequency of branching direction

 Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2001 10:18:50 -0500
From: Wayles Browne <ewb2cornell.edu>
Subject: frequency of branching direction

The theorist and Germanic scholar Janez Oresnik, of the University
of Ljubljana (Slovenia), asks me to forward this question:

The hierarchical structure of sentences can be right or left branching, and
it is common that languages know both kind of branching, possibly in
complementary areas, but not necessarily.
My question: can it be asserted that, cross-linguistically, one kind of
branching is more common than the other kind? Does such a question make sense
at all?
Please reply directly to him at: Janez.Oresnikuni-lj.si

__________________________________________-
Wayles Browne, Assoc. Prof. of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics
Morrill Hall 220, Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A.
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Message 2: German particle "also"

 Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2001 18:27:14 +0100
From: Simone.Mueller <Simone.Muelleranglistik.uni-giessen.de>
Subject: German particle "also"



Dear Linguistlist readers,

I am currently working on the English discourse marker "so" in the 
speech of native speakers and German non-native speakers of 
English. Classifying the occurring instances of "so", I wondered 
whether the Germans' usage of "so" might be influenced by the 
German particle "also". Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find 
specific analyses on the usages and functions of this particle.

Therefore my question: Does anybody know of literature analysing 
the functions of the German particle "also"?

I would be grateful for any hint!

Best regards, 

Simone Mueller


Institut fuer Anglistik
Justus-Liebig-Universitaet
Otto-Behaghel-Str. 10B
35394 Giessen
GERMANY
Tel. +49-641-9930152
Fax. +49-641-9930159
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