Ulrike Demske, Universität Potsdam
Talk: Narrative Inversion in Early New High German: Insights from Information and Discourse Structure
Abstract: Declarative V1 sentences are not very common in present-day German. Their occurrence is taken to be limited to thetic sentences, which typically appear at the beginning of jokes (Kommt ein Pferd in eine Bar, lit.: comes a horse into a bar) and are considered sentence-focus structures (Önnerfors 1997; Reis 2000). From a diachronic point of view, the development of V1 declaratives is characterized by a constant up and down in productivity, which has raised the question of the extent to which we can speak of a single type of V1 declarative at all (Axel 2007; Coniglio 2012; Maurer 1926). On the basis of new and comprehensive data from five 15th century prose novels, I will show that we must indeed assume a repertoire of distinct types of V1 declaratives in German. As the literature suggests (Coniglio 2012; Hinterhölzl & Petrova 2011), two types of thetic sentences can in fact be found throughout the history of German: the presentational and the event-reporting type with the latter still being used in present-day German. However, another type of V1 declarative is likewise highly productive in Early New High German, so-called narrative inversion, a type which is also frequently found in other Germanic languages such as Icelandic (Booth & Beck 2021). In contrast to presentational and event-reporting thetic sentences discussed so far for the history of German, V1 declaratives of the narrative inversion type have a topic-comment structure, i.e. they include anaphoric subjects. Occasionally, this type can still be found in spoken varieties of German today (Behaghel 1932; Oppenrieder 2010). Its considerable productivity in Early New High German can be accounted for in terms of discourse structure: A quantitative analysis of all declarative sentences in the five prose novels under study reveals that, in terms of linking strategies, the marking of temporal continuity clearly predominates over the marking of referential continuity. And narrative inversion is just one linguistic device that marks temporal continuity in the Early New High German period alongside other linguistic devices such as temporal adverbials at the left periphery of their host clause. In my view, this finding suggests that any account that attributes the increasing productivity of V1 declaratives in Early New High German solely to the influence of Latin does not tell the whole story, to say the least (Behaghel 1932; Maurer 1926); Maurer’s (1926) claim that V1 declaratives are not attested in the early prose novels due to the Latin origin of the sentence pattern has already been refuted by Buschinger (2007).
The present study on V1 declaratives in Early New High German not only fills a crucial empirical gap, but also contributes to a more differentiated view of this sentence type in contemporary German, because the historical data from Early New High German suggest that thetic and narrative V1 declaratives must be considered as two distinct types of the V1-pattern with different discourse functions.
Robert D. Fulk, Indiana University
Talk: Philology and the Editing of Skaldic Verse
Abstract: Honoring the life’s work of the great philologist Kari Ellen Gade in whose memory this pre-conference symposium will be held, this presentation examines the various branches of philological inquiry involved in the editing of skaldic poetry. The varieties of philology that are in requisition in such editing are diverse. They include, for example, the components of manuscript studies, such as paleography, codicology, and semmatics, and if the term “manuscript” is defined broadly, runology must also be included. Closely related is the study of orthographic systems and scribal habits, including orthoepy, or the study of the relation between spelling and pronunciation. That in turn is a subdivision of the much larger field of Scandinavian historical linguistics, also vital to the editing of skaldic texts. Of course there is also poetic form, a subject dear to Kari Gade’s heart, including meter, alliteration, and rhyme. And although the syntax of dróttkætt poetry can be quite complex, it is still necessary to take into consideration what sorts of word order are really plausible and what sorts are not. In reconstructing the skaldic corpus it is also necessary to have an intimate knowledge poetic conventions, especially poetic diction, knowing what are and are not plausible heiti and kennings. And then it is also vital to have a firm command of the specifics of Old Norse history and culture, both the cultural norms and the material culture. Very often more than one of these considerations must be taken into account in connection with a specific word or passage in a poem. This presentation surveys the application of such philological considerations in the editing of skaldic poetry, illustrating with examples from the poetry edited by Kari Gade for the Skaldic Project.
Joseph Salmons, University of Wisconsin
Talk: Laryngeal Realism
Abstract: Since almost as long as GLAC has existed, work has been presented on Laryngeal Realism (LR), a view positing a phonological difference in the obstruent systems of languages like Dutch, Yiddish, and Slavic on the one hand and Mandarin, Somali and most Germanic languages on the other. Assuming privative specifications, the former, it is argued, contrast [voice] (or [Glottal Tension] in the terms of Avery & Idsardi 2001) on <b, d, g> vs laryngeally unmarked <p, t, k>. The latter contrast [spread glottis] (or [Glottal Width]) <p, t, k> vs unmarked <b, d, g>. This view contrasts with the traditional ‘broad voice’ analysis, that all such systems involve phonological voicing. This presentation grows from work I and a group of researchers have been doing to find new ways to test LR and place it into a fuller typological context than has been done to date.
I begin by showing that ‘broad voice’ was built into phonetic theorizing from the beginning of the International Phonetic Association, where French and English <p> and <b>, etc. are treated as equivalents. I then clarify some apparent misunderstandings in recent research. Many of these involve working out the relationship between phonology and phonetics, and I especially stress the importance of using phonological activity as opposed to just phonetic realization as a diagnostic. This bears on issues including the role of F0 changes or ‘cue-lengthening’ in signaling phonological contrast, or the existence of ‘overmarked systems’ (on the last see also Salmons 2020). I also summarize new evidence, including from Annear et al. (2023) that child acquisition of laryngeal contrasts looks far clearer if we assume LR and privativity. Current typological work is changing the crosslinguistic picture, where WALS (wals.info) has many systems labeled as ‘voicing’ or GT that are better analyzed as GW, including Somali (see also Kiparsky 2006). Other claimed generalizations about LR are shown to hold for Germanic but not, at least straightforwardly, for all languages, such as the directionality of laryngeal assimilation patterns.
The foundations of LR have held firm over three decades, but we are refining the diagnostics and compiling much new data. LR started with a heavy focus on Germanic and recent work is sharpening our understanding of the family while integrating it into a crosslinguistic context.
The 30th Germanic Linguistics Annual Conference 