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Felix Bildhauer and Philippa Cook: German Multiple Fronting and Expected Topic-Hood
This papers addresses information-structural restrictions on the occurrence of what is known as
"multiple fronting" in German. Multiple fronting involves the realization of (what appears to be)
more than one constituent in the first position of main clause declaratives, a clause type that
otherwise respects the verb-second constraint of German. Relying on a large body of naturally
occurring instances of multiple fronting with the surrounding discourse context, we show that in
certain contexts, multiple fronting is fully grammatical in German, in contrast to what has
sometimes been claimed previously. Examination of this data reveals two different patterns, which we
analyze in terms of two distinct constructions, each instantiating a specific pairing of form,
meaning and contextual appropriateness.
Maintained by Stefan Müller
Created: October 13, 2010
Last modified: September 18, 2012
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