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Article published In: Latin influence on the syntax of the languages of Europe:
Edited by Bert Cornillie and Bridget Drinka
[Belgian Journal of Linguistics 33] 2019
► pp. 183–209

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Latin influence on German word order?

 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Published online: 30 March 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/bjl.00027.hoc
Abstract
Behaghel’s claim that verb finality in German dependent clauses (DCs) reflects Latin influence (Behaghel, Otto. 1892. “Zur deutschen Wortstellung.” Zeitschrift für den deutschen Unterricht 61: 265–267.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 1932. Deutsche Syntax, 41. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) has been revived by Chirita (Chirita, Diana. 1997. “Latin influence on German word order: A discussion of Behaghel’s theory.” In Insights in Germanic linguistics II: Classic and contemporary, ed. by Gerald F. Carr, and Imengard Rauch, 9–27. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2003. “Did Latin influence German word order? Aspects of German-Latin bilingualism in the late Middle Ages.” In Aspects of multilingualism in European language history, ed. by Kurt Braunmüller, and Gisella Ferraresi, 173–200. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). According to Chirita, DC word order remains variable up to Early New High German, while in Latin, verb-finality is more frequent in DCs than main clauses (MCs); hence, she claims, German verb finality reflects Latin influence. This papers shows that the arguments for Latin influence are problematic and that the Modern German word order difference between MCs and DCs can be explained as the ultimate outcome of developments that started in early North and West Germanic. In the conclusion I briefly discuss similar developments in Western Romance and their implications for European contact linguistics.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Critical examination of arguments for Latin influence
    • 2.1Early and not-so-early arguments for Latin influence
    • 2.2Chirita’s arguments for Latin influence
    • 2.3The evidence of early texts
    • 2.4Luther and Melanchthon
    • 2.5Early Modern German
    • 2.6Premodern ‘OV’ beside ‘VO’: Schallert and the issue of extraposition
  • 3.The broader Germanic context
  • 4.The historical development of German word order: A brief summary
  • 5.Conclusion and outlook
  • Notes
  • References
References (59)
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