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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

Latin influence on German word order?

| University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Behaghel’s claim that verb finality in German dependent clauses (DCs) reflects Latin influence (1892, 1932) has been revived by Chirita (1997, 2003). 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.

Keywords: German, syntax, verb finality, Latin, West Germanic, Romance
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
Published online: 30 March 2020
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https://doi.org/10.1075/bjl.00027.hoc
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