Optimizing Adverb Positions

Abstract

Adverb positions vary within a single language as well as across diverse languages. Based on the study of adverbs in English, French and German, this monograph shows that the distribution of adverbs is influenced by various factors at distinct levels of linguistic representation – comprising semantics, syntax, phonology and information structure –, which interact in determining adverb positions. The results of the investigation are formulated within the theoretical framework of Optimality Theory, which captures the complex interaction of these factors by hierarchically ranked constraints, deriving cross-linguistic variation of adverb positions by differences in the language-specific constraint hierarchies. The book is divided into two parts: While Part I examines adverb positions in general, Part II investigates under which circumstances an adverb may attach to a phonetically empty constituent in the languages under discussion. The book appeals to a linguistic audience interested in Germanic and Romance languages as well as in theoretical syntax in general.

Object shift in Scandinavian languages: The impact of contrasted elements

“…Let us now turn to the effects of contrastive focus. Both Andréasson (2007a, for Swedish) and Engels (2012, for German, English and French) discuss how sentence adverbials ‘multitask’ in sentences with a contrastive focus (Engels’ focus ) 24 . On the one hand they retain their semantic function as proposition modifiers, on the other hand the presence of a contrastive focus triggers a sentence adverbial to play the part of a focus operator.…”

“…It makes contrasted objects remain in situ, and it makes non-contrasted objects shift when there is contrast on another element in the clause. Engels (2012:112) proposes two separate constraints to deal with these effects of contrast on object positions in German, see (34). Engels’ (2012) adverb < +focus covers the tendency for contrastively focused (in the following +foc or focus domain ) objects to appear to the right of a focus operator (in the following f-op ), here a sentence adverbial, in examples like (10) and (11) above.…”

“…Engels (2012:112) proposes two separate constraints to deal with these effects of contrast on object positions in German, see (34). Engels’ (2012) adverb < +focus covers the tendency for contrastively focused (in the following +foc or focus domain ) objects to appear to the right of a focus operator (in the following f-op ), here a sentence adverbial, in examples like (10) and (11) above. Engels’ – focus < adverb on the other hand covers the tendency for non-focused elements (in the following – foc ) to appear preceding a sentence adverbial in sentences like (13)–(16) above.…”

“…Engels’ – focus < adverb on the other hand covers the tendency for non-focused elements (in the following – foc ) to appear preceding a sentence adverbial in sentences like (13)–(16) above. Examples (35) and (36) below are Engels’ (2012) (3.17a) and (3.18a). In both these examples it is the presence of a + foc element that triggers the word order where the complements precede the sentence adverbial.…”

“…In this paper I will make use of Engels’ (2012) constraints, with some adjustments, see (37) below. The original adverb < +focus constraint makes the right predictions in its present form; the order sentence adverbial preceding + foc is preferred.…”