Fachbereich 09 - Philologie
Englisches Seminar
Morphologie und Syntax

Discourse and Grammar

This project investigates how English discourse is organized in terms of 'information flow' (given/new information, topic organization, etc.). In particular, it examines how various word order patterns are exploited for this purpose. The emphasis is on conversational discourse, but other discourse types are also examined. It is assumed that two factors play an important role:

1. cognition (in terms of processibility);
2. social (in terms of social interaction).

Various non-canonical word order patterns (e.g. cleft constructions) are investigated. Attention is also paid to intonational features.

Beteiligter Wissenschaftler:

Prof. Dr. Ronald Geluykens

Veröffentlichungen:

Geluykens, R. (2001): "Non-Canonical Word Order in English: Variation across Discourse Types". In: P. Lucko & J. Schlaeger (eds.): Proceedings of the Anglistentag 2000 Berlin. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, pp. 43-50.