Wörter stehen da einige. On nominal split topicalization in non-standard viennese german

Abstract

This work investigates the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic properties of nominal Split Topicalization (ST) constructions in Standard and non-Standard German. The topic phrase denotes a property, and the MF phrase either modifies this property or picks out a specific entity. Semantically, the topic phrase will be analysed as a property-denoting expression which restricts the denotation of the verbal predicate, while the MF phrase is composed either via specify or restrict (cf. Chung and Ladusaw, 2003). Syntactically, the base position of the topic phrase is the (incorporating) verb, and the MF phrase is generated independently as the complement of the verb containing an empty pronoun. Since predicates introduce abstract discourse referents, the topic phrase can be resumed via "pro" in the MF phrase.