El orden de palabras de los elementos verbales en la oración alemana desde la perspectiva de la GU

Abstract

In this paper is described, within the X-bar theory, the structure of the verbal phrase (VP) of German in two kinds of sentences, namely, the declarative sentence, which demands the placement of the finite verb in the second position, and the subordinate, in which the finite verb must be set in the final position. The article aims at showing how it is possible that this language has such differences on the location of the head in the VP, if our starting point is the assumption that in this phrase the parametric value of the head is final. It is also explained the mechanism that operates in the deep structure of the declarative sentence in order to raise the verb from its original final position to the second one, and the effect of that movement on the superficial structure, causing the separation of the verbal elements and the formation of the verbal parenthesis. Finally, it is shown that these phenomena are used as the basis on the organization and study of the sentence elements in the so-called “field topology".