Complex clauses and V2

Complex clauses. The first embedded weil (‘because’) clause appears in file 3, although with main clause word order (cf. (557)). This file also contains a range of complex clauses with psychological verbs (cf. (558)), in which clauses are combined paratactically. From a narrative perspective, clauses like these are indicative of how Fuad skilfully uses the linguistic means available to provide a detailed account of the frog story events, their connections and the characters’ emotions.

Subordination with the complementiser dass (‘that’) appears 5 months later in file 4 (559). The target-like embedded clause introduced by a wh-word in (560)

remains an exception which is why we can only speculate on the availability of a head-final IP by the end of the recording time considered here (file 5). Nevertheless, we must acknowledge that this is quite a sophisticated structure, involving the correct use of a subordinated interrogative.

Variation in the left periphery. Non-subject XPs appearing in the left periphery of the sentence occur in the context of sentential V3 formats with only a few exceptions (compare (561) produced in file 3 and (562) produced in file 5). V3 structures produced in file 5 reflect various tasks that remain to be tackled by the end of the recording time, namely, (a) the integration of sentence-initial adver- bials into the V2 format, (b) verb raising to INFL, and (c) the lexical analysis of phrasal verbs. For further illustration consider examples (563)-(569). By assumption, sentence-initial adverbials in (563) and (564) are adjoined to the available structural format. The sentence-internal adverbial in example (565) might be taken as an indication of the non-application of verb raising, even though the verb appears in the target-like finite form. The same interpretation would be applicable to example (566). In example (567), by contrast, the adverbial correctly occurs after the main verb. Examples (568) and (569) illustrate what could be an erroneous analysis of phrasal verbs: the infinitive fallen (‘fall’) is preceded by the adverb unter (‘under’). Because runterfallen (‘to fall down’) is a phrasal verb, the separable part should appear in sentence-final position in main clauses.

A note on the use of linguistic means for narrative purposes. Finally, a note is due concerning Fuad’s written productions in file 5, as they constitute a remarkable text from a narrative perspective. The following examples illustrate his creative use of a variety of linguistic means for narrative purposes, namely, the expression of

• - characters’ emotions toward each other (example (570))
• - narrator’s evaluations (example (571))
• - causal relations (example (572))
• - temporal relation of events (examples (573)-(575))

- characters’ wishes and objectives (example (574))