Discourse relations and information structure : Evidence from German discourse particles in embedded domains

This dissertation explores non-standard uses of German discourse particles, especially 'ja' (roughly: ‘as we know / uncontroversially’). After discussing arguments for the focus sensitivity of discourse particles, ample structural evidence in favor of this assumption is presented by natural instances of 'ja' in syntactically integrated and semantically embedded structures like restrictive relative and central, i.e. proposition-modifying, adverbial clauses. The acceptability of 'ja' in such environments and e.g. the nominal domain, i.e. mainly in adjectival phrases, depends, first, on the fulfi... Mehr ...