Abstract
The focus of our contribution is the German particle auch ‘also’ and its Italian counterpart anche. From a semantic point of view, auch and anche convey the same additive meaning in both languages: through them an element, called ‘domain of association’, is added to a list of further elements for which the auch/anche phrase applies. From a syntactical point of view, auch and anche can occupy different positions in the sentence by modifying the type and the scope of the domain of association. This results in four basic usage patterns which are similar in both languages and correspond to just as many functions of auch/anche: (i) additivity, (ii) sentence connection, (iii) focus domain, and (iv) modality. Despite these common functions, auch and anche interact with the syntax and the information structure of the sentence in German and in Italian differently. Furthermore, they are used in conversation contexts, which are distinctive in both languages.
 By starting from the current description of auch and anche in the literature, the first aim of our contribution is to provide evidence for the above-mentioned four basic functions despite their language-specific usage contexts. As a second aim, we want to validate our systematization through the analysis of spoken data for German and Italian, explaining why some functions are more likely to be found in the former than in the latter.
Highlights
The focus of our contribution is the German particle auch ‘’ and its Italian counterpart anche
From a syntactical point of view, auch and anche can occupy different positions in the sentence by modifying the type and the scope of the domain of association. This results in four basic usage patterns which are similar in both languages and correspond to just as many functions of auch/anche: (i) additivity, (ii) sentence connection, (iii) focus domain, and (iv) modality
Auch and anche interact with the syntax and the information structure of the sentence in German and in Italian differently
Summary
Die Additivität ist die prototypische Funktion von auch/anche. (Hans und Anna haben bei Lucie angerufen.) (Pasch et al 2003: 577) Auch [Peter]BB hat bei Lucie angerufen. In dieser Funktion bezieht sich die Partikel auf ihren BB. Stehen auch und anche im Mittelfeld bzw. Je nach Kontext kann in (5a) der BB nur bei Lucie oder die ganze Verbalphrase umfassen. In der additiven Funktion sind auch und anche in der Regel ihrem BB unmittelbar vorangestellt. (7) Sprecher A: ha comprato quaderni e penne Sprecher B: ?[il libro]BB anche ha comprato ‚A: (Er) hat Hefte und Stifte gekauft B: Das Buch auch hat (er) gekauft.‘. Im Hinblick auf die Informationsstruktur bildet der BB der Partikel den Fokus des Satzes. Da sich auch und anche auf den Fokus beziehen, werden sie der Literatur teilweise als Fokuspartikeln (Dimroth 2004) bzw. Da sich auch und anche auf den Fokus beziehen, werden sie der Literatur teilweise als Fokuspartikeln (Dimroth 2004) bzw. „(avverbi) focalizzatori“ (Andorno 1999, 2000; Ricca 1999; Borreguero Zoulaga 2012) bezeichnet
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