Abstract
Gothic is the oldest attested Germanic language that possesses features similar to Proto-Germanic i.e., the parent language of all contemporary Germanic languages. The grammar of the Gothic language not only comprises distinctive features of native origin, but also contains peculiarities inherited from Proto-Germanic as well as traces of non-Germanic impacts. The peculiar nature of Gothic grammar reveals itself in Gothic syntax, and notably in the order of words. The article aims at defining word order patterns in The Gothic Gospel of Luke, Chapter 4 with special reference to word order in a phrase and sentence. Firstly, word order in Gothic phrases is considered, and the most recurrent word order patterns in noun and verb phrases found in Luke 4 are defined. Secondly, word order patterns and peculiar features of simple sentences and principal clauses are discussed. Finally, the article comments upon the choice of word order in those types of subordinate clauses that are represented in the chapter of Luke selected for the analysis as well as compares word order in principal and subordinate clauses. All comments on Gothic word order and syntactic features are provided with examples from Luke 4. The analysis of Gothic word order patterns is performed by fusing two research methods i.e., descriptive and analytic. Being the only attested East Germanic language, Gothic has a great linguistic value. Therefore, the study of Gothic word order and syntax is of great significance for the reconstruction of Proto-Germanic, for understanding word order patterns in other Germanic languages as well as for identifying common Germanic features. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7220/2335-2027.3.6
Highlights
Gothic is the oldest attested Germanic language and the only East Germanic language that has a sizeable corpus
The peculiar nature of Gothic reveals itself in word-stock, phonology, morphology and, most notably, syntax
One of the possible ways to comprehend peculiarities of Gothic is to analyse its syntax with special reference to word order patterns
Summary
Gothic is the oldest attested Germanic language and the only East Germanic language that has a sizeable corpus. The object of research is word order in phrases and sentences of The Gothic Gospel of Luke, Chapter 4. The aim of the article is to define common Gothic word order patterns by analyzing phrases and sentences of Luke 4. Having encompassed characteristics of two different types of languages, Gothic cannot be assigned either to VO or OV languages, at least as far as word order patterns in noun and verb phrases are concerned. Despite the fact that the clauses lack the subject i.e., they have neither a noun nor a pronoun in the nominative, they contain personal verbs, namely gatauh ‘took’ and faifalþ ‘closed’, implying that the actor is a third person
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