On the Interpretation and use of Causal Verb‐first‐clauses in German

Abstract

AbstractThis article is concerned with the grammatical properties and interpretations of a particular type of verb‐first‐clause in German, in passing also looking at the Wo‐verb‐end‐clause. Based on corpus data and a judgement study, characteristics which have been attributed to these clause types will be questioned: The assumption that the utterances’ contents is presupposed and that this is why doch occurs in this context so often will be rejected. Data also show that the strict association of verb‐first and causality, on the one hand, and Wo‐verb‐end and concessivity, on the other hand, is too strong an assumption. It will be claimed that doch is indirectly responsible for causality by assuming that a causal default interpretation is decisive. The proposed modelling of doch provides an explanation why the particle facilitates the causal reading and it also allows to derive certain stylistic effects.