Analysing =?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=9Cstarting_points=E2=80=9D_?=in complex sentences

[Gerlind Gro�e]

Dear colleagues,

We would like to analyze a corpus of children’s stories (5 year olds) regarding the type of starting points. We depart from the Perspective Hypothesis (MacWinney, 1977, 2008, Gernsbacher 1990) which holds that “…given a choice between two starting points, speakers and listeners prefer the starting point closest to the one they assume or which to assume in their own interactions with the world.” Now, our current question is about how to determine starting points in complex sentences or sentence fragments. Does each sub-clause indicate a new starting point? Is the starting point always the very first element or the first main functional element, i.e. (SVO)? We are dealing with German which has a flexible word order.
Any ideas, references or advices are welcome.


Many thanks!

Lars White, and Gerlind Grosse
(Leipzig)

  

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