Inversion (linguistics)
Inversion as is known in the grammar constructs in which the normal sequence has been changed into a set; especially so hot sequences in which a verb precedes the subject ( in the languages in which otherwise the sequence subject verb before the rule is thus primarily in SVO languages).
As the federal law prevails a Verbzweitstellung in which the verb is always preceded by and the subject equal to easily stand in front of or after, there is in the German grammar no inversion structures in the strict sense, but sometimes flashy sequences, in which the subject after the follows verb, referred to as inversion in a broader sense ( in the sense of a rhetorical stylistic device ).
- 2.1 inversion with pronouns in French
- 2.2 Stylistic inversion
Inversion in English
Inversion with auxiliary verbs
In English, there is usually the sequence "subject - ( auxiliary verb - ) verb - object", however, in a number of constructions, the auxiliary verb preceding the subject; in sentences that do not contain an auxiliary verb by itself, then a meaningless empty auxiliary verb "do" is created for the purpose of prefixing. Cases of obligatory inversion are:
- Yes / no questions:
Do you speak English? ( cf. He speaks English) Wh-questions, except when the question word corresponds to the subject of the sentence:
What did he say? ( cf. He Said something) But: Who said that? The question set - inversion does not occur in embedded interrogative sentences:
I do know what he said Preceded by negative adverbials (eg never " never " and only " just" ) and some adverbs meaning ' also / even ":
Only then did Randall realize he had forgotten his glasses. ( It was only then noticed Randall that he had forgotten his glasses ) (I do not smoke ... ) Nor do I. ( "Me neither " ) (He smokes ... ) So do I. ( "Me too " ) In contrast to the question set - inversion, the negative inversion also occurs in embedded clauses:
She swore did under no Circumstances would she leave her husband. ( She swore that she would under no circumstances leave her husband ) Comparative structures if the verb is not discharged in the second part, especially when the subject of the comparison block is rather long:
Spain 's financial problems were less acute than were Those of Portugal (Spain's financial problems were less acute than those of Portugal were ) Inversion with verbs
Specific verbs, particularly common position and movement verbs in English and allow constructions where the subject follows these verbs. One speaks here of " stylistic inversion " (because this construction is not mandatory and stylistically striking ) or " Lokativinversion " (because the place of subject then often local or directional information form the beginning of a sentence ). Examples:
The Romance languages are described collectively as languages with the normal word order SVO, but they have greater freedom of word order than, say, English. It is assumed that several different types of structures exist where the verb comes before the subject.
Inversion with pronouns in French
In French is mainly used in the written language before a construction with inversion of verb and personal pronoun that is used to form interrogative sentences ( both yes / no questions and supplementary questions ), eg:
Avez -vous le film unpopular ones? ( have-you loved the movie ) "Did you like the movie? " Où il veut - all? ( where - he wants to go ) " Where does he want to go? " This construction is only possible with weak personal pronouns that attach to the verb ( clitics ). Furthermore, it occurs only in main clauses, not in subordinate clauses. The usual analysis indicates that the verb was drawn here to the front; this agrees with the observation that in embedded interrogative sentences in many other languages no Verbvoranstellung is possible (see above for English ).
Stylistic inversion
There is a second type of Inversionsonstruktion, referred to as " stylistic inversion", although it may be required in certain cases. It does not consist in a fronting of the verb, but in a positioning of the subject at the end of the block, which subjects are not a pronoun but a full noun phrase. This construction is in principle possible in all Romance languages , but with different constraints. In French, it is only possible in interrogative sentences, as well as in Subjonctif ( for subjunctive dependent clauses ):
Où est allée Marie? " "Where is Marie gone? " Je veux que parte Paul. (I want to go away ( Subj ) Paul ) "I want Paul to go. " In contrast to the pronominal inversion the subject "Marie" follows in the first example above, all verbs of the sentence ( " est allée "); the sequence * Où est allée Marie would be grammatically impossible, however, in contrast to Où est - elle allée. Furthermore, there is this type of inversion as in subordinate clauses, see the above Subjonctif set and the following embedded interrogative sentence:
Je me demande quand est venue Marie. ( I wonder when is come Marie) "I wonder when Marie has come". Although an interrogative sentence is present, it seems, however to a different construction than the pronominal inversion, namely the same as that in declarative sentences is possible in other Romance languages. Examples of this type of inversion in declarative sentences, for example, show the Spanish, and more limited Italian:
Spanish:
Ha leido el libro Juan ( read the book Juan ) " Juan has read the book " Italian:
Ha telefonato Gianni ( called Gianni ) " Gianni 's called" Apparent inversion of the German
In descriptions of German grammar we find the term " inversion" often for sequences in which the subject is in the declarative sentence after the verb. Based on a comparison with the English or French, it would be natural, as conceiving the relationship of the following two sentences as an inversion:
( a) The cat has caught a mouse ( b ) Has the cat caught a mouse? In English is spoken by inversion because interrogative sentences a form that corresponds to the German ( b ), can be derived from a set of SVO form, by prefixing the auxiliary verb; the SVO sentence here is in English, the "normal" form of the sentence. However, the opposite is true in German, ie Sentence ( a), showing the subject before the verb is derived by rearranging ( topicalization ) the subject of a form such as ( b). This is because that the German is a verb-second language, English on the other hand an SVO language. In the field model of German sentence, this is represented so that the verb in each main set to the same position, namely the so-called " left bracket " takes, whether it is a verb - initial sentence or a verb-second sentence, and regardless of whether the Verbzweitsatz begins with the subject or object, etc.:
It follows that " inversion" in German, at least can not be regarded as an operation that derives a set from a different, more basic form.