Inversion (language)

In grammar , an inversion is a construction in which the normal sequence in a sentence has been rearranged; in particular, sequences in which a verb comes before the subject are called sequences (in languages ​​in which the sequence subject before verb is the rule, i.e. primarily in SVO languages ).

Since the German main clause has a verb second position (V2 position), in which the verb is always placed in front and the subject can easily stand before or after, there are no inversions in the strict sense in German grammar, but sometimes stylistically striking sequences are used, in which the subject follows the verb, called inversion in a broader sense (also in the sense of a rhetorical stylistic device, see anastrophe ).

Inversion in English

Inversion with auxiliary verbs

In English, the sequence “subject - (auxiliary verb) verb - object” normally prevails, but in a number of constructions the auxiliary verb must precede the subject; In sentences that do not contain an auxiliary verb by themselves, a meaningless auxiliary verb do is created for the purpose of prefixing it. Cases of mandatory inversion are:

• Yes / no questions :

 Do you speak English?  (vgl. He speaks English)

• W questions , unless the question word corresponds to the subject of the sentence:

What did he say?  (vgl. He said something)
Aber: 
Who said that?

Question sentence inversion does not occur in embedded question sentences:

I don’t know what he said

• Preceding negative adverbials (e.g. never "never" and only "only") and some adverbs with the meaning "also / not":

Only then did Randall realize he had forgotten his glasses.
(Erst da bemerkte Randall, dass er seine Brille vergessen hatte)

(I don’t smoke...) Nor do I. („Ich auch nicht“)
(He smokes...) So do I.  („Ich auch“)

In contrast to question sentence inversion, negative inversion also takes place in embedded sentences:

She swore that under no circumstances would she leave her husband.
(Sie schwor, dass sie unter keinen Umständen ihren Mann verlassen würde)

• Comparative constructions if the verb is not left out in the second part, especially if the subject of the comparative clause is rather long:

Spain’s financial problems were less acute than were those of Portugal
(Spaniens Finanzprobleme waren weniger akut, als diejenigen Portugals waren)

See also

V2 position # V2 position compared to "inversion" in English

Inversion with full verbs

Certain verbs, particularly positional and movement verbs, also allow constructions in English where the subject follows these verbs. One speaks here of "stylistic inversion" (because this construction is not mandatory and stylistically conspicuous) or of "locative inversion" (because instead of the subject, place or direction information often forms the beginning of the sentence). Examples:

In the corner sat little Jack Horner
Out of the house came a tiny old lady

Inversion in the Romance languages

The Romance languages ​​are generally described as languages ​​with the normal word order SVO, but they have more word order freedom than z. B. English. It is assumed that there are several different types of constructions in which the verb comes before the subject.

Inversion with pronouns in French

In French, especially in the written language, there is a construction with inversion of verb and personal pronouns , which is used to form question sentences (both yes / no questions and supplementary questions), e.g. B .:

Avez-vous  aimé  le film?
(haben-Sie geliebt den Film)
„Hat Ihnen der Film gefallen?“

Où  veut-il aller?
(wo will-er gehen)
„Wohin will er gehen?“

This construction is only possible with weak personal pronouns that are attached to the verb (Klitika) . Furthermore, it only occurs in main clauses, not in subordinate clauses. The usual analysis is that the verb has been dragged forward here; this is in line with the observation that in embedded interrogative sentences no verb prefixes are possible in many other languages ​​(see above on English).

Stylistic inversion

There is a second type of inversion construction called "stylistic inversion", although it may be mandatory in certain cases. It does not consist in placing the verb in front of it, but in following the subject at the end of the sentence, whereby these subjects are not a pronoun but a full noun phrase . This construction is in principle possible in all Romance languages, but with different restrictions. In French it is only possible in question clauses , as well as in Subjonctif (subjunctive for dependent subordinate clauses):

Où est allée Marie?
„Wohin ist Marie gegangen?“

Je veux que parte Paul.
(ich will dass weggeht(subj.) Paul)
„Ich will dass Paul geht.“

In contrast to the pronominal inversion, the subject “Marie” in the first example above follows all verbs in the sentence (“est + allée”); the sequence * Où est Marie allée , on the other hand, would be grammatically impossible, in contrast to Où est-elle allée . Furthermore, this type of inversion can also be found in subordinate clauses, see the above Subjonctif sentence and the following embedded question mark:

Je me demande quand est venue Marie.
(ich mich frage wann ist gekommen Marie)
„Ich frage mich, wann Marie gekommen ist“.

Although there is a question sentence, it is obviously a different construction than the pronominal inversion, namely the same construction that is also possible in propositional sentences in other Romance languages. Examples of this type of inversion in propositions show e.g. B. Spanish, and somewhat more limited Italian:

Spanish:

Ha leido el libro Juan
(hat gelesen das Buch Juan)
„Juan hat das Buch gelesen“

Italian:

Ha telefonato Gianni
(hat angerufen Gianni)
„Gianni hat angerufen“

(For more examples see also: Catalan Language # Morphology and Syntax )

Apparent inversion in German

In descriptions of German grammar, the term "inversion" is often found for sequences in which the subject is behind the verb in the declarative sentence. On the basis of a comparison with English or French, it would appear reasonable to regard the relationship of the following two sentences as an inversion as well:

(a) Die Katze hat eine Maus gefangen
(b) Hat die Katze eine Maus gefangen?

In English we speak of inversion because questions can be derived from a sentence form SVO in a form that corresponds to the German (b) by placing the auxiliary verb in front; the SVO sentence is the "normal" sentence form in English. However, in German it is the other way around, i.e. H. Sentence (a), which shows the subject in front of the verb, can be derived from a form like (b) by rearranging ( topicalising ) the subject. This is because German is a verb-second language , while English is an SVO language. In the field model of the German sentence , this is represented in such a way that the verb takes the same position in each main sentence, namely the so-called "left bracket", regardless of whether it is a verb first sentence or a verb second sentence , and regardless of whether the second clause begins with the subject or an object, etc.:

Apron	left bracket	midfield	right bracket
-	Has	the cat a mouse	captured?
Apparently	Has	the cat a mouse	captured
The cat	Has	(--) a mouse	captured
What	Has	the cat (--)	captured?

It follows from this that the above sentence (b) cannot be described as “inversion”, at least not in the sense of an operation that derives a sentence form from another, more fundamental form. Rather, for systematic reasons, the middle field position of the subject (after the finite verb) is the base position. It is the same position where the subject is also in subordinate clauses, without there being an inversion:

Apron	left bracket	midfield	right bracket
-	Has	the cat a mouse	captured?
-	if	the cat a mouse	caught

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See e.g. B. Rodney Huddleston & Geoffrey K. Pullum. 2002. The Cambridge grammar of the English language . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. P. 1363 ff.
2. ↑ See e.g. B. Joan Bresnan (1994): "Locative Inversion and the Architecture of Universal Grammar". Language, 70-1, 72-131; Beth Levin & Malka Rappaport (1995): Unaccusativity . Cambridge MA: MIT Press. Chapter 6.
3. ^ Aafke Hulk & Jean-Yves Pollock (2001): "Subject Positions in Romance and the Theory of Universal Grammar" In: A. Hulk & J. Pollock (eds.): Subject Inversion in Romance and the Theory of Universal Grammar Oxford University Press. Pp. 3-10
4. ↑ George A. Kaiser: verb placement and Verbstellungswandel in the Romance languages. Max Niemeyer verlag, Tübingen 2002, ISBN 3-484-30465-0 ( digitized version ( memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ) 
5. ^ Pilar Barbosa (2001) "On inversion in wh-questions in Romance." In A. Hulk & J. Pollock (eds.): Subject Inversion in Romance and the Theory of Universal Grammar Oxford University Press. Pp. 20-59.
6. ↑ Barbosa (2001), Section 3.5
7. ↑ = Example (22) from Barbosa (2001)
8. ↑ For an example of this way of speaking see http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/zwiebelfisch/zwiebelfisch-weil-das-ist-ein-nebensatz-a-350013.html
9. ↑ These alternatives are discussed in detail in: Wolfgang Sternefeld (2006), Syntax. A feature-based generative description of German. Tübingen: Stauffenburg; see v. a. Pp. 349-354