Hypotax
As hypotaxis ( Greek ὑπό , hypo , "below" and τάξις , táxis , "order") is in the grammar , the subordination of a coset under a different set of designated (this other set of a main block or may be in turn a subordinate clause). A complex sentence that results from single or multiple hypotaxes is called sentence structure in German grammar (see there for examples).
A hypotactic relationship is often expressed through (subordinate) conjunctions .
In contrast to hypotax, there is paratax . In addition, a hypotax is only present if the subordinate clause has a grammatical function in relation to the superordinate clause (e.g. as a part of the superordinate clause ). It follows that parentheses (insertions), which also lead to a nesting of sentences, do not fall under the grammatical concept of hypotax.
Since subordinate clauses in German, similar to parentheses, can interrupt the main clause and further subordinate clauses can be inserted into these subordinate clauses, extensive use of such procedures leads to sentences that are difficult to understand. In the case of artfully extensive hypotactic-parenthetical structures, the result also speaks of a sentence period . Heinrich von Kleist or Thomas Mann are examples of authors with a very complex style of speech of this kind . In this context, the term “hypotaxe” is occasionally used as a term for conspicuously complex box or tapeworm sentences in a more general sense. The designation then possibly refers less to a certain grammatical structure than to a characteristic that characterizes entire texts (analogous to what applies to the opposite of the "paratactic style", see under Parataxe # "Paratactic style" in the literature ) .
