German PP-dislocations to the left and to the right: Against a symmetric approach

Abstract

We consider the discourse functions of PP-dislocations to the left (PP-LD) and to the right (PP-RD) in German. Whilst it is often assumed that these constructions are symmetric, we argue that they differ in a crucial way. In the majority of cases PP-LD is built with the clause-internal proform da (approx.: ‘there’), and the PP serves to restrict a ‘topic situation’ da refers to. PP-RD, on the contrary, is only possible with a clause-internal proform consisting of a preposition + pronoun. Cases where da as clause-internal proform is used with a coreferent PP to the right of the sentence are shown to be ‘afterthoughts’, i.e. repair constructions.