The Influence of Text Type on Word Order of Old Germanic Languages

Text type--poetry, prose, translation--has not been considered in historical syntactic studies before, notes Cichosz (U. of Lodz), so she is forging new ground here. She compares patterns of word order in the contemporary Germanic languages, to determine the extent to which text type determines word order, and to see if the phenomenon is universal. She also tests Davis and Bernhard's hypothesis of a common West Germanic syntax in a more diversified sample of texts. The study served as her 2009 doctoral dissertation at the University of Lodz. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Anna Cichosz is a lecturer at the University of Lodz, where she completed her doctoral degree in 2009. Her research interests are focused on Old English and Old High German syntax, including the word order of Anglo-Saxon and early German poetry, prose and translations.