Grand Meeting 2006 in Solf

The Diderichsen sentence model
- a functional and formal approach to syntax

Henrik Jørgensen, University of Aarhus

My paper deals with the structure of the sentence model (dan.
“sætningsskemaet”) outlined by Paul Diderichsen in the 1930'ies and
developed further by Erik Hansen, Lars Heltoft and Hans Götzsche, among
others. The model itself is a relatively simple surface model. As I shall
try to show, its real sophistication lies in the possibility of developing
criteria for admission into the slots of the model. Diderichsen originally
considered a wealth of different possible criteria for the slots, among
others both functional and relational. In the classical version, however,
he constituted his slots on a morphological basis (cp. Diderichsen 1936,
(1946) 1962, 1966) is still the approach taken by Hansen (1977) 1997.
Later revisions have developed relational criteria (e.g. Götzsche 1994 and
my own in Jørgensen 2000a) or a combination of relational and
discourse-oriented criteria (Heltoft 1986 a,b, 1992 a,b, Jørgensen 2000b,
Togeby 2003).

Thus the sentence model has a flexibility in itself that lends it to
different kinds of approach. Its merits may be said to be of more
practical than theoretical nature. Nevertheless practical investigation is
well suited with this approach.

References

Diderichsen, Paul (1936): "Prolegomena til en metodisk dansk Syntax." In
Spang-Hanssen, E., Viggo Brøndal & Johannes Brøndum-Nielsen (eds..):
Forhandlinger paa det ottende nordiske Filologmøde i København den 12-14
August 1935. København: J. H. Schultz Forlag p. 41 - 46.

Diderichsen, Paul (1962 (1946)): Elementær dansk Grammatik. København:
Gyldendal.

Diderichsen, Paul (1966): Helhed og struktur. København: G. E. C. Gads
Forlag.

Götzsche, Hans (1994): Deviational Syntactic Structures. A Contrastive
Linguistic Study in the Syntax of Danish and Swedish. Göteborgs
Universitet, Institutionen för svenska språket.

Hansen, Erik (1997 (1977)): Dæmonernes Port. København: Hans Reitzel.

Heltoft, Lars (1986a): "Topologi og Syntaks". In Nydanske Studier 16-17,
København: Akademisk Forlag p. 105-130.

Heltoft, Lars (1986b): "The V/2 Analysis - A Reply from the Diderichsen
Tradition." In Dahl, Östen & Anders Holmberg (eds.): Scandinavian Syntax.
Stockholm: Institute of Linguistics, University of Stockholm p. 50 - 66.

Heltoft, Lars (1992a): "Topologiens plads i en sprogteori". In
Gre-ger-sen, Frans (ed.): Lingvistisk Festival = Sprogvidenskabelige
Arbejdspapirer fra Københavns Universitet 2/1992 p. 67 - 98.

Heltoft, Lars (1992b): "The Topology of Verb Second and SVO Languages. A
Study in the Sign Function of Word Order". In Herslund, Michael (ed.):
Word Order = Copenhagen Studies in Language 15. København:
Handelshøjskolens Forlag & Nyt Nordisk Forlag Arnold Busck p. 13 - 64.

Jørgensen, Henrik (2000a): Studien zur Morphologie und Syntax der
festlandskandinavischen Personalpronomina. Århus: Aarhus
Universitetsforlag.

Jørgensen, Henrik (2000b): “Københavnerskolen og de grundlæggende
syntaktiske kategorier”. Lecture, Aalborg University.

Togeby, Ole (2003): Fungerer denne sætning? København: Gads Forlag.