The purpose of this book istocompareand contrast syntacticstructures of German and Polish. I will to carry out this analysisbyusing the in theGerman linguistics cre ated the Valenz-Theory. The Valenz-Theory arised from Lucien Tesnier’s Depend
ence-Grammar. That is whythe Valenz is a special case of Dependence-Grammar.
I’mgoing to prove theinfluence of the main verb’sValenzon the grammatical or
derin both languages are to contrast. The Valenz-Theorysays that the main verb is able toopen empty places aroundhimself, that have to be filled or can befilled,so that a grammatical sentence could be form. The elements, that depends on the main verb have been designated as “actants“, the other, independent from the main verb, called
“circumstances“. There are two groups of elements with reference to the dependence on theVerb-Valenz. There are to distinguish between the Valenz-dependent elements -actants, andthe Valenz-independent elements - circumstances.
The Valenz-dependent elements (actants) builds twokinds ofgroups:
• the obligatory actants-they have to occur ina sentence; itmeans theyhavetofill the by the Verb-Valenz opened free spaces (contention places), so that a gram matical correct sentence canbebuilt,
• the facultative actants - theycan occur, but don’t have to; itmeans theycan fill the bythe Verb-Valenz opened free spaces, but also without using them a gram maticalcorrect sentence canbe built.
The Valenz-independent (circumstances) are generally free; it means they can al
ways be freely added to everysentence.This ruleseems to becontroversial, because not every circumstance can be freely added and some of them have to be added.
Some actants and some circumstanceseem also to be similar with reference to ap
pearance in the surface-structure, but the topicof my doctoral thesis doesn’t have to examine theproblem of demarcation between the facultative actantsandfree circum
stances.
Theorder of actants depends on the verb - valenz, because it orders notonly the quantity but also, or firstof all, the quality of actants. The quality ofactants is con nected with theirsemantic characteristics. We have to realize, that not only the syntac tic function, but also the semantic characteristics determines the basic order ofsyntac
ticelements.
As observed before, the Valenz is an ability of an element to open empty places arounditself(thatelement), thathave to be filled or canbe filled, so thata grammatical correct sentence can go inbeing.
There are three main levels of theValenz:
a. thesyntactic Valenz- it refers to the quantity of the actants and their syntactic functions,
b. thesemantic Valenz -itrelates to thequality of theactants - it means their se
mantic characteristics,
c. thepragmatic Valenz -thiskind of the Valenz refers to changes in the order,that can be done under a context or speaking situation. This level of the Valenz describes both possible repayments and permutation of syntactic elements, that in the neutral order don’t comeabout, under influence of a contextcanbe redeemed.
Thisbook is composed of 7 chapters.
Chapter 1 presents twothemostimportend Valenz-modells.
Chapter 2 relates to research of situation aboutthe syntax.
Chapter3 describesrules, thatare responsible for building the basic order in both languages. I tryto grasp anddescribe themechanism in the deep structure, that deter mines the linear order -theorder of thesurface-structure of a sentence. Thebasicplace of elements in the surface-structure results first of all from hierarchical-dependencial relations between them in the deep structure. This relations decide about the Valenz-statusofthe elements and thosesyntactic functions, witchdetermines theposition of an elementinthesurface-structure.
Actants and circumstances present different syntactic tendencies. The mostly ac tants are objects. Thoseobjects, thatarestronger connected with the mainverb, tends to appear on the right - theyexhibit therighttendency. The stronger an object is con nected with the main verb, the further onto right it moves. The weaker an object is connected with the main verb, the further onto left moves it. In thatwayconstitutes the basic order of objects. But in the neutral order can exist circumstances too. The cir
cumstancescantakeplaces, that haven’t been filled by actants.
But the strength of connection with the main verb isn’t the only one rule, that de cides aboutthe basic order of syntactic elements.
In chapter 4 I’ve described the rules, that are important for the basic order in the surface-structure. I’ve demonstrated, thatthe basic order not only cancome intobeing from the Valenz-status, but also can be proved by combination of syntactic elements among each other: actants vs. actants, actants vs. circumstances, circumstances vs.
circumstances. This canbe illustrated by changing theneutral position of theelements;
it means by putting them onto different places in the surface-structure. If a sentence, that has experiencea permutation, isfalse, we can see where an elementisn’t able to appear and witch orderis false. Ifa sentence iscorrect, we getknownaboutthe possi
blelinearorder. The correct order is a basic one, if theelements take their neutral posi tions. The correct order doesn’t need to be a basic one. It can be correct, but varied.
The variation comes about in case of a contextual situation, speaking situation or pragmatic conditions. The varied order provoked by pragmatic conditions ismarked, if an elementdoesn’t take a neutral position,but it takes an another oneandgetempha sized. More about saysthe next chapter,although it only touches theproblem,because itisn’tthesubject of my analysis.
Chapter 5refers to contextualdetermined variations of thebasic orderin German and Polishin contrastive respects. Thischapter talks about possible permutations at the surface-sentence, dependingon witch place an elementactuallytakes in the communi
cative structure of a sentence. The communicative structure is divided in topic and comment. Topic-elements are known and notas communicative important and dynamic as commentselements. The comment-element are new, that’s why they are more im portant and moredynamic then topic elements.
In the basic order every element takes his neutral place, as already known. The neutral place is marked, thatcommunicativeimportance and communicative dynamism agree with each other.Butsome elements can changetheir position inthe communica
tive structure, if communicative importance and dynamic disagree. Then a comment elementcanbe made toatopicelement. Afterchanging the communicative structure, the surface-structure has to bechanged too, so suchelement can or has to change his place too.
Chapter 6 has been dedicated to the analysis of the corpus. The corpus has been divided into following points:
• morphological form of elements - it determines hisposition at surface-sentence:
f. e. pronouns goes ahead to nouns,
• definiteness - definite elements precedeces indefinite elements,
• Valenz /semantic/ paraphrase - this point contains semanticdependsand syntac tic paraphrases as important for the order - semantic characteristics modifies the morphological rules,
• occupation of syntactic fields, Chapter 7 is made ofconclusions.
The Valenz is ableto constitute the basic order.Itis responsible for theorganization of syntactic structures inGerman and Polish. Not only the syntacticValenz determines the basic order,but also their semantic characteristics. The basic position of circum
stances depends on theirsemanticfunctionstoo.
Knowing the Valenz of a mainverbwe are able to predict the basic order. Fromthe Valenz you can conclude the basic order.