On the use of passives across Germanic (original) (raw)

In this paper, we test the hypothesis that deaccented topicalization in a V2 language encodes the same information structure as passivization in a non-V2 language. We use quantitative evidence from parallel parsed corpora in order to explore the use of these syntactic options. A cursory overview of the data appears to support a parallel between V2 topicalization and passivization. However, when the data is examined in more detail, this strong and attractive hypothesis is ultimately falsified. This leaves a question: although the two constructions are not the same, it is not obvious how to distinguish between their information structures under current assumptions about IS. Therefore, we will argue that this negative result is most useful in showing where the current understanding of the syntax-information structure interface is lacking. Finally, we suggest a way that the interaction between information structural constituency and syntactic constituency may help to distinguish between these two constructions, and suggest a new line of research into the syntax-IS interface.