The fundamental left-right asymmetry in the Germanic verb cluster

Cinque (2005, 2009, 2014a) observes that there is an asymmetry in the possible ordering of dependents of a lexical head before versus after the head. A reflection on some of the concepts needed to develop Cinque’s ideas into a theory of neutral word order reveals that dependents need to be treated separately by class. The resulting system is applied to the problem of word order in the Germanic verb cluster. It is shown that there is an extremely close match between theoretically derived expectations for clusters made up of auxiliaries, modals, causative ‘let’, a main verb, and verbal particles. The facts point to the action of Cinque’s fundamental left-right asymmetry in language in the realm of the verb cluster. At the same time, not all verb clusters fall under Cinque’s generalization, which, therefore, argues against treating all cases of restructuring uniformly

Sirenengesänge. Neun Bamberger Vorträge zu Libretto und Musiktheater

Im Sommersemester 2015 am Institut für Romanistik der Universität Bamberg eine Reihe von acht Vorträgen zum (Opern- und Operetten)Libretto und zum Musiktheater statt. Behandelt wurden die Unterschiede zwischen deutscher und französischer Operette; Exotismus im (italienischen und frnazösischen) Musiktheater des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts; Offenbach und sein Werk in der zeitgenössischen Karikatur; neue Formen des Erzählens im Musiktheater der Gegenwart; die Künstleroper; Probleme bei der Übersetzung von Barocklibretti; Mozarts Librettisten; das Verhältnis von Text, Musik und Inszenierung in Musiktheater und Chanson. Am Ende steht die Abschiedsvorlesung ders Herausgebers zu den Sirenen in Literatur und Musiktheater.During the summer half 2016, a series of 6 lectures about the libretto in opera and operetta took place at the Institut für Romanistik of Bamberg Universtiy. They dealt with the differences between French and German operetta; exoticism in the opera of the 17th / 18th centuries; Jacques Offenbach and his theatre in contemporary caricatures; new types of narrative in the opera today; the "Künstleroper"; how to translate Italian opera librettos of the 17th century; Mozart's librettists; the interrelations between text, music, and scene in opera and song. The volume is closed by the farewell lecture of the editor Albert Gier about the sirens in literature and opera