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

Visualising social divisions in Berlin: children's after-school activities in two contrasted city neighbourhoods

Dieser Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Verbindung sozialer und räumlicher Abgrenzung am Beispiel städtischer Segregation. In einer Studie wurden die Erfahrungen von Kindern und Jugendlichen in zwei unterschiedlichen Berliner Bezirken (Kreuzberg und Zehlendorf) mithilfe subjektiver Landkarten untersucht. Ein besonderes Interesse galt dabei den Repräsentationen "subjektiver Territorien" in diesen Bezirken. Diese Territorien schienen größer und besser angeeignet im Falle der Zehlendorfer Kinder, die ein dichtes Netzwerk außerschulischer Aktivitäten; Freundschaften und Orte zeichneten. Im Unterschied hierzu gaben die Kinder aus dem benachteiligten Bezirk (Kreuzberg) nur wenige Orte für ihre außerschulischen Aktivitäten an, vor allem bedeutsam war ein kostenlos zugänglicher Jugendklub. Es wird, hiervon ausgehend, diskutiert, dass die kindliche Raumaneignung von sozialen Aktivitäten, finanziellen Ressourcen und vom verfügbaren kulturellen Kapital abhängt.The article raises the issue of interconnectedness of social and spatial divisions, and addresses this issue through considering the phenomenon of urban segregation. The study explores children's and young people's experiences in two socially contrasted neighbourhoods in Berlin through subjective maps drawn by the children. The article focuses on major differences between children's representations of their "subjective territory" in the two segregated areas. Such territory looks larger and better explored in the drawings of children from a socially advantaged area, who picture a dense network of after-school "enrichment" activities and friends' homes. In contrast, children, mostly migrant, from a socially disadvantaged area depict rather few places for spending time after school, one of the most important of them being a free-access youth club. The article argues that children's social exploration of their neighbourhood is activity-bound and depends on financial resources and cultural capital available to these children.El artículo plantea la cuestión de la interconectividad de divisiones sociales y espaciales, y considera el fenómeno de la segregación urbana. El estudio explora las experiencias de niños y jóvenes en dos barrios socialmente contrastantes en Berlín a través de mapas subjetivos dibujados por ellos mismos. El artículo se centra en las diferencias centrales entre las representaciones de los niños de sus "territorios subjetivos" en las dos áreas segregadas. Tal territorio se ve más amplio y mejor explorado en los dibujos de niños de un área socialmente privilegiada, que describen una red densa de las actividades "enriquecedoras" después de clases y los hogares de sus amigos. En contraste, los niños, principalmente inmigrantes, de un área socialmente perjudicada representan pocos lugares para pasar el tiempo después de la escuela, siendo uno de los más importantes de ellos un club juvenil de libre acceso. El artículo argumenta que la exploración social del barrio por parte de los niños es una actividad limitada y depende de los recursos económicos y del capital cultural disponible para ellos

Visualización de divisiones sociales en Berlín: Actividades después de clases de niños en dos barrios contrastados

The article raises the issue of interconnectedness of social and spatial divisions, and addresses this issue through considering the phenomenon of urban segregation. The study explores children's and young people's experiences in two socially contrasted neighbourhoods in Berlin through subjective maps drawn by the children. The article focuses on major differences between children's representations of their "subjective territory" in the two segregated areas. Such territory looks larger and better explored in the drawings of children from a socially advantaged area, who picture a dense network of after-school "enrichment" activities and friends' homes. In contrast, children, mostly migrant, from a socially disadvantaged area depict rather few places for spending time after school, one of the most important of them being a free-access youth club. The article argues that children's social exploration of their neighbourhood is activity-bound and depends on financial resources and cultural capital available to these children. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1002353Dieser Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Verbindung sozialer und räumlicher Abgrenzung am Beispiel städtischer Segregation. In einer Studie wurden die Erfahrungen von Kindern und Jugendlichen in zwei unterschiedlichen Berliner Bezirken (Kreuzberg und Zehlendorf) mithilfe subjektiver Landkarten untersucht. Ein besonderes Interesse galt dabei den Repräsentationen "subjektiver Territorien" in diesen Bezirken. Diese Territorien schienen größer und besser angeeignet im Falle der Zehlendorfer Kinder, die ein dichtes Netzwerk außerschulischer Aktivitäten; Freundschaften und Orte zeichneten. Im Unterschied hierzu gaben die Kinder aus dem benachteiligten Bezirk (Kreuzberg) nur wenige Orte für ihre außerschulischen Aktivitäten an, vor allem bedeutsam war ein kostenlos zugänglicher Jugendklub. Es wird, hiervon ausgehend, diskutiert, dass die kindliche Raumaneignung von sozialen Aktivitäten, finanziellen Ressourcen und vom verfügbaren kulturellen Kapital abhängt. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1002353El artículo plantea la cuestión de la interconectividad de divisiones sociales y espaciales, y considera el fenómeno de la segregación urbana. El estudio explora las experiencias de niños y jóvenes en dos barrios socialmente contrastantes en Berlín a través de mapas subjetivos dibujados por ellos mismos. El artículo se centra en las diferencias centrales entre las representaciones de los niños de sus "territorios subjetivos" en las dos áreas segregadas. Tal territorio se ve más amplio y mejor explorado en los dibujos de niños de un área socialmente privilegiada, que describen una red densa de las actividades "enriquecedoras" después de clases y los hogares de sus amigos. En contraste, los niños, principalmente inmigrantes, de un área socialmente perjudicada representan pocos lugares para pasar el tiempo después de la escuela, siendo uno de los más importantes de ellos un club juvenil de libre acceso. El artículo argumenta que la exploración social del barrio por parte de los niños es una actividad limitada y depende de los recursos económicos y del capital cultural disponible para ellos. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs100235

Negotiating children’s spatial freedom: three Parisian families

Numerous studies in Children’s Geographies show that children in Western countries have less and less independent spatial mobility. There is also a growing public concern that not many children walk to school or spend time outside on their own. Using a multi-method approach including interviews, child- and parent- guided walks in the area, photos taken by children and children’s maps, the research takes a closer look at how decisions on children’s spatial freedom are made in three Parisian families. In one family, the “mother hen” has an uncompromising strategy to protect her boys from dangers of the street by all means. Another mother’s way of relating to her urban area is to enjoy it - and let her young daughters enjoy it, too, and make the most use of outdoor space. The third family’s control of their children’s unsupervised access to the street is measured - and consciously progressively diminishing. The paper explores the reasons for such differences in parental strategies. It also elaborates on the means which parents use to make sure they do not worry when their children are outside, including teaming up with a sibling or a friend, sight and voice accessibility, regular checks, and children’s self-control

Mapping emotions: how children with different immigration backgrounds experience and picture their Parisian and Berliner neighbourhoods

The paper draws a comparison between children with different types of immigration backgrounds: first generation immigrants, recently arrived to Paris or Berlin; second generation immigrants, and finally, children coming from expatriate, transnational families. On the whole, 12 school classes from 8 city areas took part in the study, and the children’s perception of their neighbourhoods was explored with the help of a questionnaire and children’s subjective maps. It is argued that different immigration backgrounds can actually produce different emotional geographies, and that the types of immigration backgrounds are closely connected with the phenomenon of residential and educational segregation. Thus, second generation immigrant children who participated in the research, are located in the disadvantaged areas and lack access to extracurricular activities and the city’s cultural life that their peers from expatriate families enjoy. In Berlin, not speaking their host country’s language properly is a major hindrance on the education ladder for immigrant children, while for children from transnational families being bilingual is an advantage and a guarantee of access to excellent education in future. One of the ways to bridge the gap between these very different experiences in education can be in creating separate language classes for newly-arrived children, with the perspective of their further integration into the full school curriculum. This is discussed based on the example of the CASNAV, French organisation which deals with placement of recently arrived children into school

Cars, dogs and mean people: environmental fears and dislikes of children in Berlin and Paris

The new social studies of childhood consider children active and creative users of their immediate environments. To make our cities more child-friendly, we need to understand how children perceive and explore their neighbourhoods, what they find attractive or unattractive about them. The research was carried out in socially and architecturally contrasted areas of two European capitals -Paris and Berlin, and involved, on the whole, 200 schoolchildren aged 10-13. To study children's attitudes towards spaces and places in these areas, I used a questionnaire and the method of subjective maps: children were asked to draw their way home from school, as well as "their territory", and to mark their maps with specially designed "emoticons". Rather than studying differences in environmental attitudes between the groups of children, the paper draws on the qualitative analysis of those fears and dislikes that were found in common across the groups. Thus, the research resulted in a typology of children's dislikes and fears associated with their city areas. In particular, it was found out that places "occupied" by "mean or bizarre people", as well as by traffic, are strongly disliked or feared. Unpleasant images of the past (memories or "urban myths") or of the future (possible dangers) can also play the role of "the symbolical occupants" of a place and make children avoid it. The concept of a symbolically occupied territory is illustrated in a more detail on the example of a social housing estate on the outskirts of Paris. Examples of children's subjective maps are featured in the article. The research suggests that the next step in making urban environments more child-friendly would be a consultation process with children - their participatory involvement in the planning and design of city space