Open Access

Werner Frey

• The paper is concerned with the filling of the right edge of a German clause with different constituents: subconstituents of the clause, arguments and modifiers of the NP, appositions and right-dislocated elements. It is argued that these different ways of filling the right edge come about in quite different ways. Subconstituents of the clause are base generated at the right edge in syntax. Constituents of the NP and appositions get to the right edge postsyntactically, i.e., they are linearised there only in the phonological component. Finally, the appearance of right-dislocated constituents is the result of two well-established deletion processes operating on two adjacent clauses. The different mechanisms allow us to understand differences these elements show regarding positioning inside the right edge, binding and intonation. An important empirical generalisation put forward in the IDS-grammar can be captured. The grammar's controversial assumption that the right edge comprises a part which is disintegrated in between two syntactically integrated parts can be shown to be superfluous.