Orð og tunga - 01.06.2014, Síða 70
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Orð og tungn
ginning of the sentence.8 A similar variant is a construction in which
the pro-element seems to be 'doubled' (5). Except for some dialects,
this 'split construction' occurs only when the preposition begins with
a consonant (e.g. mit, zu, von). In pronominal adverbs connecting da-
or ivo- and a preposition with an initial vowel, an r is inserted (e.g.
darauf, woruber). Most grammars of standard German, such as the
Duden grammar (2009:581), do not consider discontinuous or other
variants of pronominal adverbs as standard. Moreover, according to
some authors, e.g. Eisenberg (2004:198), the 'double pro construction'
is restricted to cases in which the preposition begins with a vowel; as
a consequence the vowel in the second da- is usually dropped, e.g.
example (6).
(6) da habe ich nicht d[a]ran gedacht
this-(PRO) have I not this-(PRO)-r-of thought
'I have not thought of this'
Fig. 3. Areal distribution of discontinuous pronominal adverbs in the corpus Varian-
tengrammatik (left column: split construction, right column: double pro construction)
The prepositional eiement, however, does not always move to the last position.
Therefore, the term 'preposition stranding', which is sometimes used in gram-
mars (cf. Eisenberg 2004:198) or the research literature (Fleischer 2002a, b), can be
misleading.