Kristina Poncin

Our central question studied here is whether there exists a preferred Gerrnan constituent order in sentences. Assuming that there are several factors controlling deviations from the preferred constituent order, we focus on the influence grammatical function has on the constituent order in the middle field. To this end we present a model of preferred German constituent order in the middle field and its experimental evaluation. Structure of this text. After a short synopsis of important research done in the field of constituent order we present our own model of preferred Gerrnan constituent order in the so called Mittelfeld. Finally, the evaluation of this model by a sentence generation experiment is presented and discussed. Further statistical analyses of the experimentally gained data made it possible to expand our predictions from the middle field into the whole sentence. Some aspects of the relation between preferred and canonical constituent order are also discussed.