Die Stellung der Objektpronomina in frühen okzitanischen und katalanischen Texten im Vergleich

Abstract

The article stresses mainly the comparison of the position of the clitic object pronouns with respect to finite verbs in two languages from the (Eastern) Pyrenees, Catalan and Occitan. The position of the weak pronoun in relation to the finite verb in Old Occitan and Old Catalan shows interesting differences to the modern varieties of these languages and to Old French. Both languages allow, like contemporary European Portuguese, the positioning of the object pronoun directly after the finite verb in unmarked main sentences. Unlike in Old French this applies irrespective of verb-first-constructions with the verb in the absolute front position (socalled Tobler-Mussafia Law), where in all medieval Romance languages a postposition occurs.