Examples
The following examples from German illustrate typical instances of scrambling:
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a. dass der Mann der Frau die Bohnen gab that the man the woman the beans gave 'that the man gave the woman the beans' b. dass der Mann die Bohnen der Frau gab c. dass der Frau der Mann die Bohnen gab d. dass der Frau die Bohnen der Mann gab e. dass die Bohnen der Mann der Frau gab f. dass die Bohnen der Frau der Mann gab
These examples illustrate typical cases of scrambling in the midfield of a subordinate clause in German. All six clauses are acceptable, whereby the actual order that appears is determined by pragmatic considerations such as emphasis. If one takes the first clause (clause a) as the basic order, then scrambling has occurred in clauses b–f. The three constituents der Mann, der Frau, and die Bohnen have been scrambled.
Scrambling in German is associated with the midfield, i.e. the part of the sentence that appears between the finite verb and a non-finite verb in main clauses and between the subordinator (= subordinating conjunction) and the finite verb in an embedded clause (= subordinate clause). There is a clear tendency for definite pronouns to appear to the left in the midfield. In this regard, definite pronouns are frequent candidates to undergo scrambling, e.g.
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weil mich die Kinder oft ärgern because me the kids often bother 'because the kids often bother me' ob uns jemand helfen wird whether us someone help will 'whether someone will help us'
The canonical position of the object in German is to the right of the subject. In this regard, the object pronouns mich in the first example and uns in the second example have been scrambled to the left, so that the clauses now have OS (object-subject) order. The second example is unlike the first example insofar as it, due to the presence of the auxiliary verb wird 'will', necessitates an analysis in terms of a discontinuity.
Read more about this topic: Scrambling (linguistics)
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