Umstrukturierung von Relativsätzen in pränominale Erweiterungen – ein Vergleich zwischen den Klassenstufen 3, 4, 6 und 9

Abstract The expansion of nominal structures is a linguistic phenomenon that has received increased attention in recent years. A number of corpus-linguistic studies have examined the occurrence of nominal structures in spoken and written academic texts (e. g., Obermayer 2013; Siekmeyer 2013; Schleppegrell 2001) and more recent studies have also analysed the complexity of such structures (e. g., Fischer 2017; Pohl 2017) and discussed differences in the structural complexity of nominal modifiers (e. g., Hennig 2016). The project NomiverSe 1 investigates how students in third, fourth, sixth, and ninth grade transform relative clauses into prenominal modifiers within (in)complete syntactic structures. For example, simple nominal structures in incomplete syntax such as ‘das Mädchen, das glücklich ist’ (‘the girl who is happy’) become ‘das glückliche Mädchen’ (‘the happy girl’), whereas highly-complex modifiers in sentences like ‘Das Buch, das häufig ausgeliehen wird, ist spannend’ (‘The book that is frequently borrowed is exciting’) become ‘Das häufig ausgeliehene Buch ist spannend’ (‘The frequently borrowed book is exciting’). A total of 196 students participated in the present study. The study provides new insights into linguistic development and the handling of complex nominal structures. Results show that younger students are less proficient at transforming relative clauses into prenominal modifiers. Simple structures are mastered early, but complex ones stay challenging, showing steady growth in syntactic and lexical skills.