Also darüber lässt sich ja streiten! - die Analyse von also in der Diskussion zu Diskurs- und Modalpartikeln

This thesis explores the relationship between the position, function and semantics of the German particle "also" (so). Traditionally, "also" is classified as a conjunctional adverb because it can fill the position in front of the finite verb in the German clause, the so-called "Vorfeld" (pre-field). In this position, it has a meaning similar to that of a conjunction but a distribution similar to that of an adverb. In other positions, however, the classification of "also" is less certain. This holds especially for "also" in the utterance- and sentence initial position typical of discourse particles but also for the use of "also" in the utterance- and sentence medial position typical of modal particles.

The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether the position itself has an impact on the actual function of a particle, such as "also". The discussion concentrates on the functions of "also" in utterance-initial and utterance-medial position. The results of the discussion relate to the definitions of the three particle classes mentioned above.