Sintaksis in Duits-onderrig: die plasing van die onderwerp

Abstract

In spite of strong similarities between German and Afrikaans syntax, there are also considerable differences, such as the positioning of the subject, which frequently appears much later in German sentences than in Afrikaans. This is evident, for example, in the comparison of a few parallel texts. An empirical investigation showed that the defennent of the subject undeniably creates problems for Afrikaans speaking students learning German. They find sentences with a deferred subject difficult to understand and find it even more difficult to construct their own sentences in this way. A few practical suggestions for teaching methods aimed at resolving these difficulties are presented here. Ten spyte van sterk ooreenkomste tussen die Duitse en Afrikaanse sintaksis bestaan daar ook wesenlike verskille, soos bv. ten opsigte van die plasing van die onderwerp, wat in Duitse sinskonstruksies dikwels later verskyn as in Ajrikaans. Dit blyk onder andere uit die vergelyking van 'n paar parallelle tekste. 'n Empiriese ondersoek het getoon dat hierdie vertraging van die onderwerp vir Afrikaanssprekendes wat Duits leer, heelwat probleme skep. Hulle vind dit moeilik om sinne met 'n vertraagde onderwerp te verstaan en nfJg moeiliker om self sulke sinne te konstrueer. Enkele praktiese wenke word aan die hand gedoen om hierdie probleme deur doelgerigte onderrig te bekamp.