Amy: fronting is fun!

[pne]

Amy has figured out about fronting things for emphasis or topicalisation (e.g. "Das darf ich nicht machen" as opposed to "Ich darf das nicht machen"), which is fairly common in German.

Apparently, she's still overgeneralising: just now she said "Drei bin ich Jahre alt" ("Three am I years old"), which is not valid syntax in my 'lect of German, but sounds cute!

(Valid alternatives, for me, are "Ich bin drei Jahre alt" ("I am three years old"), using stress, and "Drei Jahre bin ich alt" ("Three years am I old"), fronting the entire noun phrase, though that's not quite the same since it emphasises the noun phrase rather than just the numeral.)

Comments

[alsatia.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Using your English translations, I'd consider "I am three years old" to be valid, but not "Three years am I old" On the other hand, "Three years old am I" sounds fine.

[elgrande.livejournal.com]

I don't think pne meant to say that "Three years am I old" would be valid in English.

[pne.livejournal.com]

The English translations are only a weak guide to validity, since German uses fronting more extensively than English.

I've no idea why, though the fact that German retains more case morphology than English may play a part.

[elgrande.livejournal.com]

You forgot(?) "Drei Jahre alt bin ich."

[pne.livejournal.com]

I suppose so, yes.

[darth-spacey.livejournal.com]

Your notes on Amy's language development are always fascinating. This one might be the best yet, though. I imagine she may be mentally forming the compound adjective "Jahrealt", if that makes any sense to suggest.