Theiler (2021): Denn as a Highlighting-Sensitive Particle

[The21] [Zhe25] [Day25]

[The21] analyzes German denn as a flavoring particle that signals the question is prompted by a salient/highlighted proposition in the discourse context: using denn signals that learning the clause's highlighted content is a necessary precondition for the speaker to proceed from a salient prior move. The polar/wh asymmetry (denn is freer in wh-questions) follows from highlighting-sensitivity, not from any contextual-evidence bias.

This study file records denn's left-peripheral layer assignment within the [Day25] cartography [SAP [PerspP [CP ...]]]: denn sits at PerspP, alongside its Mandarin parallel nandao ([Zhe25]). The PerspP analysis predicts that denn — like nandao — should be incompatible with subordinated interrogatives. The point of contrast with nandao is the wh-question compatibility of denn: denn is at the (matrix) PerspP layer but is not restricted to polar questions.

def Theiler2021.denn_layer : Particle → Features.QParticleLayer

Theiler's layer assignment for denn. The _ argument is unused because the layer is a theoretical overlay, not a computed property of the fragment entry.

Equations

• Theiler2021.denn_layer x✝ = Features.QParticleLayer.perspP

theorem Theiler2021.denn_is_PerspP : denn_layer German.Particles.denn = Features.QParticleLayer.perspP

denn sits at PerspP, the same layer as Mandarin nandao.

def Theiler2021.dennBias : Option Semantics.Questions.Bias.ContextualEvidence

Theiler's bias classification of denn: no contextual-evidence and no speaker-bias requirement — the felicity condition is a highlighting/precondition relation instead. This is the point on which denn differs from its evidence-requiring Mandarin parallel nandao (whose classification lives in Zheng2025), and the point on which Bayer/Obenauer-style evidence-sensitive analyses of denn would disagree.

Equations

• Theiler2021.dennBias = none

theorem Theiler2021.denn_wh_unlike_nandao : German.Particles.denn.LicensedIn Clause.Context.constituentInterrogative ∧ ¬Mandarin.QuestionParticles.nandao.LicensedIn Clause.Context.constituentInterrogative

Unlike Mandarin nandao, denn is licensed in constituent questions. Both are PerspP-layer particles, but denn lacks nandao's polar-only restriction. Derived from the fragments' distribution facets.