Acquiring V2 in declarative sentences and constituent questions in German as a second language

German is a well-studied language within the PT framework and its predecessor, the Multidimensional Model (cf. Meisel, Clahsen & Pienemann 1981; Clahsen, Meisel & Pienemann 1983; Pienemann 1981, 1984, 1989, 1998; Clahsen 1984; Ellis 1989; Boss 1996, 2004; Jansen 2008; Baten 2013). However, no study has yet focused on constituent questions specifically for German, nor tested the Topic Hypothesis (Pienemann, Di Biase & Kawaguchi 2005) for this language or indeed its updated version, the Prominence Hypothesis, proposed in chapter 1, this volume. Furthermore, no study has yet conceptually and empirically compared the development of interrogative and declarative sentences, as proposed in this volume, in order to assess whether this generates any significant theoretical consequences. This chapter aims at filling these gaps on the basis of data collected for a study of the development of German syntax by Jansen (2008). Since the 2008 corpus includes content questions, we have the opportunity to investigate their development and compare it with that of declaratives in those learners who do produce both. In what follows, we will first present some relevant principles of German syntax, and hypothesize the developmental hierarchies for declaratives and interrogatives according to the Prominence Hypothesis (§ 2). There follows a brief consideration of the literature on the acquisition of German word order (§ 3) reporting, in particular, on results of two historically significant studies conducted within the PT traditional background (i.e., ZISA/Clahsen,Meisel & Pienemann 1983; Pienemann 1989).