Das Vorfeld: zu einem Grundterminus der deutschen Syntax

The article examines the notion of Vorfel ‘prefield’, one of the basic terms of German syntax. The article is diachronic and covers the period from the 17th century to 1937, when Erich Drach first introduced the term Vorfeld in his work Grundgedanken der deutschen Satzlehre. The aim of this article is to show whether and to what extent the prefield (Vorfeld) and the ways it can be filled were addressed by the grammars and scholarly treatises of the period under discussion, as well as by Drach’s work. Additionally, the authors ponder upon the role played by sentence bracket (Satzklammer) in older grammars while defining the prefield. The article opens with a brief description of the term Vorfeld from a contemporary perspective.