From Subordination to Coordination? : Verb-second position in German causal and concessive constructions

German, which has "verb-second" as its basic word order in independent sentences, requires final position of the finite verb in subordinate clauses. Thus, adverbial clauses introduced by "subordinate" conjunctions, such as WEIL ("because") and OBWOHL ("although") according to German grammar display "verb-final" ordering (e.g. "ich geh jetzt nach Hause, weil ich mude bin"; "ich esse kein Fleisch, obwohl ich's eigentlich gern mag"). German thus provides a clear signal for the grammatical incorporation of one clause into another.[3] However, during the last ten to fifteen years, in spoken colloquial German as well as in certain written genres that reproduce colloquial language (e.g., interviews, dialogues in advertisement), speakers are tending more and more to use main clause order (and thus "verb-second"-position)[4] in final adverbial clauses introduced by WEIL and OBWOHL.[5]

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