description
The article deals with additions (Zusatz) in German online postings of comment forums. Additions represent one of the most frequently observed exbraciated structures in spoken German, i.e., structures placed outside the verbal bracket of a German sentence to the right. However, the latest studies point to the fact that additions are also used in the post-field of written German. The article first gives a theoretical overview of various post-field structures, then provides a definition of the term “addition” and describes its stylistic functions. In the syntactic and functional analysis, additions are analysed in user postings of comment forums, a relatively modern text type of computer-mediated communication that displays many characteristics of spoken language due to its interactivity and dialogicity. An analysis of 188 user postings (12,374 words) from different online newspapers and tabloid newspapers shows that additions are not only frequently used, but also demonstrate a great structural diversity and complexity, e.g., additions within additions, as well as various functional usages. In postings, which show characteristics of oral language, additions are used in ways that resemble their use in spoken language, i.e., they are primarily used for adding forgotten information, modification, gradation and, more rarely, correction of the preceding sentence. Interestingly, additions show little or no significant structural and functional variation across different topics and newspapers. This suggests that they represent a frequent and commonly used linguistic phenomenon in online postings of comment forums. However, there are some differences in their use with regard to individual users: interestingly, users with a high frequency of additions use additions of a particular structural type and function, which can be viewed as part of individual writing style.