The Complement of verba dicendi Parentheticals

The topic of this article is a quite frequent parenthetical construction in German. The predicate of this type of parenthetical is constituted by a verb which governs a COMP function, in particular a verbum dicendi or verbum sentiendi as for instance in Theo kam --- sagt Paul --- mit seinem Hund (Theo came --- says Paul --- with his dog). The value of this COMP function is not projected from a constituent within the parenthetical. Due to the interpretation of the construction, the host provides the complement of the parenthetical verb. It is argued that the value of the COMP function is represented by an f-structure whose PRED value is specified as 'pro'. This pronominal PRED value is anaphorically linked to the f-structure of the host. After the exposition of this account some restrictions on the this construction concerning the lexical choice of the parenthetical verb and its co-constituents will be consdered.