Verb clusters are a linguistic phenomenon where two or more verbs align in adjacent order. This paper discusses the structure of a certain type of verb cluster, namely modal infinitivo pro participio (IPP) structures, in main clauses of a moribund heritage variety of German, Moundridge Schweitzer German (MSG), spoken in Kansas. An acceptability judgment task was conducted with twelve participants to investigate two aspects of verb clusters in MSG. The first question concerned the integration of non-verbal elements, here the direct object (DO) and the negation particle (neg), in the verbal complex. The second question investigates whether MSG modal IPPs show variability in verb order, which is an essential characteristic of this type of verb cluster in other verb-cluster languages. The results show that modal IPP constructions in MSG have a fixed 2–3 verb order but allow object scrambling to some degree. Thus, while the ordering of verbs lacks syntactic variability, flexibility and variation are attested in the placement of the non-verbal constituents within the verbal complex. This is interpreted as the retention of an archaic dialectal trait.

动词类是一种语言现象，其中两个或多个动词以相邻顺序对齐。本文在堪萨斯州所说的德语濒死遗产变种Moundridge Schweitzer German（MSG）的主要条款中，讨论了某种类型的动词簇的结构，即模态无限参与式（IPP）结构。接受判断任务与12名参与者进行了调查的两个方面的味精动词集群。第一个问题涉及在言语复合物中非语言元素的整合，这里是直接宾语（DO）和否定粒子（neg）。第二个问题调查味精模式IPP是否s以动词顺序显示可变性，这是其他动词-群集语言中这种动词簇的基本特征。结果表明，味精中的模态IPP构造具有固定的2–3动词顺序，但允许对象加扰到一定程度。因此，虽然动词的顺序缺乏语法上的变异性，但非言语成分在言语复合物中的放置方式证明了灵活性和变异性。这被解释为保留了一种古老的方言特征。