The proverbial German phenomenon of the verb-at-the-end about which droll tales of absentminded professors who would begin a sentence, ramble on for an entire lecture, and then finish up by rattling off a string of verbs by which their audience, for whom the stack had long since lost its coherence, would be totally nonplussed, are told, is an excellent example of linguistic recursion.

Summary

This quote highlights the linguistic phenomenon of the verb-at-the-end in German language and connects it to the concept of linguistic recursion. The quote mentions the amusing anecdotes of absentminded professors who would build their sentences in such a way that they would only reveal the verbs at the very end, utterly confusing their listeners. This showcases how recursive structures, whereby phrases and clauses are nested within each other, allow for complex sentence constructions in languages like German. The quote serves as an example illustrating the recursive nature of German grammar.

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