On the habitual verb pflegen in German. Its use, origin, and development

Linguistics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Łukasz Jędrzejowski
Keyword(s):  
Subject Position ◽  
Common Denominator ◽  
Middle High German ◽  
Old High German ◽  
Distributional Properties ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Matrix Subject ◽  
Subject Raising

Abstract In this article, I examine the distributional properties, emergence conditions, and development of the habitual verbal head pflegen ‘use(d) to’ in the history of German. Synchronically, I argue that Present-day German possesses subject to subject raising verbs and that they can all be brought down to a common denominator: They allow promotion of the embedded subject into the matrix subject position (= A-movement). However, at the same time I argue that German subject to subject raising verbs differ and that their heterogeneity follows from their semantics. What all this boils down to is that German subject to subject raising verbs do not form a uniform class, neither semantically nor syntactically. As for pflegen, I account for its syntactic peculiarities referring to its functional status, i.e., the status of being a habitual head. Diachronically, I show that pflegen grammaticalized into an AspHAB-head in the transition from Old High German (750–1050) to Middle High German (1050–1350) and that this grammaticalization process restricted the way it behaves in Present-day German.

On the loss of copy-raising and the development of infinitive complements

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-109
Author(s):  
Łukasz Jędrzejowski
Keyword(s):  
Subject Position ◽  
Old High German ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Complement Clauses ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Embedded Clause ◽  
Copy Raising ◽  
Matrix Subject ◽  
Dependent Clause

This article deals with (non‑)finite complement clauses embedded under the inceptive phase predicate beginnen ‘begin’ in the history of German and illustrates how infinitives replaced finite clauses headed by the complementizer dass ‘that’. The main objective is to show that it was possible in Old High German (750–1050) to raise the subject from the embedded clause into the matrix subject position, crossing a CP boundary and leaving a pronominal copy in the dependent clause (copy-raising). Moreover, it is claimed that beginnen in its function as a subject control verb instantiates a recent development in the history of German and that this use developed out of a raising structure.

Apparent raising in Tongan and its implications for multiple case valuation

2021 ◽  
pp. 192-215
Author(s):  
Yuko Otsuka
Keyword(s):  
Subject Position ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Embedded Clause ◽  
Parametric Adjustment ◽  
Matrix Subject ◽  
Case Feature ◽  
Activity Condition

Apparent raising (AR) constructions in Tongan resemble raising constructions in that the thematic subject of the embedded clause seems to occur in the matrix subject position. Unlike regular raising, however, Tongan AR shows characteristics of A-bar movement such as long-distance dependency, sensitivity to islands, and syntactic ergativity. This chapter argues that Tongan AR involves three operations: (a) topic movement of a DP to the embedded [Spec, C], (b) cancelation of the previous valuation of the case feature on the DP in [Spec, C], and (c) subsequent case valuation under Agree with the matrix v. The proposed analysis calls for a parametric adjustment to the activity condition to allow for multiple case valuation: in languages like Tongan, a DP located at the edge of a phase not only remains active, but the valuation of its case feature gets undone upon completion of the CP phase.

scholarly journals Levels of Reality

Languages ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald W. Langacker
Keyword(s):  
Structural Features ◽  
Epistemic Status ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Matrix Clause ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Levels Of Reality

Two fundamental aspects of conceptual and linguistic structure are examined in relation to one another: organization into strata, each a baseline giving rise to the next by elaboration; and the conceptions of reality implicated at successive levels of English clause structure. A clause profiles an occurrence (event or state) and grounds it by assessing its epistemic status (location vis-à-vis reality). Three levels are distinguished in which different notions of reality correlate with particular structural features. In baseline clauses, grounded by “tense,” the profiled occurrence belongs to baseline reality (the established history of occurrences). Basic clauses incorporate perspective (passive, progressive, and perfect), and since grounding includes the grammaticized modals, as well as negation, basic reality is more elaborate. A basic clause expresses a proposition, comprising the grounded structure and the epistemic status specified by basic grounding. At higher strata, propositions are themselves subject to epistemic assessment, in which conceptualizers negotiate their validity; propositions accepted as valid constitute propositional reality. Propositions are assessed through interactive grounding, in the form of questioning and polarity focusing, and by complementation, in which the matrix clause indicates the status of the complement.

The time course of long-distance anaphor processing in Korean

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chung-hye Han ◽  
Dennis Ryan Storoshenko ◽  
Betty Hei Man Leung ◽  
Kyeong-min Kim
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Null Pronouns ◽  
Anaphor Resolution ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Null Pronoun ◽  
Matrix Verb ◽  
Matrix Subject

While early studies on the Korean long distance anaphor caki describe it to be subject-oriented in that it can only take subject antecedents, similarly to long distance anaphors in many other languages, more recent studies observe that it can take non-subject antecedents as well, especially in the context of certain verbs. This paper presents a visual-world eye-tracking study that tested whether the antecedent potential of caki in an embedded subject position is a function of the matrix subject, the matrix verb, or both, and whether the subject and the verb effects constrain the interpretation of caki in the same way as null pronouns, a commonly used pronominal form in Korean. These questions were addressed through an investigation of how the subject effect and the verb effect were manifested in processing these pronouns. We found that when caki, but not null pronouns, was first processed, there were more fixations to the images representing the matrix subject than the images representing the matrix object regardless of the matrix verb. We further found that the proportions of fixations to the images in both caki and null trials changed after the processing of some sentential verbs. These findings demonstrate that while null pronoun interpretation is a function of the verb effect only, caki-interpretation is a function of both the subject and the verb effect, supporting a multiple-constraints approach to anaphor resolution.

scholarly journals Deutsche Teil- und Regrammatikalisierung

2018 ◽  
pp. 31-47
Author(s):  
John Ole Askedal
Keyword(s):  
Initial Position ◽  
Middle High German ◽  
Personal Pronoun ◽  
Old High German ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
History Of ◽  
Syntactic Status ◽  
The Way

The present paper deals with some putative cases of so-called ‘halted’ or ‘arrested grammaticalization’ in the history of German. The following phenomena are discussed: Old High German perfect auxiliaries; the modals ‘shall’, ‘will’ and the transformative copula werden as sources of future auxiliaries in Old, Middle and New High German; some shortened verb forms in Middle High German; the Old High German etc. pronoun of identity der selbo used as a demonstrative or personal pronoun; the inflection of determiners, quantifiers and adjectives in New High German; Old High German thô, dô and Middle High German ez as syntactic ‘place-holders’ in sentence-initial position; the syntactic status of the German so-called ‘ethical dative’; and the demise of Old High German -lîhho, Middle High German -lîche as an adverb-forming suffix. It is claimed that certain general language-specific, ‘characterological’ patterns influence the way in which the grammaticalization developments in question are halted or, sometimes, given another direction by way of regrammaticalization.

Conditions on prominent internal possessors in Turkish

2019 ◽  
pp. 163-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asli Göksel ◽  
Balkiz Öztürk
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Body Part ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Adverbial Clause ◽  
Matrix Subject ◽  
Psych Verb

This chapter investigates the syntactic properties of the prominent possessor constructions in Turkish. Possessors of possessive phrases become prominent only in a set of well-defined constructions, namely, from within an adverbial clause, typically containing a body part idiom. These idioms have the structure NP-POSS V, where N is a noun of inalienable possession, V is an unaccusative verb, and the idiom itself is paraphraseable as a psych-verb. The chapter analyses the syntactic structure of these idioms and proposes that the subject position in the adverbial clause is occupied by PRO. PRO is in the c-command domain of the matrix subject and is the locus of the experiencer of the unaccusative verb. The possessor is coindexed with this experiencer via its morphosyntactic features.

Three diachronic sources for the development of -erei-based synthetic compounds in German

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-370
Author(s):  
Martina Werner
Keyword(s):  
Low Frequency ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Book Reading ◽  
German Language ◽  
Middle High German ◽  
Old High German ◽  
Synthetic Compounds ◽  
Free Spirit ◽  
History Of ◽  
Different Sources

This article investigates the historical development of synthetic compounds with the suffix -erei, such as German Buchleserei ‘book reading’. Synthetic compounding has been attested in older language stages of German, as in Old High German kirihwihî ‘church consecration’ or Middle High German bluotspîunge ‘blood spitting’. In the history of the German language, synthetic compounds are the last step in the development of a nominalizing suffix. Suffixes attach first to simplex bases (such as German Leserei ‘reading’), and only afterwards can they form synthetic compounds with a compound base (such as Bücherleserei ‘reading of books’). The development of verbal synthetic compounding results from three different sources: a) a suffixal pattern based on compound nominals (such as exocentric Freigeist ‘free spirit’ becomes Freigeisterei ‘free spiritedness’), where the pattern develops the ability to nominalize VPs (such as Nichtstuerei ‘doing nothing’); b) root compounds which develop the ability to take a deverbal head suffixed by -erei (such as Venus–Nascherey ‘Venusian nibbling’); and c) low-frequency - erei-compounds which originate from inherited idiomatic compound verbs (such as Ehebrecherei ‘adultery’, lit. ‘marriage-breakery’ > ehebrechen (V) ‘to commit adultery’, lit. ‘to marriage-break’). The paper delineates the three developments for different word formation types which lead to the morphological distribution of present-day German.

The History of the Third Nasal Phoneme of Modern German

PMLA ◽  
1968 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 340-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert Penzl
Keyword(s):  
Middle High German ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Old High German ◽  
The Third ◽  
History Of ◽  
Early New High German ◽  
Phonemic Status

The distributional environment of the nasal phoneme /ŋ/, compared to those of /n/ /m/, is restricted in Modem German but reflects its origin from an allophone (variant) of /n/ before velar consonants. The phoneme developed first in medial position through the loss of /g/ in the cluster /ng/; in final position the frequent replacement of /g/ by its fortis counterpart /k/ largely prevented this loss. Late Old High German n-spellings (e.g., sinen), particularly in the 11th-century Physiologus, are the first evidence for the /ŋ/-phoneme, which generally continues, however, to be written ng (singeri). Middle High German assonances made medial/ŋŋ/ likely, which is still found in some Swiss dialects. Descriptive statements by Early New High German grammarians clearly reveal the phonemic status of /ŋ/.

This sentence sucks to analyse: Are suck, bite, blow, and work tough-predicates?

2011 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Pytlyk
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Canadian English ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
The Status ◽  
Permanent Property ◽  
Semantic Properties ◽  
Diagnostic Properties ◽  
Matrix Subject

AbstractThis paper investigates tough-predicates and whether four verbs (suck, bite, blow, and work) can function as this type of predicate. The theoretical analysis uses two syntactic and two semantic properties of prototypical tough-predicates to determine the status of the tough-verb candidates. Syntactically, tough-predicates select a to-infinitival complement and require a referential dependency between the matrix subject and the object gap in the complement clause. Semantically, the matrix subject must possess an inherent or permanent property and tough-predicates assign an “experiencer” role. From these four diagnostic properties, the analysis concludes that suck, bite, and blow are indeed tough-verbs, while the conclusions concerning work are less definitive. To complement the conclusions of the theoretical analysis, native speaker judgements were collected from 22 Canadian English speakers. The results show that for a majority of the consultants, suck, bite, and blow can function as tough-predicates. The behaviour of these verbs suggests that suck, bite, and blow (and possibly work) should be added to the small list of known tough-verbs.

Diachrone Perspektiven im Historischen deutschen Valenzwörterbuch

Glottotheory ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Albrecht Greule
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sections ◽  
Middle High German ◽  
Old High German ◽  
Semantic Field ◽  
History Of ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractThe Historic German Valency Dictionary should not be only a synchronic description of the valency of a selection of Old High German, Middle High German and Early Hew High German verbs, but also illustrate the history of valency (diachronic) of these verbs within a semantic field. This paper gives an overview of the previous research undertaken in the field of the history of valency. Based on a case study, it develops a method to illustrate the history of valency by the comparison of synchronic historic cross-sections.

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