Partikeln in indogermanischen Sprachen

The typical Old Indo-European languages are pro-drop-languages. Therefore, the usage of pronouns for expressing the governing subject does not apply to standard sentences. As to be expected emphasized subject pronouns can then be used in marked situations – especially in the case of a contrastive topic. However, there is a third use that is not as trivial in the first place: The emphasized subject pronouns are supplemented by an additional particle. This third usage has a special function that is supposed to be determined in the following

The lengthened grade in Germanic hypocoristica

In Germanic a group of nouns belonging to the n-stems display a long *ē followed by geminate voiced stops, MHG tāpe ‘paw’ (*dēbban-), OHG tāpe, MHG hā(c)ke ‘hook’ (*hēggan-), OHG chrācco ‘uncinus: barb, fuscina: trident’ (*krēggan-), OHG chrāppo ‘aspidius, uncinus: barb’ (*krēbban-), MHG snācke snōcke ‘midge’ (*snēggan-). While Kluge explained geminate voiceless stops as lengthening before *n, he attributed geminate voiced stops to analogy. But the investigation about whether geminate voiceless stops are allowed following long vowels in Proto-Germanic reveals that Kluge’s opinion is indefensible. As sound symbolism and expressivity are present in the Germanic lexicon, it is assumed that mental phenomena caused these sounds. In this regard the status of the long *ē will be clarified. It is postulated that the long vowels in front of geminate voiced stops have the function of reinforcing expressivity by creating this phonetically odd mixture.Peer Reviewe

Morphologische Varianz in der Sprache Friedrich Schillers

The Dictionary of the Complete Vocabulary used by Friedrich Schiller, which is currently being compiled in Jena, displays morphological variants for numerous entries. The declension of foreign expressions in particular exhibit variation and thereby a kind of implicit uncertainty concerning which regularities apply. For instance, three different plural forms of the substantive Zar occur almost next to one another: Czaren, Czars und Czare. Today the speaker would decide on at least one of the variants, but Schiller's fluctuating use of language occurs within the bounds of a single speaker's grammatical competence. It is demonstrated how the influence of dialects, foreign pronounciation and the intended integration of these forms in the High German declension paradigm interact. It becomes obvious that Schiller was "experimenting" with the inflection of foreign terms. The conceptual basis of Optimality Theory makes it especially suitable for the explanation of such idiolect variance. It has the advantage over other theories that a number of competing grammatical systems need not be postulated

“Focus pronouns” in Old Latin reflexive constructions

This paper deals with a Latin reflexivization strategy distinct from other reflexive constructions. It consists of first and second person pronouns which are used to emphasize the first and second person referents in Old Latin comedy by certain emphasizing elements like ‑ met in egomet or ‑ te in tūte . The form and function of these emphasizing personal pronouns has not been observed and described yet. Moreover, the grammatical, semantic and pragmatic status of this reflexivization strategy has hitherto been unknown. The elements ‑ met and ‑ te are likely to be derived from suffixes which have an identifying and emphasizing function similar to German selbst ‘self’. Reflexivization here obviously is connected to focalization, a typologically well-known relationship

Komplexe Wortstrukturen: Komposition, Inkorporation, Polysynthese

Zugleich gedruckt erschienen im Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin unter der ISBN 3-7983-1943-X, ISSN 0343-8694.Die beiden Beiträge des vorliegenden Bandes behandeln aus jeweils unterschiedlichen Perspektiven die ‚wortbildenden‘ Verfahren Komposition, Inkorporation und Polysynthese. Der erste Beitrag stellt die Konstituentenstrukturen in nordamerikanischen inkorporierenden und polysynthetischen Sprachen dar, ihre strukturellen Unterschiede und ihr Verhältnis zur Syntax, zu morphologischer Produktivität, der Art der Argumentrealisierung und anderen Aspekten, die in Komposition ausgeschlossen sind. Der Schwerpunkt der Untersuchung liegt dabei auf Inuktitut (Eskimo) und den Salish Sprachen. Der zweite Beitrag zeigt die Entwicklung der (Nominal)Komposition vom Altindischen und Altgriechischen zu ihren heute charakteristischen Eigenschaften bzw. Beschränkungen. Warum in Komposition nicht stattfinden kann, was Inkorporation und Polysynthese ausmacht, wird im Kontrast der beiden Beiträge deutlich.The volume assembles two papers on word formation, each of which deals with the matter from an entirely different perspective and with respect to entirely different languages. The first paper is concerned with (noun) incorporation and further elaborates on polysynthesis in different North American languages families, focusing on Inuktitut (Eskimo). Its primary concern is with theoretically controversial topics such as pronominal arguments, and the capacities of morphology in relation to syntax. The second paper discusses in detail the diachronic development of composition in Indo-European languages, with special reference to Old Indic and Ancient Greek. It demonstrates the developments which caused the characteristic features of composition. In contrasting both papers it becomes clear why composition cannot bring about what makes up polysynthesis and incorporatio

Spatial cognition in landscape designations in the area of the Old European Hydronymy

Subject of the investigation are settlement names that refer to waters. These oikonyms are often the oldest. The research area is that of the Ancient European Hy-dronymy. The Old European hydronyms occur in Central Europe, in the Baltic region, in Southern Scandinavia, in the British Isles, in France, on the Iberian Peninsula and in Italy. The research question is, if the expression of spatial relationships in oiko-nyms with water words is a universal? It turns out to be also other naming strategies. The theoretical framework is Levinson’s (2008) description of spatial cognition. The connection of spatial cognition with landscape terms is new in toponomastics.Peer Reviewe

Colloquium: New Philologies / Sprechaktreduktion bei delokutiver Derivation

(VLID)449186

Zur Semantifizierung von Zahlwörtern: das Wort 'tausend' - eine germanisch-baltoslavische Isoglosse?

Gegenüber den Zahlen bis 'zehn' sind die unmittelbar darauffolgenden Zahlen in den indogermanischen Sprachen durchsichtige Bildungen. Das liegt daran, daß das indogermanische Zahlensystem auf dem Dezimalsystem aufgebaut ist und sich von der Zahl 'elf ' an Beziehungen zu 'zehn' herstellen lassen. Was nun die höheren Zah­ len, nämlich die für 'hundert' und 'tausend', angeht, so ist die Zahl 'hundert' auf 'zehn' ('zehn mal zehn') und die Zahl 'tausend' auf 'hundert' ('zehn mal hundert') beziehbar. Weil dem so ist, ist zu erwarten, daß Sprecher indogermanischer Sprachen fiir sieundurchsichtige Wörter für 'hundert' oder 'tausend' nach dem Wort 'zehn' bzw. 'hundert' umgebildet oder neugebildet haben. In der Tat ist dies bei dem gotischen Wort 'hundert' der Fall: Got. taíhuntehund (lmal), taíhuntaíhund (3mal), das syn­ chron als 'zehn Einheiten zu Hundert', d.h. 'in bezug auf Hundert', gedeutet werden konnte (Lühr 1977: 65), hat die Kontinuante von urgerm. *xunđa 'hundert' ersetzt