Linguistische Berichte Heft 274


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Beiträge aus Forschung und Anwendung – Emanuela Sanfelici: On the strength of D0: case resolution phenomena in free relative clauses Abstract: This paper proposes a novel account of free relative clauses (RCs), which associates case resolution patterns to the typology of D0 heads à la Longobardi (1994), Guardiano & Longobardi (2005). Although free RCs generally obey matching requirements, certain languages tolerate configurations where the case assigned by the matrix clause to the nominal phrase containing the free RC conflicts with that assigned within the RC. Languages vary as to whether they allow for case conflicting configurations and apply case resolution, and, if they do, as to whether the case conflict is resolved in compliance with that assigned from the matrix or the RC probe. By adopting a cartographic approach to free RCs, I account for the linguistic variation by means of two ingredients: (a) the property of the D0 head in a given language, strong vs. weak D0, and, in turn, of the feature-sharing mechanisms between D0 and the lower heads; (b) the operation of chain reduction phrased in terms of a subset relation. – Christian Hugo Hoffmann: Die Philosophie der Philosophie: Was zeichnet genuin philosophische Fragen aus? Abstract: Philosophy cannot be studied without becoming engaged in philosophy itself. Taking Timothy Williamson's seminal work "The Philosophy of Philosophy" as a point of departure for this analysis at hand, and a specific question therein, in his book, presented by him as genuinely philosophical, we discuss in this paper what characterizes distinguished philosophical questions and what does not. While Williamson responds critically to the so-called linguistic and conceptual turn considered central to (analytic) philosophy by con-tending that his chosen question, representative of many more, is philosophical but not even implicitly meta-linguistic or meta-conceptual, our contribution is different and three-fold: first, in homage to Williamson, we show that he might not achieve his argumentative goal. Going beyond the limited framework set by his monograph, we further argue, second and more generally, that the predicate "being a philosophical question" (such as his model question) suffers from vagueness. Finally, third, we derive implications from our investigation for the meta-philosophical answers of the Linguistic and Conceptual Turns. – Alexander Horn: Sprachgeschichtliche Stolperstellen im Geschichtscomic MOSAIK und ihr didaktisches Potential für den Deutschunterricht. Abstract: Up to now, comics have mainly been used for teaching literature. In this article, approaches of language teaching methodology for the use of comics in German classes are presented. Using the example of the history comic Mosaik, the article discusses different variants of language-historical staging. The didactic potential subsequently shown illustrates how comics can be used in language teaching to promote both vocabulary acquisition and the development of language criticism competence and thus the formation of language awareness among students. Rezensionen – Anja Müller: Fuchs, Julia (2020): Erwerb von Informationsstrukturellen Fähigkeiten – Produktion und Rezeption von (in)definiten Artikeln bei deutschsprachigen Kindern. – Niklas Reinken: Andreas, Renate & Michael Andreas (2020): Praxis-Fachbuch für den kompetenten Rechtschreibunterricht. Neue Erkenntnisse – Neue Wege Informationen und Hinweise von Klaus Müllner und den Herausgeber*innen




Linguistische Berichte Heft 270


Book Description

Abstracts Wegner, Dennis, Härtl, Holden, Schlechtweg, Marcel: Optionality and the recovery of temporal information in German verb clusters. While the clause-final placement of finite elements is usually quite rigid in German embedded clauses, verbal clusters mark an exception in that they allow finite temporal auxiliaries to be placed linearly before the verbal elements they embed. The prescriptive rules of Standard German suggest that there is optionality with respect to the two ordering possibilities at least in future clauses. However, previous studies have shown that this also holds for perfect clauses with lassen ('let'). Based on two experimental studies focussing on verbal clusters with continuative lassen ('let') and perception verbs, which supposedly have similar properties, the present paper aims at investigating a) whether there really is proper optionality with respect to placing the finite auxiliary in a cluster-initial or clause-final position, and b) whether preposing the temporal auxiliary induces advantages for the processing of temporal information. Pafel, Jürgen: Konditionale und minimale Differenz. Counterfactuals invite us to imagine a course of the world in which certain state-of-affairs obtain which might be contrary to fact, but which is otherwise identical to the real course of the world. They invite us to imagine a minimal different course of the world. Minimal difference is an essential ingredient of many, perhaps most, semantic accounts of counterfactuals. They differ in the way they conceptualize minimal difference. I present a definition of 'minimal different course of the world' after discussing many scenarios in detail, with respect to which certain counterfactuals are supposed to be true or false. Minimal difference means that, as for a 'counterfactual' course of the world, everything is as it actually is except that (i) the counterfactual's antecedent is true and (ii) state-of-affair obtain which are possible in virtue of (i) and the regularities of the world. With this background, the truth condition of a counterfactual can be stated as follows: It is true if the consequent is true in every course of the world in which the antecedent is true, and which is minimal different from the actual course of the world. This kind of truth condition is argued to be adequate for singular indicative conditionals too. Various problems concerning this extension are discussed. A closer look at the pragmatics of counterfactuals exhibits a variety of different 'implications', whose status is partially unclear. Finally, I discuss the prospects of extending the minimal-difference semantics of conditionals to causals. Bauer, Anastasia: Rezension: Vadim Kimmelman (2019): Information structure in sign languages. Evidence from Russian Sign Language and Sign Language of the Netherlands. Berlin: De Gruyter and Ishara Press. Krstic, Vladimir: Rezension: Meibauer, Jörg (ed.) (2019): The Oxford handbook of lying. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Tsiknakis, Antonios: Rezension: Sonja Müller (2019): Die Syntax-Pragmatik-Schnittstelle. Ein Studienbuch. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto. Klaus, Müllner: Informationen und Hinweise.




Linguistische Berichte


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Inter-cultural Communication at Work


Book Description

This interdisciplinary study examines the impact of cultural values on discourse.




Explorations in Nominal Inflection


Book Description

Explorations in Nominal Inflection is a collection of new articles that focus on nominal inflection markers in different languages. The studies are concerned with the morphological inventories of markers, their syntactic distribution, and, importantly, the interaction between the two. As a result, the contributions shed new light on the morphology/syntax interface, and on the role of morpho-syntactic features in mediating between the two components. Issues that feature prominently throughout are inflection class, case, gender, number, animacy, syncretism, iconicity, agreement, the status of paradigms, the nature of morpho-syntactic features, and the structure of nominal projections. Recurrent analytical tools involve the concepts of competition (optimality, specificity), underspecification, and economy, in various theoretical frameworks. James P. Blevins: Inflection Classes and Economy Bernd Wiese: Categories and Paradigms. On Underspecification in Russian Declension




The Meaning of Topic and Focus


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This study provides an illuminating and ground-breaking account of the complex interaction of intonational phenomena, semantics and pragmatics. Based on examples from German and English, and centred on an analysis of the fall-rise intonation contour, a semantic interpretation for two different pitch accents - Focus and Topic - is developed. The cross-sentence, as well as the sentence internal semantic effects of these accents, follow from the given treatment. The account is based on Montogovian possible world semantics and Chomskian generative syntax.




The Reality of Linguistic Rules


Book Description

This volume presents a selection of the best papers from the 21st Annual University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Linguistics Symposium. Researchers from linguistics, psychology, computer science, and philosophy, using many different methods and focusing on many different facts of language, addressed the question of the existence of linguistic rules. Are such rules best seen as convenient tools for the description of languages, or are rules actually invoked by individual language users? Perhaps the most serious challenge to date to the linguistic rule is the development of connectionist architecture. Indeed, these systems must be viewed as a serious challenge to the foundations of all of contemporary linguistics.Four broad themes emerged from the Milwaukee conference, corresponding to the four parts of the volume. Part I centers on arguments for the existence of symbolic rules in linguistic competence and performance. Part II contains arguments against symbolic rules, presenting connectionist models and other alternatives to the symbolic paradigm. Parts III and IV take up two issues that are central to a number of language researchers: Language acquisition and learnability, and modularity. These issues are addressed from within both rule-based and non-rule-based perspectives.Contributors: Farrell Ackerman, Michael Barlow, Catherine Best, David Corina, Roberta Corrigan, Kim Daugherty, Bruce Derwing, Jeff Elman, Alice Faber, John Goldsmith, Helen Goodluck, Neil Jacobs, Richard Janda, Brian Joseph, Michael Kac, Alan Kawamoto, Suzanne Kemmer, Susan Lima, Brian MacWhinney, Steven Pinker, Alan Prince, Gerald Sanders, Hinrich Schutze, Mark Seidenberg, Royal Skousen, Nicholas Sobin, Joseph Stemberger, Gregory Stone, Ann Thyme, Robert Van Valin.




Formulaic Language and Linguistic Change


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Using rigorous data-led methods, the book analyses formulaic language from the angle of historical linguistics, revealing key new insights.




Structure in Language


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The Handbook of Language Contact


Book Description

The second edition of the definitive reference on contact studies and linguistic change—provides extensive new research and original case studies Language contact is a dynamic area of contemporary linguistic research that studies how language changes when speakers of different languages interact. Accessibly structured into three sections, The Handbook of Language Contact explores the role of contact studies within the field of linguistics, the value of contact studies for language change research, and the relevance of language contact for sociolinguistics. This authoritative volume presents original findings and fresh research directions from an international team of prominent experts. Thirty-seven specially-commissioned chapters cover a broad range of topics and case studies of contact from around the world. Now in its second edition, this valuable reference has been extensively updated with new chapters on topics including globalization, language acquisition, creolization, code-switching, and genetic classification. Fresh case studies examine Romance, Indo-European, African, Mayan, and many other languages in both the past and the present. Addressing the major issues in the field of language contact studies, this volume: Includes a representative sample of individual studies which re-evaluate the role of language contact in the broader context of language and society Offers 23 new chapters written by leading scholars Examines language contact in different societies, including many in Africa and Asia Provides a cross-section of case studies drawing on languages across the world The Handbook of Language Contact, Second Edition is an indispensable resource for researchers, scholars, and students involved in language contact, language variation and change, sociolinguistics, bilingualism, and language theory.