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On decategorization and its relevance in German

  • Livio Gaeta
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Word Classes
This chapter is in the book Word Classes

Abstract

A distinction must be made between two different processes – decategorization and recategorization – (cf. Malchukov 2004), within the general phenomenon of transcategorization (cf. among others Simone 2008; Jezek & Ramat 2009). In particular, one may expect that losing certain word class properties does not necessarily amount to acquiring a new set. This chapter focuses on a discussion of decategorization based on data from German. I argue that this language is particularly rich in decategorization types that are commonly found in the right branch of the so-called verbal bracket and cannot be treated as a recessive feature resulting from a general trend towards analyticity. They rather constitute a peculiar trait of the discontinuous German language type, in which the right branch of the verbal bracket is characterized by low categoriality.

Abstract

A distinction must be made between two different processes – decategorization and recategorization – (cf. Malchukov 2004), within the general phenomenon of transcategorization (cf. among others Simone 2008; Jezek & Ramat 2009). In particular, one may expect that losing certain word class properties does not necessarily amount to acquiring a new set. This chapter focuses on a discussion of decategorization based on data from German. I argue that this language is particularly rich in decategorization types that are commonly found in the right branch of the so-called verbal bracket and cannot be treated as a recessive feature resulting from a general trend towards analyticity. They rather constitute a peculiar trait of the discontinuous German language type, in which the right branch of the verbal bracket is characterized by low categoriality.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Foreword and acknowledgements vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. PART I. Types of word classes
  6. Carving verb classes from corpora 17
  7. Classes of creation verbs 37
  8. On Light Nouns 51
  9. The ‘new adjectives’ of Tswana 75
  10. The Chinese adjective as a word class 95
  11. Qualifying modifier encoding and adjectival typology 119
  12. PART II. Minor and neglected word classes
  13. Hungarian is a classifier language 141
  14. Cardinal numerals 161
  15. On the borders of neglected word classes 181
  16. PART III. Across word classes
  17. Between adjective and noun 203
  18. On decategorization and its relevance in German 227
  19. PART IV. Radical views: Do we really need word classes?
  20. Word-class features and reduplicative meaning 245
  21. Half and other unique words 263
  22. Index of languages 283
  23. Index of names 285
  24. Index of subjects 289
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.332.12gae

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Foreword and acknowledgements vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. PART I. Types of word classes
  6. Carving verb classes from corpora 17
  7. Classes of creation verbs 37
  8. On Light Nouns 51
  9. The ‘new adjectives’ of Tswana 75
  10. The Chinese adjective as a word class 95
  11. Qualifying modifier encoding and adjectival typology 119
  12. PART II. Minor and neglected word classes
  13. Hungarian is a classifier language 141
  14. Cardinal numerals 161
  15. On the borders of neglected word classes 181
  16. PART III. Across word classes
  17. Between adjective and noun 203
  18. On decategorization and its relevance in German 227
  19. PART IV. Radical views: Do we really need word classes?
  20. Word-class features and reduplicative meaning 245
  21. Half and other unique words 263
  22. Index of languages 283
  23. Index of names 285
  24. Index of subjects 289
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