Absence as evidence
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Antje Dammel
Abstract
In simple noun phrases, the generalization of definiteness marking to all kinds of head nouns was well-advanced by the Early New High German period (ENHG). In conjoined noun phrases, however, coordination ellipsis of determiners was common and subject to fewer restrictions than in Modern Standard German (MSG). A corpus analysis reveals a there-and-back change in the frequency of coordination ellipsis within ENHG and early NHG and a substantial structural change in its conditioning towards MSG. The semantic and pragmatic regularities favouring coordination ellipsis across diverging grammatical features in (E)NHG can be described in terms of natural coordination (the probability of concepts to co-occur). Towards MSG, formal constraints on morphosyntactic feature combinations (gender, number) prevail. A possible explanation combines internal and external factors: grammaticalization and codification. Methodologically, it turns out fruitful to regard not only the spread of a new gram, but also constructions favouring its absence.
Abstract
In simple noun phrases, the generalization of definiteness marking to all kinds of head nouns was well-advanced by the Early New High German period (ENHG). In conjoined noun phrases, however, coordination ellipsis of determiners was common and subject to fewer restrictions than in Modern Standard German (MSG). A corpus analysis reveals a there-and-back change in the frequency of coordination ellipsis within ENHG and early NHG and a substantial structural change in its conditioning towards MSG. The semantic and pragmatic regularities favouring coordination ellipsis across diverging grammatical features in (E)NHG can be described in terms of natural coordination (the probability of concepts to co-occur). Towards MSG, formal constraints on morphosyntactic feature combinations (gender, number) prevail. A possible explanation combines internal and external factors: grammaticalization and codification. Methodologically, it turns out fruitful to regard not only the spread of a new gram, but also constructions favouring its absence.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
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Section I. “From pragmatic to semantic definiteness”
- A complex grammaticalization scenario for the definite article 17
- The grammaticalization of the definite article in German 43
- What genericity reveals about the establishment of the definite determiner in German 75
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Section II. “Syntactic contexts, cognition and grammaticalization”
- The role of the definite article in the rise of the German Framing Principle 97
- Cliticization of definite articles to prepositions in Middle High German – early stages of grammaticalization? 129
- Absence as evidence 161
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Section III. “From definite into onymic article – and finally onymic classifier”
- The rise of the onymic article in Early New High German 199
- Die Capital – der Astra – das Adler 227
- Index 251
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Section I. “From pragmatic to semantic definiteness”
- A complex grammaticalization scenario for the definite article 17
- The grammaticalization of the definite article in German 43
- What genericity reveals about the establishment of the definite determiner in German 75
-
Section II. “Syntactic contexts, cognition and grammaticalization”
- The role of the definite article in the rise of the German Framing Principle 97
- Cliticization of definite articles to prepositions in Middle High German – early stages of grammaticalization? 129
- Absence as evidence 161
-
Section III. “From definite into onymic article – and finally onymic classifier”
- The rise of the onymic article in Early New High German 199
- Die Capital – der Astra – das Adler 227
- Index 251
