Volume 51, Issue 3

Most German nouns that can be used to refer to people or groups of people have a masculine (e.g., Lehrer ‘male teacher’) and a derived feminine (e.g., Lehrerin ‘female teacher’) form. The grammatically masculine nouns are typically viewed as being ambiguous between a reading which can only be used to refer to men and a reading which can be used to refer to mixed-gender groups (the so-called “generic masculine“). The main question of the present article is whether this generalization also holds for the first elements of nominal compounds (e.g., Lehrer - in Lehrerzimmer ‘teachers’ room’) and for inherently masculine nouns from which no feminine form can be derived (e.g., Gast which is inherently masculine). The empirical data discussed suggest that generic masculine forms used as the first elements of N-N compounds as well as inherently masculine nouns are interpreted rather generically, i.e., not as referring to male individuals only.

This article deals with the phenomenon of labeling something as toxic . In social media, one often reads about toxic masculinity or toxic relationships and the like. Therefore, the question is addressed whether this is a singular phenomenon for social media or whether labeling something as toxic also affects other domains. First, the historical development since the 19th century is outlined. Then, the DWDS newspaper and reference corpus is evaluated based on a corpus-pragmatic methodology to break down the dimensions of meaning and usage in the context of different usage domains. The end result is thus a comprehensive analysis of writing about toxicity and its metaphorizations, which is finally interpreted and understood as a contemporary phenomenon.

The present article examines the second language acquisition of prepositional case in German by primary school children whose first language is Albanian. I have conducted an experiment in which I examined how case within PPs is acquired and used. My study shows that the children have difficulties regarding the prepositional case marking. There is no difference between the error rate of prepositional accusative and dative. Furthermore, there is no difference among the case markings of the two-way prepositions which appears semantically driven in German with dative and accusative and the one-way prepositions which appears either with the dative or accusative. It will be argued that the morphological opacity within nominal phrases as parts of prepositional phrases in German makes the acquisition of prepositional case system difficult.

This paper presents a corpus study of political debates and soccer blogs, illustrating that personal names can be combined with indefinite articles, particularly when referring to prominent figures (e.g., ein Donald Trump or ein Lothar Matthäus ). The pattern frequently carries a generic meaning, indicating a reading to the effect of ‘someone like Donald Trump’. Additionally, there are instances in which the pattern denotes a specific and even definite referent. These definite-specific usages regularly occur in both genres but are particularly prevalent in soccer blogs, especially in sections featuring discussions among soccer fans who are not professional writers. The usage of ein + personal name is so common and strongly associated with the language of soccer fans that it functions as a variant of bare personal names, serving as a contextualization cue. By utilizing the pattern ein + personal name, speakers can signal their belonging to the group of soccer fans ( doing being a soccer fan ) and, in doing so, take a stance on the same group ( style stance ). Furthermore, all usages have in common that they convey an affective stance toward the person bearing the name, who is either positively or negatively evaluated depending on the context.