45 search hits
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What's hard? : Quantitative evidence for difficult constructions in German learner data
(2008)
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Amir Zeldes
Anke Lüdeling
Hagen Hirschmann
- Our study is concerned with the identification of ‘difficult’ structure s in the acquisition of a foreign language, which will shed light on theoretical considerations of L2 processing. We argue that – compared to simple vocabulary items or abstract syntactic patterns – structures that contain lexical material as well as categorial variables are especially difficult to acquire. The difficulty level for particular patterns is shown to depend on surface invariability but not on the syntactic categories within which target patterns are embedded. As an example we study the distribution of certain structures which are underused by L2 German learners.
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When verbs share their power : the case of the German light verb construction
(2008)
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Eva Wittenberg
Maria Mercedes Piñango
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Numeral-Klassifikatoren und die Distribution von Nomen : konzeptuelle, semantische und syntaktische Aspekte
(2001)
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Heike Wiese
- I give a unified account of numeral classifiers as lexical items that are reduced to the function of individuation in cardinal counting constructions with transnumeral nouns. I argue that individuation is a lexical-semantic phenomenon that triggers a focus shift from a whole set to its individual elements, but does not affect the conceptual representation. The semantic reduction of numeral classifiers to individuation functions is, on the one hand, reflected by a morpho-syntactic reduction; numeral classifiers do not project to full NPs, but occur as headadjuncts in QPs. On the other hand, it leads to a loss of conceptual features. As a result, nouns that are used as numeral classifiers are conceptually divorced from their NP counterparts. They integrate the nominal concept not as part of their interpretation, but via agreement features that govern the distribution of nouns in classifierconstructions. I show that the selection of conceptual features relevant for the distribution of numeral classifiers and nouns is lexically, not conceptually governed, supporting a model that distinguishes lexical-semantic and conceptual aspects in the generation of meaning.
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Unterspezifizierte Stammparadigmen : zur Systematik des Verbablauts im Gegenwartsdeutschen
(2004)
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Bernd Wiese
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Das Verhältnis von Mundarten und Standardsprache in der deutschsprachigen Schweiz
(1996)
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Beat Siebenhaar
- "Mundarten werden von den Bauern im Kreis der Familie gesprochen, sie haben einen beschränkten Kommunikationsradius, ihre situative Verwendbarkeit ist eingeschränkt, sie stellen im Sinne Bernsteins einen restringierten Code dar." Solche und ähnliche Definitionsaspekte für den Begriff Dialekt finden wir immer wieder. Für Teile des deutschen Sprachgebietes sind sie auch adäquat. Die Mundarten sind dort sozial abgewertet und werden durch regionale Umgangssprachen, als Mischformen zwischen Dialekt und Hochsprache, zurückgedrängt. In der deutschsprachigen Schweiz ist dies keineswegs der Fall: Als Rolf Zinkernagel, Professor am Institut für experimentelle Immunologie der Universität Zürich, am 7. Oktober der Nobelpreis für Medizin zugesprochen wurde, war das eine der Hauptmeldungen in den Abendnachrichten. Das Interview, in dem er seine Freude über die Verleihung ausdrückt und in dem er allgemein Forschungsvorgehen erklärt, wird ganz selbstverständlich in der Mundart geführt.
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Discourse structure and information packaging in cross-linguistic perspective
(2006)
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Anne Schwarz
Svetlana Petrova
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Focal aspects in the Lelemi verb system
(2006)
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Anne Schwarz
Ines Fiedler
- In our presentation we will outline the verb system of Lelemi and concentrate on certain “focal” aspects which are of primary interest to us. Lelemi has two TAMP paradigms: one constituting the so-called “simple tenses”, the other the so-called “relative tenses” (Allan 1973), although not every “simple tense” has a counterpart in the “relative tenses”. The simple paradigm is formed by subject prefixes (prefixed pronouns for 1st or 2nd person and noun class pronouns for 3rd persons) and the verb form whereas the relative paradigm is build up by the obligatory use of an external subject noun, an invariable verb prefix, and the verb form. While the simple paradigm is used in quite a lot of syntactic environments the relative paradigm only shows up in relative clauses with the subject being the head as well as in subject and sentence focus constructions including questions concerning the subject. We will show some interesting interactions between the grammatical expression of focus and the verb system and sketch the grammaticalisation path of the morpheme nà.
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What is it about? The topic in some Ghanaian Gur grammars
(2008)
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Anne Schwarz
- This talk deals with the pragmatic notion topic and its encoding in Buli and some related Ghanaian Gur languages and reveals that it is responsible for several intricate phenomena in the grammar of these languages.
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To be or not to be? About the copula system in Buli (Gur)
(2008)
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Anne Schwarz
- This talk concerns the copula system in Buli, a Ghanaian language which has also been attested in Bahia (Rodrigues 1935, Zwernemann 1968). Special focus will be put on the categorization of two copula-reminiscent elements for which I will propose a discoursepragmatic analysis.
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Copulative and narrative patterns in Gur focus constructions
(2005)
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Anne Schwarz
