Open Access

Rezension zu Angelika Linke, Markus Nussbaumer, & Paul R. Portmann, Studienbuch Linguistik. Ergänzt um ein Kapitel von Urs Willi 'Phonetik und Phonologie'. 3., unveränderte Auflage. Tübingen, Niemeyer 1996 (Reihe Germanistische Linguistik 121 (Kollegbuch), 472 S. 39,80 DM, ISBN 3-484-31121-5)

This paper contextualizes the teaching and learning of German as a foreign language in Brazil in the socio-historical field of colonial and post-colonial discourse. On the basis of three illustrative texts, from 1620, 1855 and 1998, it discusses the Interlocutionary Positions (Lugares de Interlocução; ORLANDI 1990) assumed by German and Brazilian speakers, as well as the possible consequences for the teaching and learning of German as a foreign language.

The present paper deals with grammaticalization as a comprehensive model of erosive processes in the history of natural languages, exemplified in German and Brazilian Portuguese. Grammaticalization is conceived of as the reduction of pragmatic versatility, semantic concreteness, syntactic liberty and phonetic substance of linguistic elements. It is subdivided into the processes of lexicalization, which transforms polylexematic into monolexematic elements, and deslexicalization, which reduces lexematic to sublexematic elements. In the middle of these processes stands the lexicon, which is seen as the central stock of linguistic elements. Within the lexicon, the process of grammaticalization continues, from lexical word classes through intermediate classes to grammatical word classes. The lower boundary of the lexicon is critical threshold, down to which the process of grammaticalization is compensated for by linguistic recycling that leads lexematic elements back into the linguistic circuit, through the formation of new polylexematic units. Beyond this threshold, however, no recycling is possible any more, so that elements which have once lost their lexical character are condemned to disappear in the long run. The different stages of grammaticalization are introduced and illustrated by means of concrete examples, first from Brazilian Portuguese and afterwards from German.

This paper aims to demonstrate the proverb as a mental pattern that reflects and reinforces the values and norms of society through its use. We present the treatment given to women in German proverbs in opposition to the treatment given to men, showing the relationship between proverb and reality.

The present paper deals with selected morphological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic characteristics of nominal totalizers in German and in Brazilian Portuguese. In particular, it analyzes the elements 'todo', 'cada', 'ambos' and 'os dois', as well as 'alle', 'jeder', 'der ganze' and 'beide'. In terms of morphology, it describes the formation of gender, number and case forms. In the field of syntax, it focuses on the position of totalizers in the nominal phrase, their relations to determiners and quantifiers, and the functional distribution of declension types. In terms of semantics and pragmatics, it investigates the codification of referential and quantificational information, definiteness and cumulative v distributive totalization. The epistemological interest is defined by the objectives of linguistic comparison between German and Brazilian Portuguese, including the analysis of typical errors committed by language learners in both directions.