German demonstrative adverbs of spatial deixis: Evidence

175 Pages·2016·4.76 MB·English

University of Iowa
Iowa Research Online
Theses and Dissertations
Spring 2011
German demonstrative adverbs of spatial deixis:
Evidence from native speakers, L2 learners, and
corpora
Johnathan Lee William Gajdos
University of Iowa
Copyright 2011 Johnathan Lee William Gajdos
This dissertation is available at Iowa Research Online: https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/965
Recommended Citation
Gajdos, Johnathan Lee William. "German demonstrative adverbs of spatial deixis: Evidence from native speakers, L2 learners, and
corpora." PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) thesis, University of Iowa, 2011.
https://doi.org/10.17077/etd.zy7nwcau
Follow this and additional works at:https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd
Part of theGerman Language and Literature Commons
GERMAN DEMONSTRATIVE ADVERBS OF SPATIAL DEIXIS:
EVIDENCE FROM NATIVE SPEAKERS, L2 LEARNERS, AND CORPORA
by
Johnathan Lee William Gajdos
An Abstract
Of a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the Doctor of
Philosophy degree in German
in the Graduate College of
The University of Iowa
1
May 2011
Thesis Supervisor: Professor Sarah M.B. Fagan
1
The use of demonstrative adverbs is a function of making reference to a real or
abstract location. In German, there are three principle demonstrative adverbs that are
used spatially—hier, da, and dort. This thesis provides an overview of the primary
theories proposed in the literature to explain the German hier/da/dort system of reference
and examines those claims from the context of a study of L2 learners and L1 speakers
combined with a corpus-based analysis of the frequency, distribution, and use of the
demonstrative adverbs, both in isolation and in unison. The evidence from learner data,
native speaker interpretations and grammaticality judgments, adult use corpora, and L1
child corpora all point to da as playing a more significant role than dort in the three-way
spatial adverb system of German. Evidence from multiple sources points to the default
hier ‘here’ counterpart, there-like equivalent being da. While da is not always used to
indicate a non-speaker location, this flexibility is not an indication of its primary or
default role. Context often provides semantic information, and even if used in a semi-
neutral manner, the use of da often suggests the possibility of a dort-type non-speaker
location or of an abstract location/third location. The flexibility that da has in being used
in non-contrastive locations or idiomatic expressions to refer to the location of the
speaker does not discount the role da has as a primary means of indicating spatial
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differences in opposition to hier. The presence of dort enables a third location to be
identified with a distinct spatial adverb, while hier appears to be highly restricted in its
usage. Evidence from child L1 learners is congruent with this analysis. The frequency of
da in child L1 learner speech cannot simply be explained by phonetic production, and the
child L1 corpora show that dort is only chosen when da and hier are already present
(three or more locations are referenced). Native speaker survey data concerning the three
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spatial adverbs under investigation indicate that locational situation affects the acceptance
and interpretation of all three adverbs including da. Da is not shown to be a superfluous
double, as it is neither consistently accepted at or near 100%, nor is its acceptance
consistently near that of dort or hier. There is evidence that native speaker
grammaticality judgments show regional variation when da is used to indicate a speaker
location, with northern speakers tending to prefer hier and southern speakers tending to
prefer da. L2 speakers show a greater variation from native speakers with respect to their
acceptance and interpretations of da as compared with that of hier and dort. Non-native
speakers were more likely to accept hier and less likely to accept da than were the native
speakers in this study. Elementary, intermediate, and advanced L2 learners showed a
significant difference in their acceptance rates of da in at least 50% of the items, while
the group of highly-proficient L2 speakers of German showed a significant difference in
their acceptance of da in only one item.

Abstract Approved: ____________________________________
Thesis Supervisor
____________________________________
Title and Department
2

____________________________________
Date
GERMAN DEMONSTRATIVE ADVERBS OF SPATIAL DEIXIS:
EVIDENCE FROM NATIVE SPEAKERS, L2 LEARNERS, AND CORPORA
by
Johnathan Lee William Gajdos
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the Doctor of
Philosophy degree in German
in the Graduate College of
The University of Iowa
1
May 2011
Thesis Supervisor: Professor Sarah M.B. Fagan
Copyright by
JOHNATHAN LEE WILLIAM GAJDOS
2011
All Rights Reserved
2
Graduate College
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL
_______________________
PH.D. THESIS
_______________
This is to certify that the Ph.D. thesis of
Johnathan Lee William Gajdos
has been approved by the Examining Committee
for the thesis requirement for the Doctor of Philosophy
degree in German at the May 2011 graduation.
Thesis Committee: ___________________________________
Sarah M.B. Fagan, Thesis Supervisor
___________________________________
Bruce H. Spencer
___________________________________
Glenn E. Ehrstine
___________________________________
Elena Gavruseva
___________________________________
Roumyana Slabakova
To those who have taught me and those whom I teach
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES ...............................................................................................................v
LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................1

The problem of spatial adverbs.........................................................................1
Spatial demonstrative adverbs in German ........................................................3
Spatial deixis .............................................................................................3
Anaphoric uses of hier, dort, and da .........................................................7
Comparison of English and German .......................................................10
CHAPTER 2 A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ON DEIXIS ................................12
CHAPTER 3 A CORPUS-BASED ANALYSIS ..........................................................23

The corpora .....................................................................................................23
Basic search patterns .......................................................................................23
Comparative use of each adverb .....................................................................30
Adverbial co-occurrences ...............................................................................31
CHAPTER 4 EVIDENCE FROM L2 LEARNERS ......................................................37

Pilot study .......................................................................................................37
Participants ..............................................................................................38
Pilot Task 1: Acceptability judgments ....................................................38
Pilot Task 2: Location assignments .........................................................39
Data and results .......................................................................................40
Expanded L2 learner study .............................................................................52
Participants ..............................................................................................52
Task 1: Acceptability judgments .............................................................54
Task 2: Location interpretations ..............................................................76
CHAPTER 5 NATIVE SPEAKER SURVEY DATA ..................................................91

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Native speaker interpretations and grammaticality judgments .......................91
Regional variation in native speaker data .....................................................103
CHAPTER 6 CHILD L1 ACQUSITION ....................................................................118

CHILDES corpora ........................................................................................118
Corpus analysis .............................................................................................118
CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION .....................................................................................127
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................134
APPENDIX A PILOT TASK 1 .....................................................................................137
APPENDIX B PILOT TASK 2 .....................................................................................139
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APPENDIX C DWDS CORPUS DESCRIPTIONS ......................................................141
APPENDIX D ACCEPTABILITY JUDGMENT (TASK 1) ITEM ANALYSIS ........142
APPENDIX E LOCATION ASSIGNMENT (TASK 2) ITEM ANALYSIS ...............149
APPENDIX F SURVEY INSTRUMENT ....................................................................155

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