Staecraeft: Studies in Germanic Linguistics. Selected Papers from the 1st and 2nd Symposium on Germanic Linguistics, University of Chicago, 24 April 1985 and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 3-4 October 1986

226 Pages·1991·21.03 MB·English

by  Elmer H. Antonsen

ST FCR FT
AMSTERDAM STUDIES IN THE THEORY AND
HISTORY OF LINGUISTIC SCIENCE
General Editor
E.F. KONRAD KOERNER
(University of Ottawa)
Series IV - CURRENT ISSUES IN LINGUISTIC THEORY
Advisory Editorial Board
Henning Andersen (Los Angeles); Raimo Anttila (Los Angeles)
Thomas V. Gamkrelidze (Tbilisi); John E. Joseph (College Park, Md.)
Hans-Heinrich Lieb (Berlin); Ernst Pulgram (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
E. Wyn Roberts (Vancouver, B.C.); Danny Steinberg (Tokyo)
Volume 79
Elmer H. Antonsen and Hans Henrich Hock (eds)
St fcr ft
Studies in Germanic Linguistics
ST FCR FT
STUDIES IN
GERMANIC LINGUISTICS
Select Papers from the First and the Second Symposium
on Germanic Linguistics
University of Chicago, 24 April 1985, and
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 3-4 October 1986
Edited by
ELMER H. ANTONSEN
and
HANS HENRICH HOCK
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
AMSTERDAM/PHILADELPHIA
1991
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Symposium on Germanic Linguistics (1st : 1985 : University of Chicago)
Stæfcræft : studies in Germanic linguistics : selected papers from the First and the Sec­
ond Symposium on Germanic Linguistics, University of Chicago, 24 April 1985 and Uni­
versity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 3-4 October 1986 / edited by Elmer H. Anton-
sen and Hans-Henrich Hock.
p. cm. - (Current issues in linguistic theory, ISSN 0304-0763; v. 79)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Germanic languages - Congresses. I. Antonsen, Elmer H. II. Hock, Hans Henrich,
1938- . III. Symposium on Germanic Linguistics (2nd : 1986 : University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign) IV. Title. V. Series: Amsterdam studies in the theory and his­
tory of linguistics science, Series IV, Current issues in linguistic theory ; v. 79.
PD73.S96 1985
430-dc20 91-24743
ISBN 90 272 3576 7 (Eur.) / ISBN 1-55619-134-0 (US) (alk. paper) CIP
© Copyright 1991 - John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or
any other means, without written permission from the publisher.
FOREWORD
1 All the papers (except one) read at this symposium were published in original form as Ger­
manic Linguistics: Papers from a Symposium at the University of Chicago, April 14,1985,
ed. by Jan Terje Faarlund, Bloomington: Indiana University Linguistics Club, 1985.
2 Fourteen of the twenty-two papers presented were submitted for publication in original
form in Germanic Linguistics II: Papers from the Second Symposium on Germanic Linguis­
tics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 3-4 October 1986, ed. by Elmer H. Anton-
sen and Hans Henrich Hock, Bloomington: Indiana University Linguistics Club, 1988.
VI FOREWORD
All of the authors were given the opportunity to revise and update their
contributions according to their own desires. The editors wish to express their
thanks to the contributors for agreeing to the inclusion of their papers, all of
whom have shown great understanding and cooperation throughout the editing
process, and to Geoffrey B. Muckenhirn, graduate research assistant in Ger­
manic Languages at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, for his
expert help in preparing the final copy for this volume. Last, but not least, our
thanks go to the editor of the series Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, E. F.
Konrad Koerner, for his constant encouragement and support in publishing
these studies for a wider audience.
Urbana, Illinois Elmer H. Antonsen
October 1990 Hans Henrich Hock
CONTENTS
Foreword v
Elmer H. Antonsen
On the Morphological Analysis of German: In Defense of the
Category Adjective/Adverb 1
Peter Coopmans
On Two Case-Based Reanalysis Representations of the Causative
Construction in Dutch 27
Sarah M. B. Fagan
The Unaccusative Hypothesis and a Reflexive Construction
in German and Dutch 39
Hans Henrich Hock
On the Origin and Development of Relative Clauses in Early
Germanic, with Special Emphasis on Beowulf 55
Robert G. Hoeing
Out of Control: Control Theory and its Implications for Empty
Categories, Expletives, and Missing Subjects in German 91
Robert B. Howell
Modern Evidence for Ancient Sound Changes: Old English Breaking
and Old High German Vowel Epenthesis Revisited 103
Carol A. Leibiger
Inflections and Paradigms in German Nominal Declension 115
Anatoly Liberman
Phonologization in Germanic: Umlauts and Vowel Shifts 125
James W. Marchand
The Sound-Shift Revisited — or Jacob Grimm Vindicated 139
viii CONTENTS
Regine Moorcroft
The Role of Semantic Restrictions in German Passive Formation 147
Richard L. Morris
The Rise of Periphrastic Tenses in German: The Case Against
Latin Influence 161
Thomas F. Shannon
On the Syllabic Motivation of Inflectional Suffixes in Germanic 169
Rex A. Sprouse
On a Parameter of Case Percolation 185
Master List of References 195
Index of Names 213
ON THE MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF GERMAN:
IN DEFENSE OF THE CATEGORY ADJECTIVE/ADVERB
ELMER H. ANTONSEN
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1. Introduction
At the annual meeting of the Institut für deutsche Sprache in Mannheim in
the spring of 1986, the topic of discussion was the efforts made by the Federal
Republic to further the study of German, both at home and abroad. It was
noted that the study of German abroad continued to decline or at best was able
to maintain itself only at already established levels. One of the reasons put
forth for the lack of interest in the study of German in foreign countries was
the difficulty, i.e., grammatical complexity, of the language itself. It was sug­
gested that the Federal Government and the education ministries of the various
Bundesländer devote more resources to the linguistic analysis of the language
and to the preparation of teaching materials (IDS-Protokoll 14.03.1986).
There is no question that many foreigners consider German to be a diffi­
cult language to learn, but a good part of this perceived difficulty is demonstra­
bly the result of inadequate linguistic analyses of the structure of the language,
particularly in the area of morphology. It is this area, of course, which takes
up most of the space in German grammars for foreigners, with paradigm after
paradigm to be learned, digested, and then applied correctly in well-formed
sentences. It is something of a mystery how a language like German, which
has been the object of intensive cultivation and research for at least four cen­
turies, can continue to be plagued by inadequate analyses, and as a direct re­
sult, to suffer from an at least partially undeserved reputation for being exceed­
ingly complex. (Although this reputation is largely undeserved from the point
of view of the morphological structure of the language, it is well deserved from
the point of view of the baroque syntax consciously cultivated in the written
language and carried over into the most formal spoken standard. — One need
only compare the highly complex style of weather reports broadcast in Stand­
ard German with the simple style of similar reports given in Low German!)
Today, we can look back with a benevolent smile on the early German
grammarians and their obvious, cramped hold on the apronstrings of Latin
when they proposed a paradigm for German nouns like Johannes Meichßner's
from 1538 (in Müller 1882:164):