Korpuslinguistische Perspektiven auf die sprachhistorische Entwicklung der nominalisierten Infinitive im Deutschen

Bibliographic Data

ID21758513
AuthorsMartina Werner (0000-0002-0314-7556, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume102
Issue2
Pages155-181
Publication date2020-05-27
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLinguistik Online (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1615-3014 • E-ISSN: 1615-3014
PublisherUniversity of Bern (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.13092/lo.102.6829
OpenAlexW3102136367
LanguageDE
References cited8

Nominalized infinitives (NIs, such as (das) Lachen ‘(the) laughing’, (das) Um-die-Ecke-Wohnen lit. ʻ(the) around-the-corner-living’) are the morphologically most elaborated deverbal nominalization patterns without restrictions in present-day German. However, this was not the case in earlier stages of German. The article reconstructs the steps behind the increase in productivity of the NI since Old High German with the support of historical corpora from Old High, Middle High, Early New High, and present-day German. It will be shown that the increase in productivity is due to an interplay of morphology and syntax. Syntactically, NIs develop from the verbal infinitive together with a syncretism with the pre-Old High German nominal gerund. Morphologically, NIs replace -ung-derived nouns in order to form abstract nouns in Middle High German. In a further step, the morphological complexity of NIs increases, because syntagmata are nominalized, including the emergence of synthetic compounds. In a reverse development taking place from Middle High German onwards, nominalized infinitives can also get result-readings which coincides with pluralizability (such as das Schreiben ‘letter’ – die Schreiben ‘letters’)

German · Gerund · Infinitive · Linguistics · Nominalization · North Germanic languages · Noun · Syntax · Verb · History · Linguistic research and analysis · Linguistics and Cultural Studies · Linguistics and language evolution · Philosophy

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