Cover not available

In:Constructions in Contact: Constructional perspectives on contact phenomena in Germanic languages
Edited by Hans C. Boas and Steffen Höder
[Constructional Approaches to Language 24] 2018
► pp. 253–276

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

A constructional account of the modal particle ‘ja’ in Texas German

Published online: 12 December 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.24.08boa
Abstract
The last decade has seen the expansion of systematic study of spoken language within Construction Grammar (Fried & Östman 2005, Östman 2006, Günthner 2006, Imo 2007). While most studies have only noted that a specific syntactic pattern may have different manifestations in spoken language and in ‘standard’ grammar, the emphasis in these studies has been on the domain of the sentence/utterance as the appropriate context of analysis (e.g. Lambrecht & Lemoine 2005). To overcome this bias, this paper presents a case study of a constructional representation and analysis of a regular patterning in natural discourse, namely the modal particle ja in Texas German, a critically endangered dialect (see Boas 2009, Boas & Pierce 2011).
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Texas German: History and documentation
  • 3.Distribution of English and German DPs and MPs in Texas German
  • 4.Construction Grammar and Frame Semantics
  • 5.Formalizing the distribution of ja in TxG
    • 5.1Frame-evoking senses of ja
    • 5.2Pragmatics of Implicit Anchoring (PIA)
    • 5.3Formalizing discourse patterns as constructions
  • 6.Conclusions and outlook
  • Acknowledgment
  • Notes
  • References
References (66)
References
Alm, M., Behr, J., & Fischer, K. (In press). Modal particles and sentence type restrictions: A construction grammar perspective.
Bakhtin, M. M. (1981). The Dialogic Imagination. Trans. by C. Emerson, & M. Holquist, In M. Holquist (Ed.). Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bertoldi, A., Chishman, R., & Boas, H. C. (2010). Verbs of judgment in English and Portuguese: What contrastive analysis can say about Frame Semantics. Calidoscopio. 8(3), 210–225.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boas, H. C. (2003). Tracing Dialect Death: The Texas German Dialect Project. In J. Larson, & M. Paster (Eds.), Proceedings of the 28th Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society (pp.387–398). University of California, Berkeley: Linguistics Department.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2005). Semantic Frames as Interlingual Representations for Multilingual Lexical Databases. International Journal of Lexicography, 18(4), 445–478.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2006). From the field to the web: implementing best-practice recommendations in documentary linguistics. Language Resources and Evaluation, 40(2), 153–174.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2009). The life and death of Texas German. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010). On the equivalence and multifunctionality of discourse markers in language contact situations. In T. Harden, & E. Hentschel (Eds.), 40 Jahre Partikelforschung (pp.301–315). Tübingen: Stauffenburg Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2011). Zum Abstraktionsgrad von Resultativkonstruktionen. In S. Engelberg, A. Holler, & K. Proost (Eds.), Sprachliches Wissen zwischen Lexikon und Grammatik (pp.37–69). Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017). Computational Resources: FrameNet and Constructicon. In B. Dancygier (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics (pp.549–573). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boas, H. C., & Pierce, M. (2011). Lexical Developments in Texas German. In M. Putnam (Ed.), Studies on German Language Islands (pp.129–150). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boas, H. C., Pierce, M., Roesch, K., Halder, G., & Weilbacher, H. (2010). The Texas German Dialect Archive: A Multimedia Resource for Research, Teaching, and Outreach. Journal of Germanic Linguistics, 22(3), 277–296.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boas, H. C., & Weilbacher, H. (2006). The unexpected survival of German discourse markers in Texas German. In CLS 42–1, The Main Session. Papers from the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society, 1–15.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2007). How Universal Is the Pragmatic Detachability Scale? Evidence from Texas German Discourse Markers. In F. Hoyt, N. Seifert, A. Teodorescu, & J. White (Eds.), The Proceedings of the Texas Linguistic Society IX Conference (pp.33–58). Stanford: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boas, H. C., & Ziem, A. (2018). Approaching German syntax from a constructionist perspective. In H.C. Boas & A. Ziem (Eds.), Constructional Approaches to Syntactic Structures in German (pp.1–46). Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bublitz, W. (1978). Ausdrucksweisen der Sprechereinstellung im Deutschen und Englischen: Untersuchungen zur Syntax, Semantik und Pragmatik der deutschen Modalpartikeln und Vergewisserungsfragen und ihrer englischen Entsprechungen. Tübingen: Niemeyer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Campbell, L., & Muntzel, M. C. (1989). The structural consequences of language death. In N. Dorian (Ed.), Investigating Obsolescence (pp.181–196). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clyne, M. (2003). Dynamics of Language Contact. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Croft, W. (2001). Radical Construction Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Croft, W., & Cruse, A. (2004). Cognitive Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Donahue, F. E. (2009). Deutsche Wiederholungsgrammatik: A Morpho-Syntactic Review of German. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Durrell, M. (2002). Hammer’s German Grammar and Usage. 4th edition. London: Arnold.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dux, R. (2011). A frame-semantic analysis of five English verbs evoking the Theft frame. Austin: The University of Texas at Austin MA thesis.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eichhoff, J. (1986). Die Deutsche Sprache in Amerika. In F. Trommler (Ed.), Amerika und die Deutschen (pp.235–252). Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eikel, F. (1954). The New Braunfels German Dialect. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University. Manuscript.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fillmore, C. J. (1982). Frame Semantics. In Linguistic Society of Korea (Ed.), Linguistics in the Morning Calm (pp.111–138). Seoul: Hanshin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1986). Pragmatically controlled zero anaphora. In Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, pp.95–107.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fillmore, C. J., & Atkins, B. T. S. (1992). Towards a frame-based organization of the lexicon: The semantics of RISK and its neighbors. In A. Lehrer, & E. Kittay (Eds.), Frames, Fields, and Contrasts: New Essays in Lexical Organization (pp.75–102). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fillmore, C. J., & Baker, C. (2010). A frames approach to semantic analysis. In B. Heine, & H. Narrog (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Analysis (pp.313–340). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fillmore, C. J., Johnson, C., & Petruck, M. R. L. (2003). Background to FrameNet. International Journal of Lexicography, 16(3), 235–250.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fischer, K. (2000). From cognitive semantics to lexical pragmatics: The functional polysemy of discourse particles. Berlin/New York: De Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fried, M., & Östman, J.-O. (2005). Construction Grammar and spoken language: The case of pragmatic particles. Journal of Pragmatics, 37, 1752–1778.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fuller, J. (2001). The principle of pragmatic detachability in borrowing: English-origin discourse markers in Pennsylvania German. Linguistics, 39, 351–369.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2003). The influence of speaker roles on discourse marker use. Journal of Pragmatics, 35(1), 34–45.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gilbert, Glenn. (1972). Linguistic Atlas of Texas German. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goldberg, A. (1995). Constructions: A Construction Grammar approach to argument structure. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2006. Constructions at Work. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goldberg, A., & Jackendoff, R. (2004). The English resultative as a family of constructions. Language, 80(3), 532–568.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Günthner, S. (2006). Was ihn trieb war vor allem Wanderlust. Pseudocleft-Konstruktionen im Deutschen. In S. Günthner, & W. Imo (Eds.), Konstruktionen in der Interaktion (pp.59–90). Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hoffmann, T., & Trousdale, G. (Eds.). (2013). The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hutchby, I., & Wooffitt, R. (1998). Conversation Analysis. Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Imo, W. (2007). Zur Anwendung der Construction Grammar auf die gesprochene Sprache – der Fall ‘ich mein(e)’. In V. Ágel, & M. Hennig (Eds.), Zugänge zur Grammatik der gesprochenen Sprache (pp.3–34). Tübingen: Niemeyer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johansson, S. (2006). How well can well be translated? On the English discourse particle well and its correspondences in Norwegian and German. In K. Aijmer, & A.-M. Vandenbergen (Eds.), Pragmatic Markers in Contrast (pp.115–137). Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kay, P., & Fillmore, C. J. (1999). Grammatical constructions and linguistic generalizations: The What’s X doing Y? Construction. Language, 71, 1–33.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kearney, J. (2011). Nassau Plantation. Denton: University of North Texas Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Keevallik, L. (2006). From discourse pattern to epistemic marker. Estonian (ei) tea ‘don’t know’. Nordic Journal of Linguistics, 29, 173–200.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lambrecht, K., & Lemoine, K. (2005). Definite null objects in (spoken) French: A construction grammar account. In M. Fried, & H. C. Boas (Eds.), Grammatical Constructions. Back to the Roots (pp.13–56). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maschler, Y. (Ed.). (2000). Discourse markers in bilingual conversation. Special issue of International Journal of Bilingualism, 4.4 , 437–561.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Matras, Y. (1998). Utterance Modifiers and Universals of Grammatical Borrowing. Linguistics, 36, 281–331.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nicolini, M. (2004). Deutsch in Texas. Münster: LIT Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Östman, J.-O. (2004). Construction Discourse. In J.-O. Östman, & M. Fried (Eds.), Construction Grammars (pp.120–144). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2006). Constructions in cross-language research: Verbs as pragmatic particles in Solv. In K. Aijmer, & A.-M. Simon-Vandenbergen (Eds.), Pragmatic markers in contrast (pp.237–257). Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Petruck, M. R. L. (1996). Frame Semantics. In J. Verschueren, J.-O. Östman, J. Blommaert, & C. Bulcaen (Eds.), Handbook of Pragmatics (pp.1–13). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ruppenhofer, J., & Michaelis, L. A. (2010). A Constructional Account of Genre-Based Argument Omissions. Constructions and Frames, 2, 158–184.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ruppenhofer, J., Ellsworth, M., Petruck, M. R. L., Johnson, C., & Scheffczyk, J. (2010). FrameNet II: Extended Theory and Practice. Retrieved from [[URL]].Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sag, I., Boas, H. C., & Kay, P. (2012). Introducing Sign-Based Construction Grammar. In H. C. Boas, & I. Sag (Eds.), Sign-based Construction Grammar (pp.1–30). Stanford: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Salmons, J. (1983). Issues in Texas German Language Maintenance and Shift. Monatshefte, 75, 187–196.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1990). Bilingual Discourse Marking: Code Switching, Borrowing, and Convergence in Some German-American Dialects. Linguistics, 28, 453–480.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Salmons, J., & Lucht, F. (2006). Standard German in Texas. In L. Thornburg, & J. Fuller (Eds.), Studies in Contact Linguistics – Essays in Honor of Glenn G. Gilbert (pp.165–186). Frankfurt/New York: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schiffrin, D. (1987). Discourse Markers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Traugott, E. C., & Dasher, R. B. (2002). Regularity in Semantic Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Trudgill, P. (2004). New Dialect Formation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weydt, H. (1989). Sprechen mit Partikeln. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weydt, H., Harden, T., Hentschel, E., & Rösler, D. (1983). Kleine Deutsche Partikellehre. Stuttgart: Ernst Klett Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zifonun, G., Hoffmann, L., Strecker, B., & Ballweg, J. (1997). Grammatik der deutschen Sprache (3 Vol.). Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Boas, Hans C. & Marc Pierce
2025. The for … zu construction in Texas German. In Varieties of German in Contact Settings [Studies in Germanic Linguistics, 10], ► pp. 157 ff. DOI logo
Warmuth, Matthias
2025. Construction Grammar and phonology?. In Constructions in Contact 3 [Constructional Approaches to Language, 40], ► pp. 247 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue