Cover not available

Article published In: The Diachrony of Infinitival Patterns: Their origin, development and loss
Edited by Ulrike Demske and Łukasz Jędrzejowski
[Journal of Historical Linguistics 5:1] 2015
► pp. 6–40

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

Towards coherent infinitival patterns in the history of German

 | University of Potsdam
Published online: 28 August 2015
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.5.1.01dem
According to Haider (2010), we have to distinguish three types of infinitival complements in Present-Day German: (i) CP complements, (ii) VP complements and (iii) verbal clusters. While CP complements give rise to biclausal structures, VP complements and verbal clusters indicate a monoclausal structure. Non-finite verbs in verbal clusters build a syntactic unit with the governing verb. It is only the last infinitival pattern that we address as a so-called coherent infinitival pattern, a notion introduced in the influential work of Bech (1955/57). Verbal clusters are bound to languages with an OV grammar, hence the well-known differences regarding infinitival syntax in German and English (Haider 2003, Bobaljik 2004). On the widespread assumption that German has been an OV language throughout its history (Axel 2007), we expect all three types of infinitival complements to be present from the earliest attestions of German.
This expectation, however, is not borne out. In the present article, I show that we find infinitival complements projecting either CPs or VPs in older stages of German, while verbal clusters turn out to be a quite recent phenomenon in the history of German, as already suggested in work by Askedal (1998), Demske (2008) and Maché & Abraham (2011). In line with current beliefs that German is underspecified regarding the direction of government in earlier stages of its historical development, I argue that the rise of verbal clusters is motivated by the increasing stabilization of an OV grammar since the 16th century.
References (55)
Admoni, Vladimir G. 1967. Der Umfang und die Gestaltungsmittel des Satzes in der deutschen Literatursprache bis zum Ende des 18. Jhs. Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur (Halle) 891.144–199.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Askedal, John Ole. 1998. Zur Syntax infiniter Verbalformen in den Berthold von Regensburg zugeschriebenen deutschen Predigten. Vorstufe der topologischen Kohärenz-Inkohärenz-Opposition. Historische germanische und deutsche Syntax ed. by John Ole Askedal, 231–259. Frankfurt/Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barðdal, Jóhanna & Thórhallur Eythórsson. 2012. ‘Hungering and Lusting for Women and Fleshly Delicacies’: Reconstructing Grammatical Relations for Proto-Germanic. Transactions of the Philological Society 110:3.363–393. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bech, Gunnar. 1955/57. Studien über das deutsche verbum infinitum. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Behaghel, Otto. 1923. Deutsche Syntax: eine geschichtliche Darstellung. Bd. II: Die Wortklassen und Wortformen: B. Adverbium, C. Verbum. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1932. Deutsche Syntax: eine geschichtliche Darstellung. Bd. IV: Wortstellung. Periodenbau. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biener, Clemens. 1925. Von der sog. Auslassung der Kopula in eingeleiteten Nebensätzen. Die neueren Sprachen 331.291–297.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bierwisch, Manfred. 1990. Verb Cluster Formation as a Morphological Process. Yearbook of Morphology ed. by Gert Booij & Jaap van Marle, 173–199. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bobaljik, Jonathan. 2004. Clustering Theories. Verb clusters: A study of Hungarian, German and Dutch ed. by Katalin É. Kiss & Henk van Riemsdijk, 121–145. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cinque, Guglielmo. 2006. Restructuring and Functional Heads. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Demske, Ulrike. 2001. Zur Distribution von Infinitivkomplementen im Althochdeutschen. Modalität und Modalverben im Deutschen ed. by Reimar Müller & Marga Reis, 61–86. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2008. Raising Patterns in Old High German. Grammatical Change and Linguistic Theory: The Rosendahl Papers ed. by Thórhallur Eythórsson, 143–172. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Demske-Neumann, Ulrike. 1994. Modales Passiv und Tough Movement: Zur strukturellen Kausalität eines syntaktischen Wandels im Deutschen und Englischen. Tübingen: Niemeyer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Den Besten, Hans & Jean Rutten. 1989. On Verb Raising, Extraposition and Free Word Order in Dutch. Sentential Complementation and the Lexicon: Studies in Honor of Wim de Geest ed. by Dany Jaspers, 41–56. Dordrecht: Foris. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Diels, Paul. 1906. Die Stellung des Verbums in der älteren althoch-deutschen Prosa. Berlin: Mayer und Müller.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Diesing, Molly. 1997. Yiddish VP Order and the Typology of Object Movement. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 15:2.369–427. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dittmer, Arne & Ernst Dittmer. 1998. Studien zur Wortstellung—Satzgliedstellung in der ahd. Tatianübersetzung. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ebert, Robert Peter. 1976. Infinitival Complement Constructions in Early New High German. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1981. Social and Stylistic Variation in the Order of Auxiliary and Nonfinite Verbs in Dependent Clauses in Early New High German. Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 1031.204–237.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1998. Verbstellungswandel bei Jugendlichen, Frauen und Männern im 16. Jahrhundert. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ebert, Robert Peter, Oskar Reichmann, Hans-Joachim Solms & Klaus-Peter Wegera. 1993. Frühneuhochdeutsche Grammatik. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fleischer, Jürg. 2006. Zur Methodologie althochdeutscher Syntaxforschung. Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 1281.25–69. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fleischer, Jürg, Roland Hinterhölzl & Michael Solf. 2008. Zum Quellenwert des althochdeutschen Tatian für die Syntaxforschung: Überlegungen auf der Basis von Wortstellungsphänomenen. Zeitschrift für Germanistische Linguistik 361.210–239.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grano, Thomas. 2015. Control and Restructuring. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haider, Hubert. 1993. Deutsche Syntax—generativ. Vorstudien zur Theorie einer projektiven Grammatik. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2003. V-Clustering and Clause Union—Causes and Effects. Verb Constructions in German and Dutch ed. by Pieter Seuren & Gerard Kempen, 91–126. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005. How to Turn German into Icelandic—and Derive the VO–OV Contrasts. Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 81.1–53. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2010. The Syntax of German. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014. The VO–OV Split of Germanic Languages—A T3 & V2 Production. Interdisciplinary Journal for Germanic Linguistics and Semiotic Analysis 191.57–79.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Härd, John Evert. 1981. Studien zur Struktur mehrgliedriger deutscher Nebensatzprädikate. Diachronie und Synchronie. Gothenburg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hinterhölzl, Roland. 2009. The IPP-Effect, Phrasal Affixes and Repair Strategies in the Syntax–Morphology Interface. Linguistische Berichte 2181.191–215.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Höhle, Tilman. 1978. Lexikalistische Syntax: Die Aktiv–Passiv-Relation und andere Infinitkonstruktionen im Deutschen. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huddleston, Rodney & Geoffrey K. Pullum. 2012. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jacobs, Joachim. 1992. Bewegung als Valenzvererbung. Teil I. Linguistische Berichte 1381.85–122.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koster, Jan. 1975. Dutch as an SOV Language. Linguistic Analysis 11.111–136.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lenerz, Jürgen. 1984. Syntaktischer Wandel und Grammatiktheorie. Eine Untersuchung an Beispielen aus der Sprachgeschichte des Deutschen. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1985. Diachronic Syntax: Verb Position and COMP in German. Studies in German Grammar ed. by Jindrich Toman, 103–132. Dordrecht: Foris. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maché, Jakob & Werner Abraham. 2011. Infinitivkomplemente im Frühneuhochdeutschen—satzwertig oder nicht? Frühneuhochdeutsch—Aufgaben und Probleme seiner linguistischen Beschreibung ed. by Anja Lobenstein-Reichmann & Oskar Reichmann, 235–276. Hildesheim: Olms.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reis, Marga. 2007. Modals, So-Called Semi-Modals, and Grammaticalization in German. Interdisciplinary Journal for Germanic Linguistics and Semiotic Analysis 12:1.1–57.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rizzi, Luigi. 1978. A Restructuring Rule in Italian Syntax. Recent Transformational Studies in European Languages ed. by Samuel Jay Keyser, 113–158. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roberts, Ian G. 1997. Directionality and Word Order Change in the History of English. Parameters of Morphosyntactic Change ed. by Ans van Kemenade & Nigel Vincent, 397–426. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Robinson, Orrin W. 1997. Clause Subordination and Verb Placement in the Old High German ‘Isidor’ Translation. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ruhfus, Wilhelm. 1897. Die Stellung des Verbums im althochdeutschen Tatian. Dortmund: Druck von F. W. Ruhfus.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schallert, Oliver. 2007. Die Stellung von Verben und Objekten in der rechten Peripherie: OV- und VO-Strukturen im Althochdeutschen. Moderne Sprachen 511.17–107.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014. Zur Syntax der Ersatzinfinitivkonstruktion: Typologie und Variation. Tübingen: Stauffenburg.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schlachter, Eva. 2012. Syntax und Informationsstruktur im Althochdeutschen. Untersuchungen am Beispiel der Isidor-Gruppe. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schrodt, Richard. 2004. Althochdeutsche Grammatik II: Syntax. Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sonderegger, Stefan. 2003. Althochdeutsche Sprache und Literatur. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sternefeld, Wolfgang. 2006. Syntax: Eine morphologisch motivierte generative Beschreibung des Deutschen. Tübingen: Stauffenburg.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weerman, Fred. 1989. The V2 Conspiracy: A Synchronic and Diachronic Analysis of Verbal Positions in Germanic Languages. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wöllstein-Leisten, Angelika. 2001. Die Syntax der dritten Konstruktion. Tübingen: Stauffenburg.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wurmbrand, Susanne. 2001. Infinitives: Restructuring and Clause Structure. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van Kemenade, Ans. 1987. Syntactic Case and Morphological Case in the History of English. Dordrecht: Foris. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (5)

Cited by five other publications

De Cesare, Ilaria & Ulrike Demske
2025. Aspectual Verbs in German: A Diachronic View. Journal of Germanic Linguistics 37:2 ► pp. 163 ff. DOI logo
De Cesare, Ilaria, Sina Bosch, Claudia Felser & Ulrike Demske
2024. Word order change in German infinitival complementation. Diachronica 41:5 ► pp. 575 ff. DOI logo
De Cesare, Ilaria
2023. Quantitative Methoden in diachronen Studien: Anwendung am Beispiel der Wortstellungsvariation in deutschen Infinitiven . Zeitschrift für germanistische Linguistik 51:1 ► pp. 124 ff. DOI logo
Jędrzejowski, Łukasz
2021. On the habitual verbpflegenin German: Its use, origin, and development. Linguistics 59:6 ► pp. 1473 ff. DOI logo
Smirnova, Elena
2016. Die Entwicklung des deutschen zu-Infinitivs:. Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 138:4 ► pp. 491 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 november 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