Cover not available

In:Brazilian Portuguese, Syntax and Semantics: 20 years of Núcleo de Estudos Gramaticais
Edited by Roberta Pires De Oliveira, Ina Emmel and Sandra Quarezemin
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 260] 2020
► pp. 33–66

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

Chapter 1
Mood alternations in the history of German

The architecture of epistemic weakening

 | Ludwig Maximilian University at Munich | University of Vienna
Published online: 8 May 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.260.01abr
Abstract
Non-veridicality is at the heart of more than just the verbal subjunctive. The main distinction we drew is the free application of the subjunctive and the non-veridical mood in dependent sentences. Greek and the Romance languages are among the representatives of this syntactic-semantic design of the subjunctive in syntactic dependency. While this was the case in past periods of German, the use of the subjunctive in dependent sentences and in free occurrence came to enact chains of indirect and reported speech. Colloquial modern German uses the subjunctive as an expression of non-veridicality no longer as an instantiation of mood, but of attitude, of illocutionary Force (in Rizzi’s CP-expansion). Two questions are addressed: (1) How are nonverbal categories related to mood; (2) What has triggered the diachronic loss of epistemic expression in colloquial German.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Reportative competence in modern German
  • 3.Breaking the ground for term and content of epistemic weakening
  • 4.Epistemic weakening: The case of predicative epistemics as verbal mood in subordinate clauses – synchronic and diachronic stages
  • 5.Epistemic weakening: The case of relative clauses and mood alternation
    • 5.1Cimbrian
  • 6.Epistemic weakening: Force types of subordinators
    • 6.1
    • 6.2Summary
  • 7.Conclusion: Present and past subjunctive in modern German
    • 7.1Matrix predicates as epistemic weakeners
    • 7.2Non-specificity as an epistemic weakener in attributes and relative clauses
    • 7.3Epistemic weakening on complementizers
    • 7.4Negation as an epistemic weakener
  • 8.Outgoing: The main and most general points
  • 9.Summary and conclusion
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
References (63)
References
Abraham, Werner. 2001. Modals: Toward explaining the epistemic non-finiteness gap. In Modalität und Modalverben im Deutschen [Linguistische Berichte Sonderheft 9], Reimar Müller & Marga Reis (eds), 7–36. Hamburg: Buske.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2012. Gesprochene Syntax im Zimbrischen der deutschen Sprachinseln Oberitaliens. Was sie über Sprachuniversalien und über Wandel unter Sprachkontakt (nicht) verrät. In Perspektiven Vier. Akten der 4. Tagung Deutsche Sprachwissenschaft in Italien Rom, 4.-6. Februar 2010, Claudio Di Meola, Antonie Hornung & Lorenza Rega (eds), 37–72. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2012b. Illocutionary force is speaker and information source concern. What type of syntax does the representation of speaker deixis require? Templates vs. derivational structure? In Modality and Theory of Mind Elements across Languages, Werner Abraham & Elisabeth Leiss (eds), 67–108. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013. Philologische Dialektologie und moderne Mikrovarietätsforschung. Zum Begriff des Erklärstatus in Syn- und Diachronie. In Dialektologie in neuem Gewand. Zu Mikro-/Varietätenlinguistik, Sprachenvergleich und Universalgrammatik [Linguistische Berichte Sonderheft 19], Werner Abraham & Elisabeth Leiss (eds), 9–27. Hamburg: Buske.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014. Strong modality and truth disposability in syntactic subordination: What is the locus of the phase edge validating modal adverbials? Studia Linguistica 69(3): 1–41.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bidese, Ermenegildo. 2008. Die diachronische Syntax des Zimbrischen. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. Kontaktbedingter Sprachwandel. Problemannäherung aus der I-Language-Perspektive. In Grammatische Funktionen aus der Sicht der japanishen und deutschen Germanistik [Linguistische Berichte Sonderheft 24], Shin Tanaka, Elisabeth Leiss, Werner Abraham & Yasuhiro Fujinawa (eds), 135–157. Hamburg: Buske.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boye, Kasper & Harder, Peter. 2012. A usage-based theory of grammatical status and grammaticalization. Language 88(1): 1–44. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boye, Kasper & Petar Kehayov (eds.) Complementizer semantics in European languages. [HYPERLINK "[URL]" Empirical Approaches to Language Typology [EALT] 57]. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter.
Boye, Kasper, van Lier, Eva & Brink, Eva T. 2015. Epistemic complementizers: A crosslinguistic survey. Language Sciences 51(5): 1–17. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Breitbarth, Anne. 2015. Exceptive negation in Middle Low German. Ms.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Catasso, Nicholas & Hinterhölzl, Roland. 2016. On the question of subordination or coordination in V2-relatives in German. In Co- and subordination in German and other languages [Linguistische Berichte Sonderheft 21], Ingo Reich & Augustin Speyer (eds), 99–123. Hamburg: Buske.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cognola, Federica. 2013. Syntactic Variation and Verb Second: A German Dialect in Northern Italy [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 201]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coniglio, Marco. 2017. Verbal mood in early Old High German relative clauses. Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie Occidentale 51: 245–269.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coniglio, Marco, Hinterhölzl, Roland & Petrova, Svetlana. 2018. Mood Alternations in Old High German. Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie Occidentale 52: 7–38.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cristofaro, Sonia. 2003. The referential hierarchy: Reviewing the evidence in diachronic perspective. In Language across Boundaries. Studies in Memory of Anna Siewierska, Dik Bakker & Martin Haspelmath (eds), 69–93. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dobrushina, Nina. 2012. Subjunctive complement clauses. Russian Linguistics 36(2): 121–156. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ebert, Robert P., Reichmann, Oskar, Solms, Hans-Joachim & Wegera, Klaus-Peter. 1993. Frühneuhochdeutsche Grammatik. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fabricius-Hansen, Cathrine & Kjell, Johan Saebo. 2004. In a mediative mood? The semantics of the German reportiv and subjunctive. Natural Language Semantics 12(3): 213–257. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Farkas, Donka. 1985. Intensional Descriptions and the Romance Subjunctive Mood. New York NY: Garland.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1992. On the semantics of subjunctive complements. In Romance Languages and Modern Linguistic Theory [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 91], Paul Hirschbühler & E. F. Konrad Koerner (eds), 67–104. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fleischer, Jürg. 2005. Relativsätze in den Dialekten des Deutschen: Vergleich und Typologie. Linguistik Online 24(3):171–186.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fourquet, Jean. 1938. L’ordre des éléments de la phrase en germanique ancien; études de syntaxe de position. Paris: Les Belles lettres.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frajzyngier, Zygmunt. 1991. The de dicto domain in language. In Approaches to Grammaticalization, Vol. I [Typological Studies in Language 19], Elizabeth Closs Traugott & Bernd Heine (eds), 219–251. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gärtner, Hans-Martin & Eyþórsson, Þórhallur. 2018. Varieties of dependent Verb Second and verbal mood: A view from Icelandic. In Rethinking Verb Second, Rebecca Woods & Sam Wolfe (eds). Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geiger, Arno 2016. Unter der Drachenwand. Munich: Carl HanserGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van Gelderen, Elly. 2004. Grammaticalization as Economy [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 71]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. The main and embedded clauses in the history of English: Changes in assertive and non-assertive complements. Ms, University of Arizona, March 27, 2017.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Giannakidou, Anastasia. 1998. Polarity Sensitivity as (Non)Veridical Dependency [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 23]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. The dependency of the subjunctive revisited. Temporal semantics and polarity. Lingua 120: 1883–1908. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. (Non)veridicality and mood choice: Subjunctive, polarity, and time. In Tense across Languages [Linguistische Arbeiten 541], Renate Musan & Monika Rathert (eds), 59–90. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013. (Non)veridicality, evaluation, and event actualization: Evidence from the subjunctive in relative clauses. In Non-veridicality and Evaluation. Theoretical, Computational, and Corpus Approaches [Studies in Pragmatics 11], Maite Taboada & Rada Trnavac (eds), 17–47. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015. Evaluative subjunctive and non-veridicality. Ms, University of Chicago.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Giorgi, Alessandra & Pianesi, Fabio. 2002. Tense and Aspect. From Semantics to Morphosyntax. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haegeman, Liliane. 2006. Conditionals, factives and the left periphery. Lingua 116: 1651–1669. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hooper, Joan & Thompson, Sandra A. 1973. On the applicability of root transformations. Linguistic Inquiry 4(4): 465–497.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hooper, Joan. 1975. On assertive predicates. Syntax and Semantics, Vol. 4, John P. Kimball (ed.), 91–124. New York NY: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Iwein: Mittelhochdeutsch/Neuhochdeutsch 2012. Reclams Universal-Bibliothek. Reclam Taschenbuch.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Julien, Marit. 2005. Nominal Phrases from a Scandinavian Perspective [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 87]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meinunger, André. 2004. Verb position, verbal mood and the anchoring (potential) of sentences. In The Syntax and Semantics of the Left Periphery, Horst Lohnstein & Susanne Trissler (eds), 313–341. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. Desires, wishes and hopes – Desiderative predicates and presuppositions. STUF – Language Typology and Universals 70(4): 1–24.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Montague, Richard. 1969. On the nature of certain philosophical entities. The Monist 53: 159–94. Reprinted in 1974 in Formal Philosophy. Selected papers of Richard Montague, Richmond H. Thomason (ed.), 148–187. New Haven CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nishiwaki, Maiko. 2017. Negation und Konjunktivgebrauch im Mittelhochdeutschen – am Beispiel des Nibelungenliedes. In Grammatische Funktionen aus Sicht der japanischen und deutschen Germanistik [Linguistische Berichte, Sonderhefte 24], Shin Tanaka, Elisabeth Leiss, Werner Abraham & Yasuhiro Fujinawa (eds), 159–177. Hamburg: Buske.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Noonan, Michael P. 2007 [1985]. Complementation. In Language Typology and Syntactic Description, Vol 2: Complex Constructions, 2nd edn, Timothy Shopen (ed.), 52–150. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nordström, Jackie & Boye, Kasper. 2016. Complementizer semantics in the Germanic languages. In Complementizer Semantics in European Languages, Kaspar Boye & Petar Kehayov (eds), 131–174. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nordström, Jackie. 2010. Modality and Subordinators [Studies in Language Companion Series 116]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Padovan, Andrea. 2011. Diachronic clues to grammaticalization phenomena in the Cimbrian CP. Studies on German-Language Islands [Studies in Language Companion Series 123], Michael T. Putnam (ed.), 279–300. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paul, Hermann, Wiehl, Peter & Grosse, Siegfried. 1989. Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik. Tübingen: Niemeyer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Petrova, Svetlana & Hinterhölzl, Roland. 2013. Der Ausdruck indirekter Aufforderungen im Vergleich Althochdeutsch – Neuhochdeutsch. Eine Fallstudie zur Entwicklung des Modusgebrauchs im abhängigen Satz. In Vielfalt und Einheit der Germanistik weltweit. Akten des 12. Internationalen Germanistenkongresses Warschau 2010, Franciszek Grucza (ed.), 45–52. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rizzi, Luigi. 1997. The fine structure of the left periphery. In Elements of Grammars, Liliane Haegemann (ed.), 281–337. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2004. Locality and left periphery. In Structures and Beyond, Vol. 3: The Cartography of Syntactic Structures, Adriana Belletti (ed.), 223–251. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rödel, Michael. 2016. Möglichkeiten der Redewiedergabe bei Textinterpretationen. Unterrichtspraxis 256: 50–58.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Salvesen, Christine & Walkden, George. To appear. Diagnosing embedded V2 in Old French and Old English. In From Micro-change to Macro-change, Eric Mathieu & Robert Truswell (eds). Oxford: OUP.
Schönherr, Monika. 2013. Die Konjunktivformen und ihre kategorialen Funktionen aus diachroner Sicht. In Akten des XII. Internationalen Germanistenkongresses. Warschau 2010 – Vielheit und Einheit der Germanistik weltweit: Diachronische, diatopische und typologische Aspekte des Sprachwandels, Band 17, Franciszek Grucza & Jianhua Zhu (eds), 33–38. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schrodt, Richard. 2004. Althochdeutsche Grammatik, II: Syntax. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Searle, John. 1969. Speech Act Theory. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sode, Frank. 2014. Zur Semantik und Pragmatik des Konjunktivs der Indirektheit im Deutschen. PhD dissertation, Humboldt University Berlin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2018. Der deutsche Indirektheitskonjunktiv: Semantik und Pragmatik. [Studia Grammatica 79]. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Valentin, Paul. 1979. Das althichdeutsche Verbsystem: Tempus und Modus. In Linguistic Method: Essays in Honor of Herbert Penzl, Irmengard Rauch & Gerald F. Carr (eds), 425–440. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Visser, Fredericus Theodorus. 1966. An Historical Syntax of the English Language, Vol. 2. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zeijlstra, Hedde. 2012. There is only one way to agree. The Linguistic Review 29(3): 491–539. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zwarts, Frans. 1995. Non-veridical contexts. Linguistic Analysis 25(3–4): 286–312.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue