Cover not available

In:Adverbs and Particles at the Form-Meaning Interface
Edited by Marco Coniglio, Kalle Müller and Markus Steinbach
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 292] 2026
► pp. 14–41

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

From adverb to modal particle

German wieder ‘again’ and its kin

 | University of Bochum
Published online: 23 March 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.292.02pit
Abstract
The German adverb wieder ‘again’ has a restitutive and a repetitive meaning with different base positions reflecting their semantic relations to the rest of the sentence. In its restitutive reading, it is a process adverb which is a V-adjunct, whereas in its repetitive reading it is an event adverb which is adjoined in a higher position. The diachronic development of wieder from a restitutive to a repetitive adverb results from a reanalysis made possible by an ambiguous surface structure in the German middle field and semantic ambiguities. These also provide the critical context for the further development of wieder into a modal particle with a remind-me meaning. The modal particle is the result of grammaticalization processes which applies to some other temporal adverbs that can occur in combinations with wieder.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Restitutive wieder as a process adverb
  • 3.Repetitive wieder as an event-related adverb
  • 4.Diachronic development
  • 5.From adverb to modal particle
  • 6.Other temporal adverbs as remind-me particles
  • 7.Combinations of modal particles
  • 8.Modal particles in subordinate clauses
  • 9.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
  • Corpora
References (53)
References
Abraham, Werner. 1991. The grammaticalization of German modal particles. In Approaches to grammaticalization, Elizabeth Closs Traugott & Bernd Heine (eds), 331–380. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Autenrieth, Tanja. 2002. Heterosemie und Grammatikalisierung bei Modalpartikeln: eine synchrone und diachrone Studie anhand von “eben”, “halt”, “e(cher)t”, “einfach”, “schlicht” und “glatt”. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Axel-Tober, Katrin & Müller, Kalle. 2017. Evidential adverbs in German: Diachronic development and present-day meaning. Journal of historical linguistics, 7(1–2): 9–47. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beck, Sigrid & Gergel, Remus. 2015. The diachronic semantics of English again. Natural Language Semantics, 23: 157–203. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beck, Sigrid. 2006. Focus on again. Linguistics and Philosophy, 29(3): 277–314. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cinque, Gulielmo. 1999. Adverbs and Functional Heads: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coniglio, Marco. 2011. Die Syntax der deutschen Modalpartikeln. Ihre Distribution und Lizensierung in Haupt- und Nebensätzen. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2022. On the adverbial origin of German modal particles. In Discourse Particles: syntactic, semantic, pragmatic and historical aspects [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 276], Xabier Artiagoitia, Arantzazu Elordieta & Sergio Monforte (eds), 13–40. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Diesing, Molly. 1992. Indefinites. Cambridge/Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Diewald, Gabriele. 1997. Grammatikalisierung. Eine Einführung in Sein und Werden grammatischer Formen [Germanistische Arbeitshefte 36]. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2002. A model for relevant types of contexts in grammaticalization. In New reflections in grammaticalization, Ilse Wischer & Gabriele Diewald (eds), 102–120. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. Konstruktionen und Paradigmen. Zeitschrift für germanistische Linguistik, 37(3): 445–468. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. Pragmaticalization (defined) as grammaticalization of discourse functions. Linguistics, 49(2): 365–390. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
[DWB] Deutsches Wörterbuch by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Vol. 29. Reprint 1999. München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eckardt, Regine. 2006. Meaning Change in Grammaticalization. An Enquiry into Semantic Reanalysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fabricius-Hansen, Cathrine. 1983. Wieder éin wieder. Zur Semantik von wieder. In Meaning, use, and the interpretation of language, Rainer Bäuerle et al. (eds), 97–120. Berlin: de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2001. “Wi(e)der” and “Again(st)”. In Audiatur Vox Sapientiae. A Festschrift for Arnim von Stechow [Studia grammatica 52], Caroline Féry & Wolfgang Sternefeld (eds), 101–130. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frey, Werner. 1993. Syntaktische Bedingungen für die semantische Interpretation. Über Bindung, implizite Argumente und Skopus [studia grammatica 35]. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2003. Syntactic conditions on adjunct classes. In Modifying Adjuncts, Cathrine Fabricius-Hansen, Ewald Lang & Claudia Maienborn (eds), 163–209. Berlin: de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2004. A medial topic position for German. Linguistische Berichte, 199: 153–190.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2023. On the categorical status of different dependent clauses. In Propositionale Argumente im Sprachvergleich/Propositional Arguments in Cross-Linguistic Research: Theorie und Empirie/Theoretical and Empirical Issues, Jutta M. Hartmann, & Angelika Wöllstein (eds), 364–410. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frey, Werner & Pittner, Karin. 1998. Zur Positionierung von Adverbialen im deutschen Mittelfeld. Linguistische Berichte, 176: 489–534.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heine, Bernd. 2002. On the role of context in grammaticalization. In New reflections in grammaticalization, Ilse Wischer & Gabriele Diewald (eds), 83–101. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Iwasaki, Eijirō. 1977. “Wie hieß er noch?” Zur “Bedeutung” von noch als Abtönungspartikel. In Aspekte der Modalpartikeln. Studien zur deutschen Abtönung, Harald Weydt (ed), 63–72. Tübingen: Niemeyer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005. Die Partikel doch in der Ergänzungsfrage. Eine diachronische Bestandsaufnahme. In “Wenn Freunde aus der Ferne kommen”. Eine west-östliche Freundschaftsgabe für Zhang Yushu zum 70. Geburtstag, Naoji Kimura & Horst Thomé (eds), 247–268. Bern: Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jacobs, Joachim. 1993. Integration. In Wortstellung und Informationsstruktur, Marga Reis (ed), 61–166. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kamp, Hans & Roßdeutscher, Antje. 1994. DRS-construction and lexically driven inference. Theoretical Linguistics, 20(2–3): 166–235. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kwon, Min-Jae. 2005. Modalpartikeln und Satzmodus. Untersuchungen zur Syntax, Semantik und Pragmatik der deutschen Modalpartikeln. PhD Dissertation, University of Munich.
Möhrstädt, Nora. 2021. Zur Abfolge der Adverbien im Mittelfeld. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Molnár, Anna. 2002. Die Grammatikalisierung deutscher Modalpartikeln. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moroni, Manuela Caterina. 2010. Modalpartikeln zwischen Syntax, Prosodie und Informationsstruktur. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ormelius-Sandblom, Elisabeth. 1997. Die Modalpartikeln ja, doch und schon. Zu ihrer Syntax, Semantik und Pragmatik. [Lunder Germanistische Forschungen 61]. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pittner, Karin. 1999. Adverbiale im Deutschen. Untersuchungen zu ihrer Stellung und Interpretation [Studien zur deutschen Grammatik 60]. Tübingen: Stauffenburg.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2003. Process, eventuality and wieder ‘again’. In Modifying Adjuncts, Cathrine Fabricius-Hansen, Ewald Lang & Claudia Maienborn (eds), 365–391. Berlin: de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2004. Where syntax and semantics meet: adverbial positions in the German middle field. In Adverbials. The Interplay between Meaning, Context and Syntactic Structure, Jennifer R. Austin, Stefan Engelberg & Gisa Rauh (eds), 253–287. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2007. Common ground in interaction: the functions of medial doch. In Lexical Markers of Common Grounds, Anita Fetzer & Kerstin Fischer (eds), 67–87. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. Wieder als Modalpartikel. Zeitschrift für Germanistische Linguistik, 37(2): 296–314. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rapp, Irene. 2018. Wenn man versucht, JA nichts Falsches zu sagen — Zum Auftreten von Modalpartikeln in Haupt- und Nebensätzen. Linguistische Berichte, 254: 183–228. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roberts, Ian & Roussou, Anna. 2003. Syntactic Change. A Minimalist Approach to Grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sauerland, Uli & Yatsushiro, Kazuko. 2017. Remind-Me Presuppositions and Speech-Act Decomposition: Evidence from Particles in Questions. Linguistic Inquiry, 48(4): 651–677. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Searle, John R. 1969. Speech Acts. An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sehrt, Edward. 1962. Notker-Glossar. Ein Althochdeusch — Lateinisch — Neuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch zu Notkers des Deutschen Schriften. Tübingen: Niemeyer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stechow, Arnim von. 1996. The different readings of wieder ‘again’: a structural account. Journal of Semantics, 13(2): 87–138. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Swan, Toril. 1988. Sentence Adverbials in English: A synchronic and diachronic investigation. Oslo: Novus.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tabor, Whitney & Elizabeth C. Traugott. 1998. Structural scope expansion and grammaticalization. In The limits of grammaticalization, Anna Ramat Giacalone & Paul J. Hopper (eds), 227–270. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thurmair, Maria. 1989. Modalpartikeln und ihre Kombinationen. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013. Satztyp und Modalpartikeln. In Satztypen des Deutschen, Jörg Meibauer, Markus Steinbach & Hans Altmann (eds), 627–651. Berlin: de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2019. Modalpartikeln in indirekter Rede. Eine korpusgestützte Untersuchung. Sprachwissenschaft, 44(1): 1–72.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Traugott, Elizabeth Closs. 1989. On the rise of epistemic meanings in English. Language, 65(1): 31–55. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Traugott, Elizabeth Closs & Trousdal, Graeme. 2013. Constructions and constructional Changes. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Truckenbrodt, Hubert. 2006. On the semantic motivation of syntactic verb movement to C in German. Theoretical Linguistics, 32(3): 257–306. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Corpora
DWDS Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache. [URL]
IDS-corpora “W-öffentlich”, provided by the Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache in Mannheim
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue