Morphological variation is a rather young, yet fascinating topic to study in its own right because it offers challenging evidence both for the autonomy of morphology (morphomic processes) as well as for its tight interconnection with other grammatical domains, notably phonology and syntax. Covering… read more
Edited by Antje Dammel, Matthias Eitelmann and Mirjam Schmuck
With most studies on grammatical variation concentrating on the synchronic level, a systematic investigation of long-term grammatical variation within the context of language change, i.e. from a predominantly diachronic perspective, has largely remained a desideratum. The present volume fills this… read more
In simple noun phrases, the generalization of definiteness marking to all kinds of head nouns was well-advanced by the Early New High German period (ENHG). In conjoined noun phrases, however, coordination ellipsis of determiners was common and subject to fewer restrictions than in Modern… read more
Inflectional classes are classification systems lacking a discernible synchronic function. We ask how former functions can be lost and, more importantly, what happens after this loss. In a comparative analysis contrasting four Germanic languages (Swedish, Danish, Dutch and German) and two lexical… read more
We investigate the rise of pejorative functions in word formation in a diachronic corpus-based case study on the German derivation patterns Ge-e and -(er)ei. Both patterns derive action nouns, adding the feature ‘frequentative’ and implying a dismissive/ironic attitude towards the action referred… read more
We investigate the complexity of nominal plural allomorphy in ten Germanic languages from a contrastive and diachronic perspective. Focusing on one language family allows us to develop multidimensional criteria to measure morphological complexity and to compare different diachronical drifts. We… read more
