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In:Germanic Genitives
Edited by Tanja Ackermann, Horst J. Simon and Christian Zimmer
[Studies in Language Companion Series 193] 2018
► pp. 91–114

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From genitive suffix to linking element

A corpus study on the genesis and productivity of a new compounding pattern in (Early) New High German

 | University of Münster
Published online: 26 April 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.193.05kop
Abstract
Present-day German uses two formally different patterns of compounding in N+N compounds. The first combines bare stems (e.g. Tisch+decke ‘tablecloth’) while the second contains an intervening linking element (le) as in Geburt‑s-ort ‘birth-le-place’. The linked compounding type developed in Early New High German (1350–1650) from phrasal constructions by reanalyzing genitive attributes as first constituents of compounds. The present paper uses corpus data to explore three key stages in this development: In the initial stage, it shows how prenominal non-specific genitive constructions lent themselves to reanalysis due to their functional overlap and formal similarity. Additionally, compounds seem to have replaced not only prenominal genitives, but also structurally different postnominal genitives. In the second stage, the new compounding pattern increases in productivity between 1500 and 1710, especially compared to the older pattern without linking elements. The last stage pertains to changes in spelling practice. It shows that linked compounds were written separately in the beginning. Their gradual graphematic integration into directly connected words was reversed by a century of hyphenation (1650–1750). This is strikingly different from present-day spelling practice and shows that the linked pattern was still perceived as marked.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Phenomenon and corpora
  • 3.Study 1: Nominal constructions in Early New High German – from genitive attribute to compound
  • 4.Study 2: Measuring productivity of compounding patterns
  • 5.Study 3: Persisting syntactic properties
  • 6.Summary and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Corpora
  • References
References (46)
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Mainz Corpus of (Early) New High German. Mainz University, Kristin Kopf, 2010–2013. Four of eight time periods used, 160,000 tokens.
Mannheim Corpus of Historical Newspapers and Magazines. Institut für Deutsche Sprache, 2013. Access to full texts via: <[URL]>. Excerpts of 30,000 tokens from the following newspapers were used: Das Pfennig=Magazin für Belehrung und Unterhaltung, Nr. 9 (1943); EUROPA Wochenschrift für Kultur und Politik (1905).
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