Cover not available

In:Micro- and Macro-variation of Causal Clauses: Synchronic and Diachronic Insights
Edited by Łukasz Jędrzejowski and Constanze Fleczoreck
[Studies in Language Companion Series 231] 2023
► pp. 269–310

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 10
On the divergent developments of two German causal subjunctions

Syntactic reanalysis and the evolution of causal meaning

 | University of Tübingen
 | University of Tübingen
Published online: 1 March 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.231.10ebe
Abstract
This chapter discusses the development of two German causal subjunctions weil and zumal. In particular, it introduces a new proposal for the syntactic reanalysis of weil in the C0-position from a free relative clause. Later, weil-clauses also underwent a shift in meaning in the course of which weil developed from a temporal into a causal subjunction. The development of temporal into causal meaning is widely-attested cross-linguistically. This chapter argues that in the case of German, the actuation of this general path was probably enabled by prior extensions of the temporal meaning, which had made the subjunction into a universal subjunction of simultaneity relations. The subjunction zumal, by contrast, developed from the combination zumal weil ‘especially since’ after zumal had been reanalyzed in the C0-position. The reanalysis only concerned the internal syntax of the clause. Its external syntax and the meaning remained stable and corresponded to zumal weil-clauses. Based on these findings, it will be argued more generally that the development of new elements in the C0-position takes place through the fusion of the properties of the new and the old C0-elements. After the reanalysis, the new C0-element has the subordinating force of the old C0-element as well as the semantic content of the new and the old C0-element.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Development of the causal subjunction weil ‘because’
    • 2.1Weil: syntactic development
      • 2.1.1Antecedent origin – shift theory
      • 2.1.2Development from free relative clauses
    • 2.2Weil: development of causal meaning
  • 3.Development of the causal subjunction zumal
    • 3.1Zumal: syntactic development
    • 3.2Zumal: development of the causal meaning
  • 4.Implications and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • Corpora
  • References
References (52)
Corpora
DeReKo [Das Deutsche Referenzkorpus], on COSMAS IIweb [Corpus Search, Management and Analysis System]. <[URL]>.
DTA [Deutsches Textarchiv]. <[URL]>.
MHDBDB [Mittelhochdeutsche Begriffsdatenbank]. Universität Salzburg. <[URL]>.
References
Arndt, Erwin. 1959. Das Aufkommen des begründenden weil. Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur (Halle) 81: 388–415.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1960. Begründendes da neben weil im Nhd. Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur (Halle) 82: 242–260.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Axel-Tober, Katrin. 2012. (Nicht-)kanonische Nebensätze im Deutschen. Synchrone und diachrone Aspekte. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. The development of the declarative complementizer in German. Language 93(2): 136–159. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bayer, Joseph. 2001. Two grammars in one: Sentential complements and complementizers in Bengali and other South Asian languages. In The Yearbook of South Asian Languages and Linguistics: Tokyo Symposium on South Asian Languages – Contact, Convergence and Typology, Peri Bhaskarorao, Kamuri. V. Subbarao & Rajendra Singh (eds), 11–36. New Delhi: Sage. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bhatt, Rajesh. 2003. Topics in the syntax of the Modern Indo-Aryan languages: Correlative clauses. Ms. <[URL]> (18 April 2021).
Bianchi, Valentina. 1999. Consequences of Antisymmetry. Headed Relative Clauses [Studies in Generative Grammar 46]. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blümel, Andreas & Pitsch, Hagen. 2019. Adverbial clauses: Internally rich, externally null. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics 4(1): 1–29. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
BMZ [Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch. Mit Benutzung des Nachlasses von Georg Friedrich Benecke ausgearbeitet von Wilhelm Müller und Friedrich Zarncke]. Leipzig 1854–1866. <[URL]>.
Bǒsković, Željko & Lasnik, Howard. 2003. On the distribution of null complementizers. Linguistic Inquiry 34(4): 527–546. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brandner, Ellen & Bräuning, Iris. 2013. Relative wo in Alemannic: Only a complementizer? Linguistische Berichte 234: 131–169.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Breindl, Eva, Volodina, Anna & Waßner, Ulrich H. 2014. Handbuch der deutschen Konnektoren 2: Semantik der deutschen Satzverknüpfer [Schriften des Instituts für Deutsche Sprache 13]. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brovetto, Claudia. 2002. Spanish clauses without complementizer. In Current Issues in Romance Languages: Selected Papers from the 29th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 220], Teresa Satterfield, Christina Tortora & Diana Cresti (eds), 33–46. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cocchi, Gloria & Poletto, Cecilia. 2002. Complementizer deletion in Florentine: The interaction between Merge and Move. In Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2000: Selected Papers from ‘Going Romance’ 2000 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 232], Claire Beyssade, Reineke Bok-Bennema, Frank Drijkoningen & Paola Monachesi (eds), 57–76. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 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 on Grammaticalization. International Symposium, Potsdam, 17–19 June 1999 [Typological Studies in Language 49], Ilse Wischer & Gabriele Diewald (eds), 103–120. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Doherty, Cathal. 1997. Clauses without complementizers: Finite IP-complementation in English. The Linguistic Review 14: 197–220. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Duden 2006 = Dudenredaktion (eds.). Duden 2006. Die Grammatik. Unentbehrlich für richtiges Deutsch. 7. Nach der neuen Deutschen Rechtschreibung 2006 überarbeiteter Neudruck der 7., völlig neu erarbeiteten und erweiterten Auflage. Band 4. Mannheim: Duden.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
DWB [Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm]. Leipzig 1854–1961. <[URL]>.
Eberhardt, Ira. 2017. From a focus particle to a conjunction: Diachronic and synchronic analysis of German zumal. Language 93(2): e66–e96. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2022. From up-toning intensifying particle to scalar focus particle. A new developmental path. In Particles in German, English, and Beyond [Studies in Language Companion Series 224], Remus Gergel, Ingo Reich & Augustin Speyer (eds), 25–68. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ferraresi, Gisella & Weiß, Helmut. 2011. Und nicht nur koordinierend. In Satzverknüpfungen. Zur Interaktion von Form, Bedeutung und Diskursfunktion [Linguistische Arbieten 534], Eva Breindl, Gisella Ferraresi & Anna Volodina (eds), 79–106. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fuß, Eric. 2021. Wh-relatives in the history of German (and what gender’s got to do with it). Journal of Historical Syntax 5(5): 1–36. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gagel, Sebastian. 2017. Frühneuhochdeutsche Konnektoren: Entwicklungslinien kausaler Verknüpfungen auf dem Gebiet der Modalität [Studia Linguistica Germanica 131]. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geis, Michael L. & Zwicky, Arnold M. 1971. On invited inferences. Linguistic Inquiry 2(4): 561–566.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van Gelderen, Elly. 2004. Economy, innovation, and prescriptivism: From spec to head and head to head. Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 7: 59–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. The Linguistic Cycle: Language Change and the Language Faculty. Oxford: OUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gillmann, Melitta. 2018. Causal inference or conventionalized meaning? A corpus study of the German connector nachdem ‘after’ in regional standard varieties. Folia Linguistica 52(2): 483–522. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Greisinger, Isabella. 2016. Die Unidirektionalität des grammatischen Wandels. Studien zur Diachronie der deutschen, englischen und niederländischen Adverbialsätze im Kontext der Interaktion zwischen Grammatikalisierungsforschung, generativer Grammatik und Indogermanistik. PhD dissertation, Salzburg: Universität Salzburg.
Harbert, Wayne. 1992. Gothic relative clauses and syntactic theory. In On Germanic Linguistics: Issues and Methods [Trends in Linguistics 68], Irmengard Rauch, Gerald Carr, Robert L. Kyes (eds), 109–146. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2007. The Germanic Languages. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heine, Bernd, Claudi, Ulrike & Hünnemeyer, Friederike. 1991. Grammaticalization: A Conceptual Framework. Chicago IL: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
König, Ekkehard & Traugott, Elizabeth C. 1988. Pragmatic strengthening and semantic change: The conventionalizing of conversational implicature. In Understanding the Lexicon [Linguistische Arbeiten 210], Werner Hüllen & Rainer Schulze (eds), 110–124. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kuteva, Tania, Heine, Bernd, Hong, Bo, Long, Haiping, Narrog, Heiko & Rhee, Seongha. 2020. World Lexicon of Grammaticalization, 2nd edn. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lindwurm, Arnold. 1874. Ein Nachweis, daß die Philosophie, anstatt der Glaubenslehren, die Grundlage unseres socialen Lebens sein muß. Braunschweig: Schwetschke und Sohn.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
OED [Oxford English Dictionary]. <[URL]>
Pasch, Renate. 1991. Überlegungen zur Syntax und semantischen Interpretation von w-Interrogativsätzen. Deutsche Sprache 3: 193–213.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paul, Hermann. 1998. Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik, 24. Auflage überarbeitet von Peter Wiehl und Siegfried Grosse. Tübingen: Niemeyer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reis, Marga & Rosengren, Inger. 1997. A modular approach to the grammar of additive particles: The case of German auch. Journal of Semantics 14: 237–309. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schmidhauser, Beda. 1995. Kausalität als linguistische Kategorie: Mittel und Möglichkeiten für Begründungen [Reihe Germanistische Linguistik 152]. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Skinner, Burrhus F. 1948. ‘Superstition’ in the pigeon. Journal of Experimental Psychology 38(2): 168–172. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Szczepaniak, Renata. 2011. Grammatikalisierung im Deutschen. Eine Einführung. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Traugott, Elizabeth C. & König, Ekkehard. 1991. The semantics-pragmatics of grammaticalization revisited. In Approaches to Grammaticalization. Theoretical and Methodological Issues, Vol. 1 [Typological Studies in Language 19], Elizabeth C. Traugott & Bernd Heine (eds), 189–218. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Trotta, Joe & Seppänen, Aimo. 1998. The relative conjunction interface. A study of the syntax of while/whilst in present-day English. English Studies: A Journal of English Language and Literature 79(4): 349–366. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wegener, Heide. 2000. Da, denn und weil – der Kampf der Konjunktionen. Zur Grammatikalisierung im kausalen Bereich. In Deutsche Grammatik in Theorie und Praxis: Aus Anlaß des 60. Geburtstags von Peter Eisenberg, Rolf Thieroff, Matthias Tamrat, Nanna Fuhrhop & Oliver Teuber (eds), 57–69. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zaefferer, Dietmar. 1991. Conditionals and unconditionals: Cross-linguistic and logical aspects. In Semantic Universals and Universal Semantics [Groningen-Amsterdam Studies in Semantics 12], Dietmar Zaefferer (ed.), 210–236. Berlin: Foris. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zifonun, Gisela. 2001. Grammatik des Deutschen im europäischen Vergleich. Der Relativsatz. Mannheim: Institut für Deutsche Sprache.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Eberhardt, Ira
2022. From up-toning intensifying particle to scalar focus particle. In Particles in German, English and Beyond [Studies in Language Companion Series, 224], ► pp. 25 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 december 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