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Adjectival Conversion of Unaccusatives in German

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2011

Helga Gese ,
Claudia Maienborn  and
Britta Stolterfoht
Helga Gese*
Affiliation:
University of Tübingen
Claudia Maienborn*
Affiliation:
University of Tübingen
Britta Stolterfoht*
Affiliation:
University of Tübingen
*
University of Tübingen, SFB 833 Meaning Constitution, Nauklerstr 35, 72074 Tübingen, Germany, [helga.gese@uni-tuebingen.de]
University of Tübingen, SFB 833 Meaning constitution/German Department, Wilhelmstr. 50, 72074 Tübingen, Germany, [claudia.maienborn@uni-tuebingen.de]
University of Tübingen, German Department, Wilhelmstr. 50, 72074 Tübingen, Germany, [britta.stolterfoht@uni-tuebingen.de]
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Abstract

The paper presents an in-depth study of the conditions under which unaccusative verbs in German take part in the formation of so-called ADJECTIVAL PASSIVES. It provides corpus-linguistic as well as psycho-linguistic evidence arguing that combinations of sein ‘to be’ with the participle of an unaccusative verb are systematically ambiguous between a present perfect reading (with sein as auxiliary) and an adjectival reading (with sein as copula). The first part of the paper highlights the adjectival character of the construction in question. The second part presents the results of three rating studies that help unravel the pragmatic conditions that govern the adjectival conversion of unaccusatives. This leads to the conclusion that what has become known as the “adjectival passive” construction is a rather general, broadly available word formation process that is characteristically shaped and controlled by pragmatic factors.*

Type
ARTICLES
Information
Journal of Germanic Linguistics , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , 06 May 2011 , pp. 101 - 140
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Germanic Linguistics 2011

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