The Meaning of Particle / Prefix Constructions in German

Robert B. Dewell | Loyola University New Orleans

Hardbound – Available

ISBN 9789027223883 | EUR 95.00 | USD 143.00

e-Book –

ISBN 9789027283658 | EUR 95.00 | USD 143.00

This is really two books in one: a valuable reference resource, and a groundbreaking case study that represents a new approach to constructional semantics. It presents a detailed descriptive survey, using extensive examples collected from the Internet, of German verb constructions in which the expressions durch (‘through’), über (‘over’), unter (‘under’), and um (‘around’) occur either as inseparable verb prefixes or as separable verb particles. Based on that evidence, the author argues that the prefixed verb constructions and particle verb constructions themselves have meaning, and that this meaning involves subjective construal processes rather than objective information. The constructions prompt us to distribute focal attention according to patterns that can be articulated in terms of Talmy’s notion of “perspectival modes”. Among the other topics that play an important role in the analysis are incremental themes, reflexive trajectors, fictive motion, “multi-directional paths”, and “accusative landmarks”.

[Human Cognitive Processing, 34] 2011. xiii, 336 pp.

Publishing status: Available
Published online on 27 September 2011

https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.34

Table of Contents

Preface | p. xiii

Part I. Introduction and overview

1. Particle / prefix constructions and the study of constructional meaning | pp. 3–22

2. Route-path expressions and other basic concepts | pp. 23–31

Part II. Particle verb constructions

3. Intransitive particle verb constructions | pp. 35–56

4. Particle verbs with accusative FGs | pp. 57–76

5. UM- verbs and reflexive-trajectors | pp. 77–104

6. DURCH- verbs with accusative routes | pp. 105–128

Part III. Prefixed verb constructions

7. Prefixed verbs and holistic paths | pp. 131–161

8. Prefixed verbs and multi-directional paths | pp. 163–208

9. Prefixed verb constructions with an implicit LM | pp. 209–242

Part IV. Comparisons and conclusions

10. Contrasting über- and ÜBER- (and unter- and UNTER-) | pp. 245–261

11. Contrasting durch- and DURCH- | pp. 263–297

12. The meaning of the constructions | pp. 299–317

Index of subjects and names | pp. 325–327

Index of verbs | pp. 329–336

Cited by (9)

Cited by nine other publications

Order by:

Fagard, Benjamin & Anetta Kopecka

2021. Source/Goal (a)symmetry. Studies in Language 45:1 ► pp. 130 ff.

Torres-Martínez, Sergio

2021. The cognition of caused-motion events in Spanish and German: AnAgentive Cognitive Construction Grammaranalysis. Australian Journal of Linguistics 41:1 ► pp. 33 ff.

Meex, Birgitta

2020. Chapter 3. Patterns of path encoding in German. In Broader Perspectives on Motion Event Descriptions [Human Cognitive Processing, 69], ► pp. 63 ff.

Diedrichsen, Elke

2017. Pleonasm in particle verb constructions in German. In Argument Realisation in Complex Predicates and Complex Events [Studies in Language Companion Series, 180], ► pp. 43 ff.

Luo, Han

2017. English transitive particle verbs. Cognitive Linguistic Studies 4:2 ► pp. 330 ff.

Luo, Han

2019. Conclusion and Outlook. In Particle Verbs in English, ► pp. 147 ff.

Luo, Han

2019. Introduction. In Particle Verbs in English, ► pp. 1 ff.

Madlener, Karin

2016. The Semantics of German Verb Prefixes by Robert Dewell. CogniTextes 14:Volume 14

[no author supplied]

2015. The Semantics of German Verb Prefixes [Human Cognitive Processing, 49],

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 18 july 2024. 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.

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