Cover not available
Article published In:
The Diachrony of Infinitival Patterns: Their origin, development and loss
Edited by Ulrike Demske and Łukasz Jędrzejowski
[Journal of Historical Linguistics 5:1] 2015
► pp. 72–109

On the loss of copy-raising and the development of infinitive complements

The case of German beginnen ‘begin’

| University of Potsdam

This article deals with (non‑)finite complement clauses embedded under the inceptive phase predicate beginnen ‘begin’ in the history of German and illustrates how infinitives replaced finite clauses headed by the complementizer dass ‘that’. The main objective is to show that it was possible in Old High German (750–1050) to raise the subject from the embedded clause into the matrix subject position, crossing a CP boundary and leaving a pronominal copy in the dependent clause (copy-raising). Moreover, it is claimed that beginnen in its function as a subject control verb instantiates a recent development in the history of German and that this use developed out of a raising structure.

Keywords: inceptives, control, infinitives, raising, beginnen, German, complement clauses
Published online: 28 August 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.5.1.03jed
References
BFK Das Bonner Frühneuhochdeutschkorpus, Early New High German Corpus. Available at [URL].
DeReKo COSMAS II Modern German. Available at [URL].
Er Hartmann von Aue 1080–1090 Erec. Zweite Ausgabe von Moriz Haupt. Leipzig: Verlag von S. Hirzel.Google Scholar
Goe Goethes Werke. Available as electronic corpus in COSMAS II.
Gri Brüder Grimm. Sagen, Kinder- und Hausmärchen, Kinderlegenden. Available as electronic corpus in COSMAS II.
Isi Der althochdeutsche Isidor 1964 Nach der Pariser Handschrift und den Monseer Fragmenten ed. by Hans Eggers. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.Google Scholar
Iw Hartmann von Aue 1200 [1843] Iwein. Mit Anmerkungen von G. F. Benecke und K. Lachmann, zweite Ausgabe. Berlin: G. Reimer.Google Scholar
NotB Notker der Deutsche: Boethius >>De consolatione philosophiae<<. Buch I/II: [1986], Buch III: [1988], Buch IV/V [1990] ed. by Petrus W. Tax. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.Google Scholar
NotP Notker der Deutsche: Der Psalter. Psal 1–50 [1979], Psalm 51–100 [1981], Psalm 101–150, die Cantica und die katechetischen Texte [1983] ed. by Petrus W. Tax. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Otf Otfrids Evangelienbuch 1973 Ed. by Oskar Erdmann. Sechste Auflage besorgt von Ludwig Wolff. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.Google Scholar
SBfJ Sonntags=Blatt für Jedermann aus dem Volke. A newspaper from the 19th century, available as electronic corpus in COSMAS II.
Tat Die lateinisch-althochdeutsche Tatianbilingue Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen Cod. 56. [1994] (= Studien zum Althochdeutschen, 25.) Ed. by Achim Masser. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
WiK Willirams Kommentar des Hohen Liedes [2001] Die älteste Überlieferung. Ed. by Rudolf Schützeichel und Birgit Meinecke (= Studien zum Althochdeutschen, 39). Redaktionelle Gestaltung: Dieter Kannenberg. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.Google Scholar
Abraham, Werner
1997 The Interdependence of Case, Aspect and Referentiality in the History of German: The Case of the Verbal Genitive. Parameters of Morphosyntactic Change ed. by Ans van Kemenade & Nigel Vincent, 29–61. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
2004 The Grammaticalization of the Infinitival Preposition—Toward a Theory of ‘Grammaticalizing Reanalysis’. Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 7:2.111–170. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Abraham, Werner & Elisabeth Leiss
2012 The Case Differential: Syntagmatic versus Paradigmatic Case—Its Status in Synchrony and Diachrony. Transactions of the Philological Society 110:3.316–341. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ademola‑Adeoye, Feyisayo Fehintola
2011 A Cross‑Linguistic Analysis of Finite Raising Constructions. University of KwaZulu‑Natal PhD thesis.Google Scholar
Adesola, Oluseye
2005 Pronouns and Null Operators: A-Bar Dependencies and Relations in Yoruba. The State University of New Jersey PhD thesis.Google Scholar
Askedal, John Ole
ed. 1998 Historische germanische und deutsche Syntax. Akten des internationalen Symposiums anläßlich des 100. Geburtstages von Ingerid Dal, Oslo, 27.9.–1.10.1995. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
1998 Zur Syntax infiniter Verbalformen in den Berthold von Regensburg zugeschriebenen deutschen Predigten. Vorstufe der topologischen Kohärenz-Inkohärenz-Opposition. In John Ole Askedal, ed., 231–259.Google Scholar
Asudeh, Ash & Ida Toivonen
2012 Copy Raising and Perception. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 30:2.321–380. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Axel, Katrin
2001 Althochdeutsche Modalverben als Anhebungsverben. In Reimar Müller & Marga Reis, eds., 37–60.Google Scholar
2009 Die Entstehung des ‘dass’‑Satzes: ein neues Szenario. Koordination und Subordination im Deutschen ed. by Veronika Ehrich, Christian Fortmann, Ingo Reich & Marga Reis, 21–41. Hamburg: Helmut Buske.Google Scholar
Axel‑Tober, Katrin
2012 (Nicht-)kanonische Nebensätze im Deutschen. Synchrone und diachrone Aspekte. (= Linguistische Arbeiten, 542.) Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barðdal, Jóhanna
1997 Oblique Subjects in Old Scandinavian. NOWELE 371.25–51. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2001 The Role of Thematic Roles in Constructions? Evidence from the Icelandic Inchoative. Proceedings of the 18th Scandinavian Conference of Linguistics 2000 ed. by Arthur Holmer, Jan-Olof Svantesson & Åke Viberg, 127–137. Lund: Department of Linguistics.Google Scholar
Barðdal, Jóhanna & Thórhallur Eythórsson
2006 Control Infinitives and Case in Germanic: ‘Performance Error’ or Marginally Acceptable Constructions? Case, Valency and Transitivity ed. by Leonid Kulikov, Andrej Malchukov & Peter de Swart, 147–177. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bech, Gunnar
1955–1957 Studien über das deutsche verbum infinitum. (= Historisk-filologiske Meddelelser udgivet af Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, 35, 37.) København: Munksgaard.Google Scholar
Behaghel, Otto
1924 Deutsche Syntax. Eine geschichtliche Darstellung. Band II: Die Wortklassen und Wortformen. B. Adverbium. C. Verbum. Heidelberg: Carl Winter’s Universitätsbuchhandlung.Google Scholar
Besten, Hans den & Jean Rutten
1989 On Verb Raising, Extraposition, and Free Word Order in Dutch. Sentential Complementation and the Lexicon ed. by Dany Jaspers, Wim G. Klooster, Yvan Putseys & Pieter A.M. Seuren, 41–56. Dordrecht: Foris. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boeckx, Cedric, Norbert Hornstein & Jairo Nunes
2010 Control as Movement. (= Cambridge Studies in Linguistics, 126.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brandner, Ellen
2006 Bare Infinitives in Alemannic and the Categorial Status of Infinitival Complements. Linguistic Variation Yearbook 61.203–268. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, Noam
1995 The Minimalist Program. Cambridge: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
2000 Minimalist Inquiries: The Framework. Step by Step: Essays on Minimalist Syntax in Honor of Howard Lasnik ed. by Martin Roger, David Michaels, Juan Uriagereka & Samuel Jay Keyser, 89–155. Cambridge: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
2001 Derivation by Phase. Ken Hale: A Life in Language ed. by Michael Kenstowicz, 1–52. Cambridge: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
2008 On phases. Foundational Issues in Linguistic Theory: Essays in Honor of Jean‑Roger Vergnaud ed. by Robert Freidin, Carlos P. Otero & Maria Luisa Zubizaretta, 133–166. Cambridge: The MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Demske, Ulrike
2001 Zur Distribution von Infinitivkomplementen im Althochdeutschen. In Reimar Müller & Marga Reis, eds., 61–86.Google Scholar
2008 Raising Patterns in Old High German. Grammatical Change and Linguistic Theory: The Rosendahl Papers ed. by Thórhallur Eythórsson, 143–172. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Denecke, Arthur
1880 Der Gebrauch des Infinitives bei den althochdeutschen Übersetzern des 8. und 9. Jahrhunderts. Leipzig: Druck von Pöschel & Trepte.Google Scholar
Denison, David
1989 Auxiliary + Impersonal in Old English. Folia Linguistica Historica 91.139–166.Google Scholar
Deprez, Viviane
1992 Raising Constructions in Haitian Creole. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 10:2.191–231. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Donhauser, Karin
1990 Moderne Kasuskonzeptionen und die Kasussetzung im Althochdeutschen. Überlegungen zur Stellung des Objektsgenitivs im Althochdeutschen. Neuere Forschungen zur historischen Syntax des Deutschen ed. by Anne Betten, 98–112. Tübingen: Niemeyer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1991 Das Genitivproblem in der historischen Kasusforschung. Ein Beitrag zur Diachronie des deutschen Kasussystems. Universität Passau Habilitationsschrift.Google Scholar
1998 Das Genitivproblem und (k)ein Ende? In John Ole Askedal, ed., 69–86.Google Scholar
Ebert, Robert Peter
1976 Infinitival Complement Constructions in Early New High German ( = Linguistische Arbeiten, 30). Tübingen: Max Niemeyer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Erdmann, Oskar
1876 Untersuchungen über die Syntax der Sprache Otfrids. 2. Teil. Halle: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses.Google Scholar
Faarlund, Jan Terje
2007 Parameterization and Change in Non‑Finite Complementation. Diachronica 24:1.57–80. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fabricius-Hansen, Cathrine
1980 Sogenannte ergänzende wenn-Sätze. Ein Beispiel syntaktisch-semantischer Integration. Festschrift für Gunnar Bech: zum 60. Geburtstag am 23. März ed. by Gunnar Bech, Mogens Dyhr, Karl Hyldgaard-Jensen & Jørgen Olsen, 61–83. København: Institut for germansk filologi, Københavns universitet.Google Scholar
Fleischer, Jürg & Oliver Schallert
2011 Historische Syntax des Deutschen. Eine Einführung. Tübingen: Narr Verlag.Google Scholar
Fox, Daniel
1999 Reconstruction, Binding Theory, and the Interpretation of Chains. Linguistic Inquiry 30:2.157–196. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fukuda, Shin
2007 On the Control/Raising Ambiguity with Aspectual Verbs: A Structural Account. Studies in Complement Control ed. by Barbara Stiebels, 159–195. Berlin: Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft.Google Scholar
Graff, Eberhard Gottlieb & Hans F. Massmann
1838 Althochdeutscher Sprachschatz oder Wörterbuch der althochdeutschen Sprache. Vol. 41. Berlin: Nikolai.Google Scholar
Grimm, Jacob
1837 Deutsche Grammatik. Vierter Theil. Göttingen: Dieterichsche Buchhandlung.Google Scholar
Grosse, Julia
2005 Zu Kohärenz und Kontrolle in infiniten Konstruktionen des Deutschen. Marburg: Tectum Verlag.Google Scholar
Grosu, Alexander & Julia Horvath
1984 The GB Theory and Raising in Rumanian. Linguistic Inquiry 15:2.348–353.Google Scholar
Gunkel, Lutz
2000 Selektion verbaler Komplemente. Zur Syntax der Halbmodal- und Phasenverben. Deutsche Grammatik in Theorie und Praxis ed. by Rolf Thieroff, Matthias Tamrat, Nanna Fuhrhop & Oliver Teuber, 111–121. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haddad, Youssef A
2012 Raising in Standard Arabic: Forward, Backward, and None. Arabic Language and Linguistics ed. by Reem Bassiouney & Graham Katz, 61–78. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Haider, Hubert
1989 Against Raising. Sentential Complementation and the Lexicon: Studies in Honour of Wim de Geest ed. by Dany Jaspers, Wim Klooster, Yvan Putseys & Pieter Seuren, 173–187. Dordrecht: Foris. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1993 Deutsche Syntax–generativ. Vorstudien zur Theorie einer projektiven Grammatik. ( = Tübinger Beiträge zur Linguistik, 325.) Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar
2009 The Syntax of German. ( = Cambridge Syntax Guides .) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hinterwimmer, Stefan
2012 When-Clauses, Factive Verbs and Correlates. Language and Logos: Studies in Theoretical and Computational Linguistics ed. by Thomas Hanneforth & Gisbert Fanselow, 176–189. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.Google Scholar
Jędrzejowski, Łukasz
2015 Subjektanhebungsverben im Deutschen. Ihre Entstehung, Entwicklung und Komplemente. University of Potsdam PhD thesis.Google Scholar
Jędrzejowski, Łukasz & Katrin Goldschmidt
2015 On the Status of the Infinitival Marker zu ‘to’ in the History of German: A Corpus-Based Analysis. Universität Potsdam manuscript.
Johnk, Linn Dale
1979 Complementation in Old High German. The University of Texas at Austin PhD thesis.Google Scholar
Kayne, Richard
1980 De quelques différences entre le français et l’anglais. Langages 60:1.47–65. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Keinästö, Kari
1986 Studien zu Infinitivkonstruktionen im mittelhochdeutschen Prosa-Lancelot. ( Regensburger Beiträge zur deutschen Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft, 30). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
1990 Über ingressive und egressive Infinitivkonstruktionen im mittelhochdeutschen Prosa‑Lancelot. Neuere Forschungen zur historischen Syntax des Deutschen. Referate der Internationalen Fachkonferenz Eichstätt 1989 ed. by Anne Betten, 56–70. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.Google Scholar
Kim, Jong‑Bok
2014 English Copy Raising Constructions: Argument Realization and Characterization Condition. Linguistics 52:1.167–203. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kiss, Tibor
2005 Subjektselektion bei Infinitiven. Der Infinitiv im Deutschen ed. by Jean‑François Marillier & Claire Rozier, 115–132. Tübingen: Stauffenburg.Google Scholar
Lamiroy, Béatrice
1987 The Complementation of Aspectual Verbs in French. Language 63:2.278–298. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Landau, Idan
2011 Predication vs. Aboutness in Copy Raising. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 29:3.779–813. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013 Control in Generative Grammar: A Research Companion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Los, Bettelou
2000  Onginnan/beginnan with Bare and to‑Infinitive in Ælfric. Pathways of Change: Grammaticalization in English ed. by Olga Fischer, Anette Rosenbach & Dieter Stein, 251–274. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2005 The Rise of the to-Infinitive. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mensching, Guido
2000 Infinitive Constructions with Specified Subjects: A Syntactic Analysis of the Romance Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Meurers, Walt Detmar
2000 Lexical Generalizations in the Syntax of German Non‑Finite Constructions. Arbeitspapiere des SFB 340, vol. 1451. Tübingen: Eberhard‑Karls‑Universität.Google Scholar
Moore, John
1998 Turkish Copy‑Raising and A‑Chain Locality. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 16:1.149–189. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Müller, Reimar & Marga Reis
eds. 2001 Modalität und Modalverben im Deutschen. Hamburg: Helmut Buske.Google Scholar
Nunes, Jairo
2004 Linearization of Chains and Sideward Movement. ( = Linguistic Inquiry Monographs, 43). Cambridge: The MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ogura, Michiko
1997 On the Beginning and Development of the begin to Construction. Studies in Middle English Linguistics ed. by Jacek Fisiak, 403–428. Berlin: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Perlmutter, David
1970 The Two Verbs begin . Readings in English Transformational Grammar ed. by Roderick A. Jacobs & Peter S. Rosenbaum, 107–119. Waltham, MA: Ginn and Company.Google Scholar
Potsdam, Eric & Maria Polinsky
2012 Backward Raising. Syntax 15:1.75–108. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pye, Clifton
2009 Cycles of Complementation in the Mayan Languages. In Elly van Gelderen, ed., 265–284.Google Scholar
Reis, Marga
2007 Modals, So-Called Semi-Modals, and Grammaticalization. Interdisciplinary Journal for Germanic Linguistics and Semiotic Analysis 121.1–57.Google Scholar
Roetteken, Hubert
1884 Der zusammengesetzte Satz bei Berthold von Regensburg. Ein Beitrag zur mittelhochdeutschen Syntax. Strassburg: Trübner & Comp. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rooryck, Johan
1992 On the Distinction between Raising and Control. Romance Languages and Modern Linguistic Theory: Papers from the 20th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages, Ottawa, 10–14 April, 1990 ed. by Paul Hirschbühler & Konrad Koerner, 225–250. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sauerland, Uli
2003 Intermediate Adjunction with A‑Movement. Linguistic Inquiry 34:2.308–313. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schwabe, Kerstin & Robert Fittler
2013 Variations of Argument Realization of German Clause Embedding Predicates. A talk presented at the 19th Germanic Linguistics Annual Conference , University at Buffalo.Google Scholar
Schrodt, Richard
1992 Die Opposition von Objektsgenitiv und Objektsakkusativ in der deutschen Sprachgeschichte: Syntax oder Semantik oder beides? Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 114:3.361–394. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sichel, Ivy
2007 Raising in DP Revisited. New Horizons in the Analysis of Control and Raising ed. by William D. Davies & Stanley Dubinsky, 15–34. Dordrecht: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sims, Lynn
2013 Aspectual Loss and Renewal: onginnan, beginnan, start . Periphrasis, Replacement and Renewal: Studies in English Historical Linguistics ed. by Irén Hegedűs & Dóra Pődör, 57–82. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Sitaridou, Ioanna
2009 On the Emergence of Personal Infinitives in the History of Spanish. Diachronica 26:1.36–64. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Speyer, Augustin
2015 Semantic Factors for the Status of Control Infinitives in the History of German. Infinitives at the Syntax-Semantics Interface: A Diachronic Perspective ed. by Łukasz Jędrzejowski & Ulrike Demske. Berlin & Boston: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Sternefeld, Wolfgang
2008 Syntax. Eine morphologisch motivierte generative Beschreibung des Deutschen. (= Stauffenburg Linguistik, 31). Tübingen: Stauffenburg. (3., überarbeitete Auflage.).Google Scholar
Thráinsson, Höskuldur
2007 The Syntax of Icelandic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Traugott, Elisabeth Closs
1997 Subjectification and the Development of Epistemic Meaning: The Case of promise and threaten . Modality in Germanic Languages: Historical and Comparative Perspectives ed. by Toril Swan & Olaf Jansen Westvik, 185–210. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010 (Inter)subjectivity and (Inter)subjectification: A Reassessment. Subjectification, Intersubjectification and Grammaticalization ed. by Kristin Davidse, Lieven Vandelanotte & Hubert Cuyckens, 29–74. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ura, Hiroyuki
1998 Checking, Economy and Copy‑Raising in Igbo. Linguistic Analysis 28:1.67–88.Google Scholar
Van Gelderen, Elly
ed. 2009 Cyclical Change. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2009 Cyclical Changes, an Introduction. In Elly van Gelderen, ed., 1–12. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2011 The Linguistic Cycle: Language Change and the Language Faculty. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Von Monsterberg-Münckenau, Sylvius
1885 Der Infinitiv in den Epen Hartmanns von Aue. (= Germanistische Abhandlungen, 5.) Breslau: Verlag von Wilhelm Koebner.Google Scholar
Wilder, Christopher
1988 On the German Infinitival Marker zu and the Analysis of Raising Constructions. Lingua 76:2/3.115–175. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wöllstein‑Leisten, Angelika
2001 Die Syntax der dritten Konstruktion. Eine repräsentationelle Analyse zur Monosententialität von zu‑Infinitiven im Deutschen. ( Studien zur deutschen Grammatik, 63.) Tübingen: Stauffenburg Verlag.Google Scholar
Wurmbrand, Susanne
1999 Modal Verbs Must Be Raising Verbs. Proceedings of the 18th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL 18) ed. by Sonya Bird, Andrew Carnie, Jason D. Haugen & Peter Norquest, 599–612. Somerville, MA.: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Zifonun, Gisela, Ludger Hoffmann & Bruno Strecker
1997 Grammatik der deutschen Sprache. (= Schriften des Instituts für Deutsche Sprache ). Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Jędrzejowski, Łukasz
2021. On the habitual verbpflegenin German: Its use, origin, and development. Linguistics 59:6 ► pp. 1473 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 april 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.