Werner Abraham

Werner Abraham

List of John Benjamins publications for which Werner Abraham plays a role.

Book series

Journal

Titles

Thetics and Categoricals

Edited by Werner Abraham, Elisabeth Leiss and Yasuhiro Fujinawa

[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 262] 2020. vii, 390 pp.
Subjects Semantics | Syntax | Theoretical linguistics

Modes of Modality: Modality, typology, and universal grammar

Edited by Elisabeth Leiss and Werner Abraham

[Studies in Language Companion Series, 149] 2014. vi, 511 pp.
Subjects Semantics | Syntax | Theoretical linguistics | Typology

Certainty-uncertainty – and the Attitudinal Space in Between

Edited by Sibilla Cantarini, Werner Abraham and Elisabeth Leiss

[Studies in Language Companion Series, 165] 2014. x, 365 pp.
Subjects Cognition and language | Discourse studies | Philosophy | Pragmatics | Semantics | Theoretical linguistics

Modality–Aspect Interfaces: Implications and typological solutions

Edited by Werner Abraham and Elisabeth Leiss

[Typological Studies in Language, 79] 2008. xxiv, 422 pp.
Subjects Semantics | Syntax | Theoretical linguistics | Typology

Nominal Determination: Typology, context constraints, and historical emergence

Edited by Elisabeth Stark, Elisabeth Leiss and Werner Abraham

[Studies in Language Companion Series, 89] 2007. viii, 370 pp.
Subjects Historical linguistics | Semantics | Syntax | Typology

Passivization and Typology: Form and function

Edited by Werner Abraham and Larisa Leisiö

[Typological Studies in Language, 68] 2006. x, 553 pp.
Subjects Semantics | Syntax | Theoretical linguistics | Typology

Datives and Other Cases: Between argument structure and event structure

Edited by Daniel Hole, André Meinunger and Werner Abraham

[Studies in Language Companion Series, 75] 2006. viii, 385 pp.
Subjects Semantics | Syntax | Theoretical linguistics

The Composition of Meaning: From lexeme to discourse

Edited by Alice G.B. ter Meulen and Werner Abraham

[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 255] 2004. vi, 232 pp.
Subjects Discourse studies | Generative linguistics | Pragmatics | Semantics | Syntax | Theoretical linguistics | Typology

Issues in Formal German(ic) Typology

Edited by Werner Abraham and C. Jan-Wouter Zwart

[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 45] 2002. xviii, 336 pp.
Subjects Generative linguistics | Germanic linguistics | Theoretical linguistics | Typology
Subjects Comparative linguistics | Generative linguistics | Germanic linguistics | Theoretical linguistics
Subjects Semantics | Theoretical linguistics | Typology

Minimal Ideas: Syntactic studies in the minimalist framework

Edited by Werner Abraham, Samuel David Epstein, Höskuldur Thráinsson and C. Jan-Wouter Zwart

[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 12] 1996. xii, 364 pp.
Subjects Generative linguistics | Syntax

Discourse, Grammar and Typology: Papers in honor of John W.M. Verhaar

Edited by Werner Abraham, T. Givón and Sandra A. Thompson

[Studies in Language Companion Series, 27] 1995. xx, 352 pp.
Subjects Discourse studies | Functional linguistics | Pragmatics | Typology
Subjects Discourse studies | Germanic linguistics | Pragmatics | Syntax | Theoretical linguistics
Subjects Semantics | Syntax | Theoretical linguistics
Subjects Theoretical linguistics

Articles

Non-veridicality is at the heart of more than just the verbal subjunctive. The main distinction we drew is the free application of the subjunctive and the non-veridical mood in dependent sentences. Greek and the Romance languages are among the representatives of this syntactic-semantic design of… read more | Chapter
Abraham, Werner. 2020. From philosophical logic to linguistics: The architecture of information autonomy: Categoricals vs. Thetics revisited. Thetics and Categoricals, Abraham, Werner, Elisabeth Leiss and Yasuhiro Fujinawa (eds.), pp. 225–282
How are the logical terms of thetic and categorical judgments to be distinguished linguistically? The key questions are how judgments can be thought of in terms of linguistics and what the deeper lying reason is for distinguishing the two notions. In our search for an answer, we can be guided by… read more | Chapter
Abraham, Werner. 2020. Introduction : What this volume is about. Thetics and Categoricals, Abraham, Werner, Elisabeth Leiss and Yasuhiro Fujinawa (eds.), pp. 1–10
Chapter
I survey the discourse effects and conditions of selection of the German modal (discourse) particles on the basis of different questions that have always been in the focus of analytical descriptions (cf. Whitt 2015), which, however, can be formulated more clearly today. Special attention will be… read more | Chapter
The main designs of modern theories of syntax assume a process of syntagmatic organization. However, research on first language acquisition leaves no doubt that the structured combination of single lexical items cannot begin until a critical mass of lexical items has been acquired such that the… read more | Article
The paper pursues two goals: first, comparing the behavior of speech act adverbials with modal particles, and second, the kinship of verum focus and modal particles with respect to their function in discourse. I explore the main difference between German(ic) grammatical modal particles and lexical… read more | Chapter
Abraham, Werner and Elisabeth Leiss. 2017. Multiple case binding – The principled underspecification of case exponency. Contrastive Studies in Verbal Valency, Hellan, Lars, Andrej L. Malchukov and Michela Cennamo (eds.), pp. 27–82
Chapter
This essay is essentially a list of phenomena taken from the two large dialect areas of what is called Upper German (for German Oberdeutsch, South German (SG henceforth), comprising Austrian and Bavarian dialects as well as High Alemannic). The author himself speaks natively (base and high school)… read more | Article
Abraham, Werner. 2014. Certainty: its conceptual differential in Accessible World Semantics. Certainty-uncertainty – and the Attitudinal Space in Between, Cantarini, Sibilla, Werner Abraham and Elisabeth Leiss (eds.), pp. 29–45
This paper marks an attempt at coming to grips with the notion of certainty and degrees thereof. Where certainty has to do with propositional truth, we have become aware of hefty criticism by philosophers critical of analytic philosophy, most prominently Richard Rorty (1967 in “The Linguistic… read more | Article
Our point of departure is a twofold observation. There is, first, a new periphrastic past in spoken Polish using a Slavic newcomer in this temporal construction, namely mieć “have”+P(ast) P(articiple) of a lexical verb. The Polish temporal paradigm is thus enriched by an analytic past form similar… read more | Article
Leiss, Elisabeth and Werner Abraham. 2014. Introduction. Modes of Modality: Modality, typology, and universal grammar, Leiss, Elisabeth and Werner Abraham (eds.), pp. 1–16
Article
Other than Russian, but to all appearances like Czech, Polish is developing a new auxiliary from mieć “have, possess” that it can use for the hitherto unknown analytic past. We aim to observe what the status of this innovation in Polish is: whether or not it is to be tracked back to a contact… read more | Article
This article is on Cimbrian German, an old enclave dialect in Upper Italy surrounded by Italo-Romance dialects. Next to clear traces of German clausal syntax, it shows Romance characteristics, which could be due to borrowing from the surrounding Italo-Romance majority dialects. Pertinent literature… read more | Article
Motion verbs (VoM) are discussed as examples of exceptions to the definition of unaccusativity. The problem arises under impersonal passivization (IPass): VoM may, on the one hand, be subjected to impersonal passivization, but, on the other hand, they turn out as ergative verbs/unaccusatives in… read more | Article
Abraham, Werner. 2011. Preface. Theory of Language: The representational function of language, Bühler, Karl, pp. xiii–xlvii
Article
This discussion is on diathetic derivative relations between verbs and their distribution between the syntactic component and the lexicon. We investigate whether or not the lexicon of verbs can be based on derivative relations such that there is only one basic type of verb – let us assume,… read more | Article
Abraham, Werner. 2010. Unaccusative verbs in Chinese: Derivation in the lexicon or in syntax?. Structure Preserved: Studies in syntax for Jan Koster, Zwart, C. Jan-Wouter and Mark de Vries (eds.), pp. 1–12
Article
In what follows the attempt is made, in all due brevity and succinctness, to gain more solid insight into links between aspect and modality as observed to hold in German and other West and North Germanic languages in Abraham (1990a, b, 2001, 2002, 2005). The basic idea (developed in more detail in… read more | Article
Review
Abraham, Werner and Elisabeth Leiss. 2008. Introduction: Aspect-modality interfaces and interchanges across languages. Modality–Aspect Interfaces: Implications and typological solutions, Abraham, Werner and Elisabeth Leiss (eds.), pp. xi–xxiv
Miscellaneous
Abraham, Werner. 2007. Discourse binding: DP and pronouns in German, Dutch, and English. Nominal Determination: Typology, context constraints, and historical emergence, Stark, Elisabeth, Elisabeth Leiss and Werner Abraham (eds.), pp. 21–47
Grammatical determiners of various sorts are differently distributed in individual languages. We will list and investigate briefl y a few related and non-related languages to survey the lexical lexemes relating to Determiner (DemPro) status vs. Article status and pronominal anaphor (PersPro). A… read more | Article
Miscellaneous
In Abraham (this volume), grammatical determiners of various sorts were discussed in regard of the extent to which such determiners co-define anaphors in contexts reaching beyond the single clause. Making use of its findings, the present discussion shows how the defi nite article emerged in the… read more | Article
Article
Abraham, Werner, Elisabeth Stark and Elisabeth Leiss. 2007. Introduction. Nominal Determination: Typology, context constraints, and historical emergence, Stark, Elisabeth, Elisabeth Leiss and Werner Abraham (eds.), pp. 1–20
Miscellaneous
It is claimed that in languages without a synthetic passive verbal morphology, the passive diathesis is compositional derived by implication or radical underspecification rather than generated in a direct way. As finitizing auxiliaries, equivalents of BE/ESSERE or HAVE/HAB¯ERE are employed together… read more | Article
Article
Miscellaneous
Abraham, Werner. 2006. Dialect and typology: Where they meet — and where they don’t. Types of Variation: Diachronic, dialectal and typological interfaces, Nevalainen, Terttu, Juhani Klemola and Mikko Laitinen (eds.), pp. 243–267
Article
Abraham, Werner. 2006. Bare and prepositional differential case marking: The exotic case of German (and Icelandic) among all of Germanic. Case, Valency and Transitivity, Kulikov, Leonid, Andrej L. Malchukov and Peter de Swart (eds.), pp. 115–145
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Abraham, Werner and Elisabeth Leiss. 2006. The impersonal passive: voice suspended under aspectual conditions. Passivization and Typology: Form and function, Abraham, Werner and Larisa Leisiö (eds.), pp. 502–517
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Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous
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Meulen, Alice G.B. ter and Werner Abraham. 2004. The composition of meaning. The Composition of Meaning: From lexeme to discourse, Meulen, Alice G.B. ter and Werner Abraham (eds.), pp. 1 ff.
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Article
Miscellaneous
Abraham, Werner. 2002. Modal verbs: Epistemics in German and English. Modality and its Interaction with the Verbal System, Barbiers, Sjef, Frits Beukema and Wim van der Wurff (eds.), pp. 19–50
Article
Abraham, Werner. 2002. Introduction. Issues in Formal German(ic) Typology, Abraham, Werner and C. Jan-Wouter Zwart (eds.), pp. ix ff.
Miscellaneous
Abraham, Werner and László Molnárfi. 2002. German clause structure under discourse functional weight: Focus and antifocus. Issues in Formal German(ic) Typology, Abraham, Werner and C. Jan-Wouter Zwart (eds.), pp. 1–43
Article
According to influential work on grammaticalization, the route grammaticalizing changes take is from lexical to functional categories (Lehmann 1985, van Gelderen 1993). It will be demonstrated on two grammatical relations that this is a too specific assumption. First, modal particles in German and… read more | Article
Chapter
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Abraham, Werner. 1999. Discussant Paper Referring to the Syntax Position Papers by Howard Lasnik and Mickey Noonan. Functionalism and Formalism in Linguistics: Volume I: General papers, Darnell, Michael, Edith A. Moravcsik, Michael Noonan, Frederick J. Newmeyer and Kathleen Wheatley (eds.), pp. 55 ff.
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Miscellaneous
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Abraham, Werner. 1998. R.L. Trask. Historical Linguistics. Studies in Language 22:2, pp. 522–523
Miscellaneous
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Review
Abraham, Werner. 1997. Dixon, R.M.W. Ergativity. Studies in Language 21:1, pp. 237–240
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Abraham, Werner. 1996. German standard pronouns and non-standard pronominal clitics Typological corollaries. Germanic Linguistics: Syntactic and diachronic, Lippi-Green, Rosina L. and Joseph C. Salmons (eds.), pp. 1 ff.
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Abraham, Werner. 1996. "Ersatzinfinitiv" und Verbanhebung in der Westgermania. NOWELE Volume 28/29 (August 1996): A Frisian and Germanic Miscellany, Petersen, Adeline and Hans Frede Nielsen † (eds.), pp. 273–295
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Abraham, Werner. 1995. Diathesis: The Middle, Particularly in West-Germanic. Discourse, Grammar and Typology: Papers in honor of John W.M. Verhaar, Abraham, Werner, T. Givón and Sandra A. Thompson (eds.), pp. 3 ff.
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Abraham, Werner. 1995. Structural Properties of Information Packaging in German and in Universal Grammar. Prague Linguistic Circle Papers: Travaux du cercle linguistique de Prague nouvelle série, Hajičová, Eva, Miroslav Červenka, Oldřich Leška † and Petr Sgall (eds.), pp. 125 ff.
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Miscellaneous
Abraham, Werner. 1991. How Much of the German Tense System is "Aspect" and "Aktionsart"?. Perspectives on Aspect and Aktionsart, Vetters, Carl and Willy Vandeweghe (eds.), pp. 133–150
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Abraham, Werner. 1991. The grammaticization of the German modal particles. Approaches to Grammaticalization: Volume II. Types of grammatical markers, Traugott, Elizabeth Closs and Bernd Heine (eds.), pp. 331 ff.
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Review
Abraham, Werner. 1989. Verbal Substantives in German. Syntactic Phrase Structure Phenomena in Noun Phrases and Sentences, Bhatt, Christa, Elisabeth Löbel and Claudia Maria Schmidt (eds.), pp. 79–98
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Abraham, Werner. 1989. Language Universals: The Chomskyan Approach vs. Greenberg's Typological Approach. Universals of Language, Kefer, Michel and Johan van der Auwera (eds.), pp. 9–25
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Abraham, Werner, Laci Marácz, Sjaak de Mey and Wim Scherpenisse. 1986. Introduction. Topic, Focus and Configurationality: Papers from the 6th Groningen Grammar Talks, Groningen, 1984, Abraham, Werner and Sjaak de Meij (eds.), pp. 1 ff.
Miscellaneous
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Abraham, Werner. 1979. Methodische Übungen zu Kafka-Interpretationen. Integrale Linguistik: Festschrift für Helmut Gipper, Bülow, Edeltraud und Peter Schmitter (Hrsg.), pp. 379–404
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