Multiple sources for the German scandal construction

Livio Gaeta | University of Turin

The interaction of several cases of grammaticalization going back to different source constructions may have dramatic consequences on a linguistic system. This paper discusses the so-called German scandal construction, which consists of a verbal complex displaying a number of synchronic form-meaning mismatches. The scandal is solved if a diachronic point of view is adopted, which shows that the mismatches result from the intraference of two different source constructions expanded in the course of the German linguistic history, namely the Perfekt construction and the zu-infinitive construction.

Keywords: infinitive, auxiliary, form/function mismatch, perfect, German

Published online: 07 October 2013
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.37.3.05gae

Cited by

Cited by 4 other publications

Angster, Marco & Livio Gaeta

2021. Contact phenomena in the verbal complex: the Walser connection in the Alpine area. STUF - Language Typology and Universals 74:1 ► pp. 73 ff.

Gaeta, Livio

2020. In Historical Linguistics 2017 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 350], ► pp. 206 ff.

Reiner, Tabea

2019. In Morphological Variation [Studies in Language Companion Series, 207], ► pp. 283 ff.

Schallert, Oliver

2020. A Note on Misplaced or Wrongly Attachedzuin German. Journal of Germanic Linguistics 32:1 ► pp. 43 ff.

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