German so-relatives: Lost in grammatical, typological, and sociolinguistic change

Kempf, Luise (2021). German so-relatives: Lost in grammatical, typological, and sociolinguistic change. In: Kranich, Svenja; Breban, Tine (eds.) Lost in Change. Causes and processes in the loss of grammatical elements and constructions. Studies in Language Companion Series: Vol. 218 (pp. 291-331). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins 10.1075/slcs.218.10kem

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The paper presents a corpus-based analysis of the loss of the relativizer so in New High German. The corpus data show that the frequencies dropped in the 18th century, with significant differences among regions and genres. The distributions underpin a relation to chancery language (as assumed in the literature), but the particle was also used in all other domains when sophisticated style was aimed at. Since the demise of chancery language does not fully account for the disappearance of so relatives, a broader socio-historical background and general language change of the time needs to be taken into account. Large-scale developments, such as increasing literacy and the Enlightenment, are shown to have induced fundamental language changes. Overall, written German underwent a typological drift to overt, morphosyntax-based complexity. This is evidenced by a number of general grammatical developments. Specifically, the increase of nominal concord conflicted with so relativizers, as they were uninflected. Overall, aggregative and indistinct structures were given up in favor of more integrative and precise constructions. The study reveals the fundamental importance of considering the entire language system and general socio-cultural and socio-linguistic changes in the study of grammatical obsolescence.

Item Type:

Book Section (Book Chapter)

Division/Institute:

06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of Linguistics and Literary Studies > Institute of Germanic Languages
06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of Linguistics and Literary Studies > Institute of Germanic Languages > German Linguistics
06 Faculty of Humanities > Other Institutions > Walter Benjamin Kolleg (WBKolleg) > Center for the Study of Language and Society (CSLS)

UniBE Contributor:

Kempf, Luise

Subjects:

400 Language > 410 Linguistics
400 Language > 430 German & related languages
800 Literature, rhetoric & criticism > 830 German & related literatures

ISSN:

0165-7763

ISBN:

9789027208637

Series:

Studies in Language Companion Series

Publisher:

John Benjamins

Language:

English

Submitter:

Nicolas Cyrus Schatzmann

Date Deposited:

14 Feb 2022 10:23

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 16:05

Publisher DOI:

10.1075/slcs.218.10kem

Uncontrolled Keywords:

German, grammatical obsolescence, corpus study, relativizer, genre, socio-cultural factors

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/164797

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