Forms and Functions of Feminine Motion Affixes in Historical German Dialects.

Pheiff, Jeffrey Alan (5 June 2024). Forms and Functions of Feminine Motion Affixes in Historical German Dialects. (Unpublished). In: 13th Historical Sociolinguistics Network Conference (HiSoN). Universität Zürich. 05.–07.06.2024.

Forms and Functions of Feminine Motion Affixes in Historical Dialects of German
Feminine motion is a word-formation process, which results in the derivation of a noun with feminine gender from a noun with masculine gender (Fleischer/Barz 2012: 232). In Standard German, this process occurs through the addition of the suffix {in}, often with concomitant modifications in the root vowel of the base (e.g. Arzt>Ärztin). Both dialect and historical varieties of German show formal and functional variation regarding their affix inventories, the bases to which affixes attach, and the readings the affixes allow (e.g. matrimonial, functional) (Möller 2017, Werth 2015). Regarding appellative nouns, both Werth (2015) and Möller (2017) show that the affix {in} prevails in Upper German, while {sche} is characteristic of Low German in the Early New High German period. Sieburg (2002) shows that both {in} and {sche} are common in Ripuarian from the 13th–17th century; however, {in} also appears to be more characteristic of more elevated speech forms in comparison to {sche} (Sieburg 2002: 221). This study fills a research gap by examining formal and functional variation in the use of feminine motion in historical dialects of German. To this end, it makes use of two sets of speech data: a corpus of 155 dialect grammars which appeared between ca. 1850 and ca. 1950 as well as the Zwirner Corpus. This investigation will pursue the following questions:
- Which suffixes occur with which bases in which regions?
- Which readings do the suffixes allow in the respective dialect areas?
- Is the use of feminine motion contingent upon speaker age or speaker gender?
An initial analysis of the Lemma Näherin ‘seamstress’ in the Zwirner Corpus shows five suffix variants: {er+sche} in West Phalian, {ster} in Low Franconian, {(e)sch(e)} in Mosel Franconian, {e} stretching from Swabian northwards into North Bavarian and East Franconian, and lastly, the suffix {in} in Rhine Franconian and East Hessian. A preliminary functional analysis of the dialect grammars of western Germany reveals that the suffix {sche} has a matrimonial and functional reading with appellative nouns in West Phalian, Low Franconian-Ripuarian, Ripuarian, Mosel Franconian-Ripuarian, and Mosel Franconian-Rhine Franconian, while it ostensibly only has a functional reading in Mosel Franconian. With onymic nouns, {sche} has a matrimonial reading in Low Franconian-Ripuarian, Ripuarian, and Mosel Franconian-Rhine Franconian.
References
Fleischer, Wolfgang/Barz, Irmhild (2012): Wortbildung der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. 4. völlig neu bearbeitete Auflage. Berlin/ New York: De Gruyter.
Möller, Robert (2017): Euphrosina kolerin, Beckhin vonn Paindten, die Berndt bonesche und andere beclagtinnen. Feminin-Movierung von Appellativen und Namen in Hexenverhörprotokollen des 16./17. Jahrhunderts. In: Markus Denkler et al. (eds.): Deutsch im 17. Jahrhundert. Studien zu Sprachkontakt, Sprachvariation und Sprachwandel. Gedenkschrift für Jürgen Macha. Heidelberg: Winter, 129–159.
Sieburg, Heinz (2002): Zur Substantivableitung des Ripuarischen aus historischer Sicht. In: Mechthild Habermann et al. (eds.): Historische Wortbildung des Deutschen. Berlin/Boston: Max Niemeyer, 211–225.
Werth, Alexander (2015): Gretie Dwengers, genannt die Dwengersche. Formale und funktionale Aspekte morphologischer Sexusmarkierung (Movierung) in norddeutschen Hexenverhörprotokollen der Frühen Neuzeit. In: Niederdeutsches Jahrbuch, 138, 53–75.

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