@article{Demske2020, author = {Demske, Ulrike}, title = {Zur Grammatikalisierung von 'gehen' im Deutschen}, series = {Linguisten-Seminar: Forum japanisch-germanistischer Sprachforschung}, journal = {Linguisten-Seminar: Forum japanisch-germanistischer Sprachforschung}, number = {2}, editor = {Japanische Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Germanistik,}, publisher = {Japanische Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Germanistik}, address = {Tokyo}, issn = {2434-5407 online}, doi = {10.11282/jggls.2.0_9}, pages = {9 -- 42}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Das Bewegungsverb gehen liegt im Gegenwartsdeutschen in zwei Auspr{\"a}gungen vor: Neben der Vollverbvariante gibt es eine semi-auxiliare Verwendung von gehen mit aspektueller Bedeutung. Diese Annahme ist in der Literatur zum Gegenwartsdeutschen durchaus umstritten. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird auf der Grundlage von Daten aus dem Gegenwartsdeutschen daf{\"u}r argumentiert, dass gehen in Verbindung mit einem Infinitiv tats{\"a}chlich als semi-auxiliares Verb mit aspektueller Bedeutung behandelt werden muss. Die Auswertung von Daten aus der deutschen Sprachgeschichte vom Althochdeutschen bis zum Gegenwartsdeutschen liefert die Grundlage f{\"u}r die Herausarbeitung von einzelnen Stadien in der Geschichte des semi-auxiliaren Verbs gehen, die unterschiedliche Grade seiner Auxiliarisierung anzeigen. Die noch im Mittelhochdeutschen zu beobachtende Alternation des infiniten Komplements zwischen Pr{\"a}senspartizip und Infinitiv l{\"a}sst sich auf die lautlich bedingte Mehrdeutigkeit infiniter Komplemente zur{\"u}ckf{\"u}hren, die im Deutschen letztendlich zum Verlust des Partizips als verbaler Kategorie f{\"u}hrt.}, language = {de} } @article{Demske2019, author = {Demske, Ulrike}, title = {Zur Autonomie indirekter Redewiedergabe - eine diachrone Perspektive}, series = {Zeitschrift f{\"u}r germanistische Linguistik}, volume = {47}, journal = {Zeitschrift f{\"u}r germanistische Linguistik}, number = {1}, editor = {{\´A}gel, Vilmos and Feilke, Helmuth and Linke, Angelika and L{\"u}deling, Anke and Tophinke, Doris}, publisher = {De Gruyter}, address = {Berlin, New York}, issn = {0301-3294 print}, doi = {10.1515/zgl-2019-0003}, pages = {70 -- 101}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Regarding verbal mood and complementation patterns of reporting verbs, the distinction between direct and indirect reported speech is well established in present-day German. This paper looks into the history of German: Common knowledge has it that both the use of verbal mood as well as the quality of clause linkage undergo considerable changes giving rise to the question how these changes affect the manifestations of indirect reported speech in earlier stages of German. The historical record of the 16th century (with an outlook on the 17th century) shows that the distinction between direct and indirect reported speech is not yet grammaticalized in historical sources at the time. In particular with respect to dependent (in)direct reported speech, both types prefer V2-complements with only verbal mood differentiating between the types. Although present and past subjunctive have a much wider distribution in earlier stages of German, the occurrence of free indirect speech likewise testifies to its increasing use as a marker of indirect reported speech. The growing conventionalization of patterns of indirect reported speech in the course of Early Modern German may be considered as an example for an increase of subjectification in its development.}, language = {de} } @article{BoschDeCesareDemskeetal.2023, author = {Bosch, Sina and De Cesare, Ilaria and Demske, Ulrike and Felser, Claudia}, title = {Word-order variation and coherence in German infinitival complementation}, series = {The journal of comparative Germanic linguistics}, volume = {26}, journal = {The journal of comparative Germanic linguistics}, number = {1}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {New York}, issn = {1572-8552}, doi = {10.1007/s10828-023-09140-8}, pages = {43}, year = {2023}, abstract = {This study provides a synthesis of corpus-based and experimental investigations of word-order preferences in German infinitival complementation. We carried out a systematic analysis of present-day German corpora to establish frequency distributions of different word-order options: extraposition, intraposition, and 'third construction'. We then examined, firstly, whether and to what extent corpus frequencies and processing economy constraints can predict the acceptability of these three word-order variants, and whether subject raising and subject control verbs form clearly distinguishable subclasses of infinitive-embedding verbs in terms of their word-order behaviour. Secondly, our study looks into the issue of coherence by comparing acceptability ratings for monoclausal coherent and biclausal incoherent construals of intraposed infinitives, and by examining whether a biclausal incoherent analysis gives rise to local and/or global processing difficulty. Taken together, our results revealed that (i) whilst the extraposition pattern consistently wins out over all other word-order variants for control verbs, neither frequency nor processing-based approaches to word-order variation can account for the acceptability of low-frequency variants, (ii) there is considerable verb-specific variation regarding word-order preferences both between and within the two sets of raising and control verbs under investigation, and (iii) although monoclausal coherent intraposition is rated above biclausal incoherent intraposition, the latter is not any more difficult to process than the former. Our findings indicate that frequency of occurrence and processing-related constraints interact with idiosyncratic lexical properties of individual verbs in determining German speakers' structural preferences.}, language = {en} } @article{Demske2015, author = {Demske, Ulrike}, title = {Towards coherent infinitival patterns in the history of German}, series = {The Diachrony of Infinitival Patterns: Their origin, development and loss. In: Journal of Historical Linguistics}, volume = {2015}, journal = {The Diachrony of Infinitival Patterns: Their origin, development and loss. In: Journal of Historical Linguistics}, number = {5.1}, editor = {Demske, Ulrike and Jędrzejowski, Łukasz}, publisher = {Benjamins}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {2210-2116 print}, doi = {10.1075/jhl.5.1.01dem}, pages = {6 -- 40}, year = {2015}, abstract = {According to Haider (2010), we have to distinguish three types of infinitival complements in Present-Day German: (i) CP complements, (ii) VP complements and (iii) verbal clusters. While CP complements give rise to biclausal structures, VP complements and verbal clusters indicate a monoclausal structure. Non-finite verbs in verbal clusters build a syntactic unit with the governing verb. It is only the last infinitival pattern that we address as a so-called coherent infinitival pattern, a notion introduced in the influential work of Bech (1955/57). Verbal clusters are bound to languages with an OV grammar, hence the well-known differences regarding infinitival syntax in German and English (Haider 2003, Bobaljik 2004). On the widespread assumption that German has been an OV language throughout its history (Axel 2007), we expect all three types of infinitival complements to be present from the earliest attestions of German.}, language = {en} } @incollection{Demske2020, author = {Demske, Ulrike}, title = {The grammaticalization of the definite article in German}, series = {Walking on the Grammaticalization Path of the Definite Article in German: Functional Main and Side Roads}, booktitle = {Walking on the Grammaticalization Path of the Definite Article in German: Functional Main and Side Roads}, editor = {Szczepaniak, Renata and Flick, Johanna}, publisher = {John Benjamins Publishing Company}, address = {Amsterdam}, isbn = {978-9-027204943}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {43 -- 73}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The present paper looks into the grammaticalization of the definite article in the history of German. Starting with the well-known emergence of the definite article from a demonstrative pronoun over the course of Old High German (750-1050), I will consider the rise of so-called weak definites in Early New High German (1350-1650) as a new piece of evidence for the grammaticalization process. Here, the subclass of possessive weak definites is of particular interest for the grammaticalization of the definite article in German, because of a word order change affecting the position of possessor phrases. As soon as the possessor systematically follows the head noun (except for proper names), we observe three alternatives for the prenominal determiner slot: it may remain empty, or it may be filled either by the indefinite or the definite article in Early New High German. In Present-Day German, the definite article is used in the unmarked case, thus pointing to a second stage in the grammaticalization process of the definite article in German, which has so far not been acknowledged in the literature.}, language = {en} } @article{Demske2015, author = {Demske, Ulrike}, title = {Sprachwandel}, series = {Einf{\"u}hrung in die germanistische Linguistik}, journal = {Einf{\"u}hrung in die germanistische Linguistik}, editor = {Meibauer, J{\"o}rg and Demske, Ulrike and Geilfuß-Wolfgang, Jochen and Pafel, J{\"u}rgen and Ramers, Karl-Heinz and Rothweiler, Monika and Steinbach, Markus}, edition = {3}, publisher = {Metzler}, address = {Stuttgart}, isbn = {978-3-476-02566-1}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-476-05424-1_8}, pages = {296 -- 340}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Unsere Sprache wandelt sich unabl{\"a}ssig. Beispiele daf{\"u}r lassen sich in der Alltagssprache t{\"a}glich aufs Neue entdecken. Meistens handelt es sich um F{\"a}lle lexikalischen Wandels, wie die Entlehnung von W{\"o}rtern aus einer anderen Sprache in das Deutsche. Eine besondere Rolle spielt hier in den letzten Jahren das Englische. Bekannte Beispiele solcher Entlehnungen sind W{\"o}rter aus der Computersprache wie scannen, e-mailen, chatten, aber auch Punk oder Hooligan sind aus dem Englischen entlehnt. Aus anderen Sprachen sind Lexeme wie Plateau (aus dem Franz{\"o}sischen), Cello (aus dem Italienischen) oder Fatzke (aus dem Polnischen) {\"u}bernommen worden. Informationen {\"u}ber die Geschichte einzelner W{\"o}rter lassen sich aus etymologischen W{\"o}rterb{\"u}chern beziehen. - Diese Einf{\"u}hrung informiert {\"u}ber die linguistischen Kerngebiete Lexikon und Morphologie, Phonologie, Syntax, Semantik und Pragmatik . Sie erl{\"a}utert Grundbegriffe, illustriert sie an Beispielen aus dem Deutschen und gibt einen Einblick in die linguistische Theoriebildung. Kindlicher Spracherwerb und Sprachwandel - zwei Gebiete, die von großer Bedeutung f{\"u}r ein tieferes Verst{\"a}ndnis der menschlichen Sprache sind - werden in weiteren Kapiteln vorgestellt. Mit {\"U}bungen, einem Glossar der wichtigsten Fachtermini, einer weiterf{\"u}hrenden Schlussbibliographie und einem Sachregister. F{\"u}r die 3. Auflage wurde der Band umfassend {\"u}berarbeitet und aktualisiert.}, language = {de} } @incollection{Demske2021, author = {Demske, Ulrike}, title = {Silent Heads in Early New High German}, series = {Headedness and/or grammatical anarchy?}, booktitle = {Headedness and/or grammatical anarchy?}, publisher = {Language Science Press}, address = {Berlin}, pages = {I -- XXIX}, year = {2021}, abstract = {The rising standard language in Early New High German (1350-1650) provides particularly interesting cases for the question of missing heads on all levels of language structure. A well-known example are subordinate clauses lacking a finite auxiliary verb, traditionally called Afinite Constructions. Based on new data, drawn from two treebanks of Early New High German, the present paper will briefly sketch the distribution of ACs, before establishing that they are in fact a type of ellipsis and do not cluster with other non-finite clauses in German. The remainder of the paper addresses the question what kind of information is missing in ACs and how this information is retrieved. Obviously, auxiliary drop in ENHG represents a type of ellipsis rarely attested in present-day German.}, language = {en} } @misc{Demske2018, author = {Demske, Ulrike}, title = {Rezension zu: Roehrs, Dorian ; Sapp, Christopher: Quantifying expressions in the history of German: Syntactic reanalysis and morphological change. - Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2016. - 299 S. - . ISBN 978-9-02725-713-0}, series = {Language : journal of the Linguistic Society of America}, volume = {94}, journal = {Language : journal of the Linguistic Society of America}, number = {1}, publisher = {Linguistic Society of America}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0097-8507}, doi = {10.1353/lan.2018.0009}, pages = {228 -- 231}, year = {2018}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{DemskeLogacevGoldschmidt2014, author = {Demske, Ulrike and Logacev, Pavel and Goldschmidt, Katrin}, title = {POS-Tagging Historical Corpora: The Case of Early New High German}, series = {Proceedings of the thirteenth workshop on treebanks and linguistic theories (TLT 13)}, volume = {2014}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the thirteenth workshop on treebanks and linguistic theories (TLT 13)}, publisher = {TALAR - T{\"u}bingen Archive of Language Resources}, address = {T{\"u}bingen}, pages = {103 -- 112}, year = {2014}, abstract = {A key problem in automatic annotation of historical corpora is inconsistent spelling. Because the spelling of some word forms can differ between texts, a language model trained on already annotated treebanks may fail to recognize known word forms due to differences in spelling. In the present work, we explore the feasibility of an unsupervised method for spelling-adjustment for the purpose of improved part of speech (POS) tagging. To this end, we present a method for spelling normalization based on weighted edit distances, which exploits within-text spelling variation. We then evaluate the improvement in taging accuracy resulting from between-texts spelling normalization in two tagging experiments on several Early New High German (ENHG) texts.}, language = {en} } @misc{DemskeSuetterlinRostetal.2013, author = {Demske, Ulrike and S{\"u}tterlin, Sabine and Rost, Sophia and Zimmermann, Matthias and Kampe, Heike and Eckardt, Barbara and Horn-Conrad, Antje}, title = {Portal Wissen = Borders}, number = {02/2013}, organization = {University of Potsdam, Press and Public Relations Department}, issn = {2198-9974}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-44143}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-441430}, pages = {55}, year = {2013}, abstract = {The new edition of the Potsdam Research Magazine "Portal Wissen" approaches the subject "Borders" from different perspectives. As a linguist, this headline makes me think of linguistic borders and the effects that might result from the contact of two languages at a particular border. There is, for instance, ample evidence of code-switching, i.e. the use of material from at least two languages in a single utterance. The reasons for code-switching can be manifold. On the one hand, code-switching may result from a limited language competence, for example if a speaker lacks a particular word in a nonnative language. On the other hand, code-switching may be a matter of prestige if the speaker wants to demonstrate his or her affiliation to a certain social group by switching languages. If code-switching does not only occur sporadically but involves whole language communities over a longer period of time, it can result in significant changes of the involved languages. Which language "gives" and which one "takes" is determined by sociolinguistic factors. It is, hence, quite easy to predict that German varieties spoken in language islands in South and Eastern Europe as well as in North and Latin America will absorb more and more language material from their neighbouring languages until they disappear unless political will strives to preserve these language varieties. Increasing mobility of modern societies has multiplied the extent and the intensity of language contact and certainly comprises a large number of different contact situations besides the one most commonly known, i.e. the contact between German and English. From a historic point of view, German witnesses a strong influence of various Romance languages such as Latin, French and Italian. In Potsdam, one cannot help being reminded of the French influence during the 18th century. Overcoming language borders becomes also apparent in the everyday life of an international research university. In March this year, the Annual Conference of the German Linguistic Society took place in Potsdam, with more than 500 participants. Lingua franca of this conference was English. Compared to previous conferences, this further increased the number of international participants. The articles in this edition illustrate various approaches to the topic "Borders": On the trail of "Boundary Surveys", we follow the Australian explorer Ludwig Leichhardt. "Travellers Across Borders" is focussed on articles dealing with the literature of the colonial Caribbean or with the work of an Italian geologist deep beneath the earth's surface, for example. Looking for the "Boundless", our authors follow scientists who discuss questions like "Why love hurts?". The present issue of "Portal Wissen" also takes into account "Drawing Up Borders" in an article that is concerned with the limits of workrelated stress. Instances of successful "Border Crossing" are provided by the "Handkerchief Lab" as well as by new biotechnological applications. I would like to wish you inspiring border experiences, hoping that you will get many impulses for crossing professional borders in your field of expertise. Prof. Ulrike Demske Professor of the History and the Varieties of the German Language Vice President International Affairs, Alumni and Fundraising}, language = {en} } @article{BoschDeCesareDemskeetal.2021, author = {Bosch, Sina and De Cesare, Ilaria and Demske, Ulrike and Felser, Claudia}, title = {New empirical approaches to grammatical variation and change}, series = {Languages : open access journal}, volume = {6}, journal = {Languages : open access journal}, number = {3}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2226-471X}, doi = {10.3390/languages6030113}, pages = {3}, year = {2021}, language = {en} } @article{JędrzejowskiDemske2017, author = {Jędrzejowski, Łukasz and Demske, Ulrike}, title = {Infinitival patterns and their diachronic dynamics: questions and challenges}, series = {Infinitives at the Syntax-Semantics Interface: a Diachronic Perspective (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs [TiLSM]; 306)}, volume = {2017}, journal = {Infinitives at the Syntax-Semantics Interface: a Diachronic Perspective (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs [TiLSM]; 306)}, editor = {Jędrzejowski, Łukasz and Demske, Ulrike}, publisher = {De Gruyter Mouton}, address = {Berlin, New York}, isbn = {978-3-11-052058-3}, doi = {10.1515/9783110520583}, pages = {1 -- 27}, year = {2017}, abstract = {The major aim of this volume is to investigate infinitival structures from a diachronic point of view and, simultaneously, to embed the diachronic findings into the ongoing theoretical discussion on non-finite clauses in general. All contributions subscribe to a dynamic approach to infinitival clauses by investigating their origin, development and loss in miscellaneous patterns and across different languages.}, language = {en} } @article{BoschDeCesareDemskeetal.2023, author = {Bosch, Sina and De Cesare, Ilaria and Demske, Ulrike and Felser, Claudia}, title = {Correction zu: Word-order variation and coherence in German infinitival complementation. - (The journal of comparative Germanic linguistics. - 26 (2023) 1) . - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10828-023-09140-8}, series = {The journal of comparative Germanic linguistics}, volume = {26}, journal = {The journal of comparative Germanic linguistics}, number = {1}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {New York}, issn = {1383-4924}, doi = {10.1007/s10828-023-09143-5}, pages = {2}, year = {2023}, language = {en} } @article{Demske2019, author = {Demske, Ulrike}, title = {Aspectual features and categorial shift}, series = {Language sciences}, volume = {73}, journal = {Language sciences}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0388-0001}, doi = {10.1016/j.langsci.2018.08.006}, pages = {50 -- 61}, year = {2019}, abstract = {The point of departure of this paper is the claim by Heyvaert, Maekelberghe \& Buyle (2019) that the suffix -ing has no aspectual meaning in English gerunds. Rather, the interpretation of nominal and verbal gerunds depends, so they argue, on situation or viewpoint aspect, a claim that contradicts the wide-spread view that the aspectual meaning of English gerunds is brought about by the nominalizing suffix. The present paper addresses the issue from a comparative perspective, focusing on German ung-nominals: while they share aspectual features with their English counterparts, empirical evidence from productivity, distribution, and argument linking shows (i) that the derivational suffix -ung imposes aspectual restrictions on possible verb bases, and (ii) that with respect to argument linking, the deverbal nominal favors the state component of a complex event predicate over its process component. From the historical record of German, we learn that these aspectual restrictions do not hold for ung-nominals in earlier periods of German. With the rise of aspectual restrictions, the nominalization pattern turns more nominal resulting in a position further towards the nominal end of the deverbalization continuum. It appears, then, that it is only in the historical pariods of German that ung-nominals pattern with English nominals as regards their aspectual features. Currently, German ung-nominals are more noun-like than nominal (and verbal) gerunds in English. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} } @misc{Demske2015, author = {Demske, Ulrike}, title = {Adverbial Clauses, Main Clause Phenomena, and the composition of the Left Periphery}, series = {Studies in language}, volume = {39}, journal = {Studies in language}, number = {1}, publisher = {Benjamins}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0378-4177}, doi = {10.1075/sl.39.1.09dem}, pages = {235 -- 243}, year = {2015}, language = {en} }