Heide Wegener

• Linking elements in German are generally assumed to have developed either from suffixes indicating the genitive singular or from plural markers. In this paper it is argued that only the linking element -(e)s- evolved from an inflectional suffix, that of the genitive case, but not the syllabic linking elements -e-, -er- and -(e)n- homophonous with plural markers. For these linking elements the explanation is doubtful for a number of reasons. The present paper proposes an alternative explanation for the development of such interfixes, according to which both linking elements and plural markers have been grammaticalized from the same old Indo-European stem suffixes which indicated the declension class of the noun.. Their homophony is due to the fact that they both evolved from the same source. After the decline of the original endings, the indicators of moribund inflectional classes became afunctional 'junc' and were then reanalysed either as plural markers or as linking elements. This development of linking elements can thus be shown asLinking elements in German are generally assumed to have developed either from suffixes indicating the genitive singular or from plural markers. In this paper it is argued that only the linking element -(e)s- evolved from an inflectional suffix, that of the genitive case, but not the syllabic linking elements -e-, -er- and -(e)n- homophonous with plural markers. For these linking elements the explanation is doubtful for a number of reasons. The present paper proposes an alternative explanation for the development of such interfixes, according to which both linking elements and plural markers have been grammaticalized from the same old Indo-European stem suffixes which indicated the declension class of the noun.. Their homophony is due to the fact that they both evolved from the same source. After the decline of the original endings, the indicators of moribund inflectional classes became afunctional 'junc' and were then reanalysed either as plural markers or as linking elements. This development of linking elements can thus be shown as a case of exaptation or regrammaticalization.…