@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{Kranich2013,
  author    = {Kranich, Svenja},
  title     = {Functional layering and the English progressive},
  series = {Linguistics : an interdisciplinary journal of the language sciences},
  volume    = {51},
  journal   = {Linguistics : an interdisciplinary journal of the language sciences},
  number    = {1},
  publisher = {De Gruyter Mouton},
  address   = {Berlin},
  issn      = {0024-3949},
  doi       = {10.1515/ling-2013-0001},
  pages     = {1 -- 32},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {In this article, it will be argued that the concept of functional layering - an extension of Hopper's (1991) concept of layering - can be fruitfully applied to understand the mechanisms behind the sometimes large and messy looking synchronic picture of diverse meanings which one and the same construction can fulfill at a particular point in time. The concept will be used to account for the meaning spectrum of the present-day English progressive, which, it will be argued, no monosemic approach to date can account for. Taking a look at the diachrony of the construction will help to reveal that the various "exceptions" found in the use of the progressive can be understood as reflections of different stages in its development. Older, less grammaticalized or less well-defined usage patterns thus often survive in certain restricted niches next to the newer, more grammaticalized or more clear-cut functions, representing different diachronic layers. In addition to this diachronic motivation for synchronic meaning variety, the article will also address the crucial question of how a present-day hearer of a progressive form is able to decode the specific meaning intended by the speaker based on contextual clues. The article ends with some suggestions for further applications of the concept of functional layering.},
  language  = {en}
}