Semantically vacuous elements in German

This book investigates adjectival inflections and the article ein in many different contexts in German including in various non-canonical contexts. It pursues two goals. On the one hand, it strives to provide a more comprehensive description and account of adjectival inflections and the article ein....

Mô tả đầy đủ

Đã lưu trong:
Chi tiết về thư mục
Tác giả chính: Roehrs, Dorian
Định dạng: Online
Ngôn ngữ:Tiếng Anh
Được phát hành: Language Science Press 2026
Những chủ đề:
Truy cập trực tuyến:ONIX_20260429T161216_9783961105465_34
Các nhãn: Thêm thẻ
Không có thẻ, Là người đầu tiên thẻ bản ghi này!
_version_ 1869514595691921408
author Roehrs, Dorian
author_browse Roehrs, Dorian
author_facet Roehrs, Dorian
author_sort Roehrs, Dorian
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description This book investigates adjectival inflections and the article ein in many different contexts in German including in various non-canonical contexts. It pursues two goals. On the one hand, it strives to provide a more comprehensive description and account of adjectival inflections and the article ein. This includes an examination of the interaction of these two elements. On the other hand, it seeks to identify similarities between these different types of elements to address certain theoretical questions. It is argued that adjectival inflections are not a reflex of (in-)definiteness, (non-)restrictiveness of the interpretation of adjectives, or referentiality; ein is argued not to be a reflex of indefiniteness, emotiveness, or singular number/countability. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that these two elements indicate abstract structural differences: adjectival inflections in the higher portion of the noun phrase, ein in the lower part of the noun phrase. In addition, both types of elements make certain abstract elements visible: adjectival inflections make features for case, number, and gender visible; ein supports overt operators or flags the presence of covert ones. Overall, it is concluded that these two types of elements have neither semantics of their own nor do they make such features visible – they are semantically vacuous.
format Online
id doab-20.500.12854ir-176089
institution Directory of Open Access Books
language eng
publishDate 2026
publishDateRange 2026
publishDateSort 2026
publisher Language Science Press
publisherStr Language Science Press
record_format ojs
spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1760892026-06-12T05:24:24Z Semantically vacuous elements in German Roehrs, Dorian Linguistics thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics This book investigates adjectival inflections and the article ein in many different contexts in German including in various non-canonical contexts. It pursues two goals. On the one hand, it strives to provide a more comprehensive description and account of adjectival inflections and the article ein. This includes an examination of the interaction of these two elements. On the other hand, it seeks to identify similarities between these different types of elements to address certain theoretical questions. It is argued that adjectival inflections are not a reflex of (in-)definiteness, (non-)restrictiveness of the interpretation of adjectives, or referentiality; ein is argued not to be a reflex of indefiniteness, emotiveness, or singular number/countability. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that these two elements indicate abstract structural differences: adjectival inflections in the higher portion of the noun phrase, ein in the lower part of the noun phrase. In addition, both types of elements make certain abstract elements visible: adjectival inflections make features for case, number, and gender visible; ein supports overt operators or flags the presence of covert ones. Overall, it is concluded that these two types of elements have neither semantics of their own nor do they make such features visible – they are semantically vacuous. 2026-05-01T05:10:27Z 2026-05-01T05:10:27Z 2026-04-30T10:14:15Z 2025 book ONIX_20260429T161216_9783961105465_34 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/112776 9783961105465 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/176089 eng Open Germanic Linguistics open access image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution 4.0 International Attribution 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/112776/1/9783961105465.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/112776/1/9783961105465.pdf Language Science Press Language Science Press 10.5281/zenodo.17259735 10.5281/zenodo.17259735 ed03121b-b998-4b50-8d58-1d0745565558 9783961105465 Knowledge Unlatched (KU) Language Science Press 2024-2026 Language Science Press Berlin open access
spellingShingle Linguistics
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics
Roehrs, Dorian
Semantically vacuous elements in German
title Semantically vacuous elements in German
title_full Semantically vacuous elements in German
title_fullStr Semantically vacuous elements in German
title_full_unstemmed Semantically vacuous elements in German
title_short Semantically vacuous elements in German
title_sort semantically vacuous elements in german
topic Linguistics
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics
topic_facet Linguistics
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics
url ONIX_20260429T161216_9783961105465_34
work_keys_str_mv AT roehrsdorian semanticallyvacuouselementsingerman