Abstract
Abstract This paper examines complex NPs in German with an attributive in-PP whose internal argument is an adjective as in Merkel in männlich (‘Merkel in male form’) or a colour or language name as Clinton in blue or Asterix in French. While the expressions with a colour and language designation are relatively common and well established, Merkel in männlich is a much more recent and, as far as I know, completely unnoticed construction. What is striking about it is that the uses of these in-PP are understood quite differently: It is about the expression of worn clothing in the corresponding colour, about the expression of a respective constitution as well as about expressions that attribute a characteristic to the reference object as the result of a transformation. This leads to the following questions, which are dealt with in the context of construction grammar: What can lead to the appellativisation and predicative use of a proper name? What triggers the referential comparative reading (someone like Merkel but different)? What role do expressions with colour designations play? Is there an abstract construction or different ones behind such expressions? What motivates the preposition in? What motivates the different types of modification? Are the readings semantically coded or contextually and pragmatically determined? To answer the questions, I will propose a network of three prototypically related constructions. These are motivated by inheritance from the verbal level to the nominal level. The appellativisation and predicative use of proper names is attributed to routine pragmatic implicatures.
Published Version
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