Abstract
The ACI (accusativus cum infinitivo) in Modern German is governed almost exclusively by perception verbs. For genuine OHG, the same can be said. In MHG and ENHG authors began to experiment with other verb classes as potentially governing ACIs, probably influenced by Latin, but this usage never made its way in ‘normal’ grammar. The tenacity of the exclusive association of ACI with perception verbs hints at an analysis in which the logical subject of the ACI is a constituent on its own, the predicate part of the ACI being a separate constituent. Other tests, e.g. tests for constituency, point in the same direction. This is different from Latin; here the ACI as a whole counts as constituent and can therefore as a whole function as direct object. The structural difference might account for the fact that the syntactic loan of an extended usage of the ACI never came to fruition.
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