German Particle Research Articles

Омонимия частиц в немецком языке

The purpose of this article is a systematic description of homonymous particles of the German language. The author turned to this issue since there is a need to reveal the conditions under which the particles ja, doch, bloß, nur, eben and schon can exhibit homonymous properties. Contextual and component analysis as well as the descriptive method are used in the study. The specific features of each class of particles are studied, in accordance with which, cases of the use of particles in the appropriate role are described. Based on the analysis of factual material from the DWDS и DECOW 16A corpora, the following criteria for identifying homonymous particles are proposed: functions; position in the sentence structure; scope of application; presence/absence of stress. Modal particles are represented as causal connectors capable of establishing logical connections between sentences and simultaneously conveying the speaker’s attitude; contrastive (stressed) particles are markers of contradictory or complementary contrast; focus and intensifying particles are associated with one word in a sentence and can be interpreted at the level of the phrase. It is suggested to consider modal and contrastive particles as grammaticalized units; discursive particles act as pragmatized elements; the meaning of focus and intensifying particles can be interpreted in a narrow context since they retain some of their semantics. The paper makes a contribution to the description of German particle homonymy. The results obtained can be used in practical German classes during senior years at language universities and in the course of theoretical grammar of the German language.

Do you say uh or uhm? A cross-linguistic approach to filler particle use in heritage and majority speakers across three languages.

Filler particles like uhm in English or ähm in German show subtle language-specific differences and their variation in form is related to socio-linguistic variables like gender. The use of fillers in a second language has been shown to differ from monolinguals' filler particle use in both frequency and form in different language contexts. This study investigates the language-specific use of filler particles by bilingual heritage speakers in both their languages, looking at the dominant majority language in the society and their minority heritage language spoken at home. This is done based on heritage Russian and German data and majority German and English data from the RUEG corpus. Language-specific fillers were extracted from the corpus and analyzed for their occurrence and segmental form. The frequency analysis suggests an influence of bilingualism, age group, and formality of the situation on the filler frequency across all languages. The number of filler particles is higher in formal, older, and bilingual speech. The form analysis reveals an effect of language and gender on the type of filler particle. The vocalic-nasal filler particles (e.g., uhm) are more frequently found in German and English and in female speech of these languages. Heritage speakers of Russian in contact with German and English show higher use of vocalic-nasal forms also in their Russian while producing similar gender related patterns to monolingual speakers in both their languages. The higher frequency of filler particles in formal situations, older speakers and in bilingual speech, is discussed related to cognitive load which is assumed to be higher in these contexts while speech style which differs between situations and social groups is also considered as explanation. The higher use of vocalic-nasal filler particles in German and English suggests language specific filler particle preferences also related to the socio-linguistic variable gender in these languages. The results from heritage speakers suggest and influence on filler particle form in their heritage language, while also revealing socio-linguistic usage patterns related to gender which are produced by heritage speakers similarly to monolinguals in their respective language.

Verboten reflexivization and hidden meaning in German reflexive inchoative, zu-excessive and particle verb structures

The paper presents a compact yet comprehensive analysis of the systematically arising change of state or mod-al meanings of reflexive inchoative constructions, zu-excessive constructions and particle verb constructions in German (Brandt 2019). Verboten reflexivization links a lower thematic role to a higher grammatical function and associated lesser marking illegally. As a consequence, the negation (complement) of a property that is in-depend-ently coded in the verbal projection cannot be locally interpreted. The corresponding logical form banks off the interface and is interpreted in the structurally next higher syntactic-semantic cycle where indexi-cal information regarding anchoring to times, worlds or thresholds is dealt with. The intransparent semantics of the constructions under discussion is thus the effect of literally recycling a logical form the ex situ interpre-tation of which provides an economical alternative to a more transparent coding.

Less than Confirming, and Doing More than That: Comparing Responses to Requests for Confirmation in German and Yurakaré

Abstract In this paper, we compare practices of formulating responses to requests for confirmation oriented toward confirmation but doing less or more than that in German and Yurakaré (isolate, Bolivia). The German particle joa is identified as a versatile resource for navigating the functional spectrum of such responses, being deployed for less than confirming in terms of epistemic or propositional downgrading, and for more than confirming in terms of addressing terms of questions or a confirmable’s valence. When exercising these specific tasks, speakers of Yurakaré, in contrast, rely mostly on repetitional strategies, while a highly specialised particle constitutes an ‘escape strategy’ when a repeat would convey unwanted implications. We propose that doing less and more than confirming is contingent on a more fundamental distinction: a preference for particles (German) vs. repeats (Yurakaré) in the realm of plain confirmation, which carries over to responses doing less and more than confirming.

Distributed Computing and Storage Infrastructure for PUNCH4NFDI

The PUNCH4NFDI consortium brings together scientists from the German particle physics, hadron and nuclear physics, astronomy, and astro-particle physics communities to improve the management and (re-)use of scientific data from these interrelated communities. The PUNCH sciences have a long tradition of building large instruments that are planned, constructed and operated by international collaborations. While the large collaborations typically employ advanced tools for data management and distribution, smaller-scale experiments often suffer from very limited resources to address these aspects. One of the aims of the consortium is to evaluate and enable or adopt existing solutions. Instances of a prototype federated and distributed computing and storage infrastructure have been set up at a handful of sites in Germany. This prototype is used to gain experience in running of scientific workflows to further guide the development of the Science Data Platform, which is an overarching goal of the consortium.

Distributional and Acoustic Characteristics of Filler Particles in German with Consideration of Forensic-Phonetic Aspects

In this study, we investigate the use of the filler particles (FPs) uh, um, hm, as well as glottal FPs and tongue clicks of 100 male native German speakers in a corpus of spontaneous speech. For this purpose, the frequency distribution, FP duration, duration of pauses surrounding FPs, voice quality of FPs, and their vowel quality are investigated in two conditions, namely, normal speech and Lombard speech. Speaker-specific patterns are investigated on the basis of twelve sample speakers. Our results show that tongue clicks and glottal FPs are as common as typically described FPs, and should be a part of disfluency research. Moreover, the frequency of uh, um, and hm decreases in the Lombard condition while the opposite is found for tongue clicks. Furthermore, along with the usual F1 increase, a considerable reduction in vowel space is found in the Lombard condition for the vowels in uh and um. A high degree of within- and between-speaker variation is found on the individual speaker level.

An inquiry into the semantic transparency and productivity of German particle verbs and derivational affixation

Abstract This study addresses the relation between morphological productivity and semantic transparency. Using distributional semantics, we compare German word formation using particles with derivational word formation. We observed that derivational suffixes, but not particles, tend to make strong independent semantic contributions to their carrier words. In two-dimensional t-SNE maps, complex words show clustering by affix, but not by particle. Furthermore, the semantic vectors of suffixed words are predictable from their base words with higher accuracy than is possible for particle verbs. For particle verbs, but not affixed verbs, semantic similarity within the set of complex words correlated negatively with the number of types. Furthermore, only for particle verbs, a greater number of observed types predicted a reduced probability of observing unseen types. We propose that particle verbs primarily serve the onomasiological function of labeling, resulting in relatively idiosyncratic semantic vectors. By contrast, words sharing derivational affixes form distinct clusters in semantic space while maintaining strong and consistent semantic relations with their base words. This enables these words to serve not only as labels, but also allows them to be used with an anaphoric function in discourse.

Beobachtungen zu [nja] in deutscher Spontansprache

Abstract This paper presents observations on the phonetic realisations of the German particles ja – ‘yes’ and naja – approximately ‘well’. As part of a large-scale study on the particle ja, we identified numerous instances in the dataset that had been orthographically transcribed as ja, but were phonetically realised as [nja]. Using phonetic and functional parameters, we explore the question whether these instances can be attributed to either the lexeme ja or naja. While phonetic measurements yield ambivalent results, analyses of pragmatic parameters such as function and turn position seem to indicate that [nja] was predominantly intended to be ja, although some functional differences between ja and [nja] could also be identified.

Timing of belief as a key to cross-linguistic variation in common ground management

Abstract In this paper we introduce the notion of Timing of Belief (ToB) as a relevant factor of variation in common ground (CG) management in sentence-peripheral particles across different languages. CG management traces the epistemic development of mutual beliefs between speaker and addressee. Evidence for the relevance of ToB comes from a small-scale acceptability study which tested the relevance of ToB for particles in English, German, and Spanish. While these languages all possess grammaticalized structures to encode different types of knowledge asymmetries between speaker and addressee, they vary with respect to the sensitivity or encoding of ToB. The evident relevance of ToB for CG management suggests that models which focus on the dynamic character of CG development require further expansion. We hope that the fine-graded differences in CG management reported here serve to inspire an engagement with the notion of ToB and the variation we find across languages and dialects.

Aspektualität in deutschen Partikel- und Präfixverben

Prefix and particle verbs are part of a systematic way of expressing aspectual structures in German. This article proposes an aspectual analysis of German particle and prefixed verbs, regarding especially their polysemic characteristics, and will give a contrastive comparison with the Italian language. This can be useful given that Italian does not have developed a system of prefixes and particles as German does. Therefore, the Italian translations of German prefixed and particle verbs turns out to use different kinds of expressions, often of a periphrastic nature. This is seen here as an indication in favour of the strongly polysemic verbs in German. The aspectual comparison of both languages will be done using an onomasiological model of aspectuality, which allows the analysis of different kinds of expressions without using specific formal categories.
 The first part of this article gives a short introduction and definition of the German verbs. Part two concerns the question of what aspectuality in German is, followed by part three, a quick overview of actual research in the field. Part four explains how a contrastive perspective may be helpful to discover and illuminate the polysemic German prefixed and particle verbs. Part five presents the empirical data used for the purpose of this work. Part six, then, contains the aspectual analysis of the German verbs in their given context. Every German example will be described and compared to its Italian translation. The article will close with a quick summary of the results, focussing especially on the usefulness of a contrastive approach.

Deutsches auch und italienisches anche im Vergleich

The focus of our contribution is the German particle auch ‘also’ and its Italian counterpart anche. From a semantic point of view, auch and anche convey the same additive meaning in both languages: through them an element, called ‘domain of association’, is added to a list of further elements for which the auch/anche phrase applies. From a syntactical point of view, auch and anche can occupy different positions in the sentence by modifying the type and the scope of the domain of association. This results in four basic usage patterns which are similar in both languages and correspond to just as many functions of auch/anche: (i) additivity, (ii) sentence connection, (iii) focus domain, and (iv) modality. Despite these common functions, auch and anche interact with the syntax and the information structure of the sentence in German and in Italian differently. Furthermore, they are used in conversation contexts, which are distinctive in both languages.
 By starting from the current description of auch and anche in the literature, the first aim of our contribution is to provide evidence for the above-mentioned four basic functions despite their language-specific usage contexts. As a second aim, we want to validate our systematization through the analysis of spoken data for German and Italian, explaining why some functions are more likely to be found in the former than in the latter.

Bracketing paradoxes: A dependency grammar analysis in terms of morph catenae

Abstract This manuscript examines various types of bracketing paradoxes: classical “personal noun” constructions, parasynthetic compounds, agentive deverbal nouns, compound denominal adjectives, plural nouns with lexicalized modifiers, multiple auxiliary constructions, and German particle verb constructions. We argue that given a dependency-based view of both sentence and word structure, these bracketing puzzles become non-paradoxical. The morph catena is taken to be the fundamental unit of morphosyntax. A morph catena is A MORPH OR A COMBINATION OF MORPHS THAT ARE CONTINUOUS WITH RESPECT TO DOMINANCE. This notion is derived from its syntactic equivalent, the catena, which is defined as a word or a combination of words that are continuous with respect to dominance. Given an understanding of morphosyntax that acknowledges morph catenae, bracketing paradoxes are resolved by the ability of morph catenae to reach across words to include parts of words.

Particle verbs with weg- in German: a constructional analysis

The aim of this paper is to provide an analysis of German particle verbs with the particle weg- ‘away’ as in Tattoos weglasern (lit. ‘to laser tattoos away’ within the framework of Construction Grammar (Goldberg, 1995, 2006; Ziem & Lasch, 2013). The meaning of German weg-verbs often being non-compositional, morpho-lexical approaches turn out to be unable to properly account for the meaning of weg-constructions. The constructionist approach allows us to shed light on the relationship between morphology and syntax within weg-constructions and to account for both lexicalised and non-lexicalised instances of verbs with weg-. The analysis is based on the distinction between transitive and reflexive weg-constructions, which can occur as caused-motion and resultative constructions. The discussion of various variants of the German weg-construction suggests that the weg-constructions under investigation are linked to each other in a family of constructions.

Reference construction in interaction: The case of type-indicative “so”

This study examines an embodied practice in German. The practice investigated is the use of the German particle “so” in conjunction with a noun phrase and accompanied by a pointing gesture (hereafter “so”+NP+PG). Based on the methodological principles of Conversation Analysis, I demonstrate that in the construction “so”+NP+PG the particle features as a type-indicative token. Interlocutors use this practice to point at an object that is a concrete perceivable token that represents a type. Focusing on the interplay between linguistic and multimodal resources in the construction of reference, I show that “so”+NP+PG functions as a resource that interlocutors use in order to point at physically present entities, directing the addressees' attention to an actual object in the participants’ perceptual space. However, they are not making reference to that specific object. Instead, the speaker establishes a communicative focus on a recognisable entity in order to make reference to an absent entity that bears the same features as the pointed-at object. Hence, the absent entity is visualised or “seen” through an actual object in the perceptual surroundings.

A Study of types and core constituents of Acehnese relative clauses

This research aims to determine and explain the types and the core constituents of Acehnese relative clauses which so far have not been thoroughly discussed. To collect data for this study, a direct elicitation technique is used, and the data is then analyzed through a qualitative descriptive technique. The results showed that the relative clauses in Acehnese were clauses embedded as modifiers of noun phrases. Similar to the relative clauses’ theory proposed by experts in the Acehnese, there are five types of relative clauses: relativization of subject, relativization of predicate, relativization of object, relativization of possessive, and relativization of noun. Relative clauses in Acehnese are formed by connecting core nouns and relative clauses through the connecting word ‘nyang’, except for the relative clause of the predicate element through the ellipsis of the predicate element. The basic structure of the Acehnese relative clauses is the arrangement of the main constituents preceding (postnominal) the relative clauses. The constituents that described the relative clauses could form words or phrases depending on the reference to the meaning of the relative clauses. In the Acehnese, the following elements do not exist: (1) relative clauses that can be reduced by adverbials such as in English, (2) relative pronouns as in German and relative particles such as in Chinese Mandarin; and (3) the attachment of relative suffixes to verbs as in Korean.

Modal particles and their influence on the structure of speech

This article discusses the meanings of different particles in German language, the differences between Karakalpak and German particles in translation and their usage in various contexts. We can see that in German dictionaries, in rare cases, the translation of modal particles is given. This is because, modal particles can express a lot of meanings depending on the context or situation. In German, it is not uncommon to use modal pronouns. However, the use of modal particles gives the speech a natural look.

Sense and Sensitivity - Using Spatial Response-Compatibility Effects to Investigate Ambiguous Word Meaning.

We investigated sensitivity for the vertical meaning of the German particle ab by means of stimulus-response compatibility effects. In German, the particle ab is ambiguous and can take on a vertical meaning (downward) as in Auf und Ab (engl. up and down), but it can also take on nonvertical or nonspatial meanings as in Ab und An (engl. from time to time). We show that the particle ab only creates a spatial compatibility effect relative to the German particle auf (Experiment 1) but not relative to the particle an (Experiment 2). Furthermore, as participants executed upward versus downward responses in both Experiments 1 and 2, the mere vertical antagonism of the responses was insufficient to instill a verticality-based compatibility effect. In addition, the compatibility effect was restricted to the transparent version of the particle. If a letter sequence corresponding to the particles was presented in a semantically and morphologically opaque way (e.g., the letters ab were embedded in the German word knabe, engl. boy), no compatibility effect was found, underlining that the effect was due to word meanings rather than visual features. The results underscore the boundary conditions for using compatibility effects in investigating lexical and semantic spatial processing in humans.

How Input Processing Factors into Lexical Semantics: Motion Events with Double Particles in L3 German

Motion events are almost absent in the course syllabus of L2 German as a formally addressed structure in the classroom. Learners have merely receptive contact with this type of structure in reading texts or in aural activities. The occurrence of motion events with the so-called “double particles” is even less frequent. These are composed of the deictic morphemes hin- and her- denoting the speaker’s perspective and Path morphemes (-ein-, -aus-, -auf-, etc.). The main goal of the present study is to test a group of Portuguese L3 learners of German regarding their knowledge of double particles, and to apply VanPatten’s Processing Instruction (PI) model (VanPatten 2004; VanPatten and Williams 2015), which rests on an input-based focus-on-form approach for teaching grammar. The theoretical framework is based on Talmy’s typology of motion events (Talmy 2000a, 2000b). The empirical component of this study was divided into three parts: first, I tested the participants by means of a pretest; then, I conducted a pedagogical intervention based on the PI model; finally, a posttest determined the successful effects of PI in the participants’ knowledge of the target forms, both in interpretative and productive contexts.

„Da war ich sofort high gewesen, ne. Wein getankt, woll.” – Eine exemplarische Analyse des Dortmunder Regiolekts unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Rückversicherungspartikeln

Da war ich sofort high gewesen, ne. Wein getankt, woll: An empirically based analysis of the Dortmund area’s regiolect with particular regard to reassurance particlesThis study deals with the German particles ne and woll in the spoken language of the Ruhr district. There are some possibilities in terms of the usage of what we call reassurance particles at the end of somebody’s utterances. In the regiolect of the Ruhr area, the usage of ne is very common, but there are also eastern territories where woll is used as well. We are examining if the usage depends on different sub-regiolects in terms of diatopic variations, and/or it also depends on situational aspects such as different registers or situational speech.

Aufhören (‘stop’) activates hören (‘hear’) but not Musik (‘music’)

Abstract This study examines whether the lexical processing of German particle verbs differs from their processing in a semantic network. To this end, we explored whether the processing of particle verbs induces access to the stem (Experiment 1) and to a semantic associate of the stem (Experiment 2). In two cross-modal priming experiments, participants listened to particle verbs that were (a) semantically transparent (e.g. anhören, ‘listen to’), (b) semantically opaque (e.g. aufhören, ‘stop’), or (c) form-related (e.g. aushöhlen, ‘mold’) with respect to their stem (e.g., hören, ‘hear’). Participants made lexical decisions about visually presented stems (e.g., hören, ‘hear’) and about semantic associates to the stem (e.g., Musik, ‘music’) in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively. Relative to form controls, semantically transparent and opaque particle verbs induced equivalent stem priming (Experiment 1), indicating that the lexical processing of particle verbs occurs via the stem regardless of semantic transparency. However, neither semantically transparent nor opaque particle verbs primed semantic associates of the stem (Experiment 2). These findings indicate that stem access during lexical processing does not extend to a semantic level where the meaning of the stem is processed. We discuss these findings regarding present models of lexical processing.