F - Contrastive Morpho-Syntax Flashcards
whats morphology in german is often syntax in english
e.g.
contrastive morpho-syntax
- infelction gender
German versus Engl
- German marks
gender (inherent),
number (non-inherent),
case (non-inherent)
syncretism
German versus Engl
- extensive syncretism
Frau, Baum, Schiff
(without article just Frau, but there are 4 forms die frau. der frau, den Frau…)
case
German vs. Engl
in German more complex.
in Engl. only Saxon genitive left:
- e.g. father’s hat, yesterday’s news
but also:
- > genitive, phrasal clitic, adposition rather than case suffix
- e.g. the Queen of England’s hat, the boy with the dark hair’s answer
how is gender-assignment in German?
3 types
semantic
- e.g. Mann, Frau
- Obst (neuter superordinate)
derivational
- heit, -keit,und -schaft
- ling, -er
- chen
extroversion (m)/introversion (f)
- Anmut, Wehmut
- Hochmut, Übermut, Wagemut
Morpho-syntactic diff.
Pronouns
german vs. engl.
German:
German possessive vs. genitive
- mein Hund / meines Hundes
two types of possessives for reference tracking
- dessen /deren versus seinen/ihren
- Ruth bezahlte für ihre Freundin und ihren/deren Mann
Engl.:
three-way gender distinction
- he she it
three-way case distinction
- subjective I
- genitive my/mine
- objective me
I/me distinction no longer strictly case but depends on phrase
- me and Rob don’t talk, Rob and I don’t talk
- she is taller than me/I
Morpho-syntactic diff.
Articles
german vs. english
case, number, gender in German can be used with proper nouns
- Der Peter ist ein guter Läufer.
(not the Peter is a good runner!)
-> invariant in English
some selection differences:
- society die Gesellschaft
- linguistics (die) Linguistik
morpho-syntactic diff.
Adjectives
German
weak and strong declension
- der gute Mann -ein guter Mann
comparative and superlative with suffixation
English
two ways of forming comparatives: analytical and synthetic with overlap
- commoner –more common
no case or number marking
marking of adverb form by adding –ly
- forms without marking
e. g. real nice unmarked form is receding
morpho-syntax contrast
voice
1) active
2) passive (E. and G. have diff restrictions)
3) medio-passive/middle voice (only in E! in G. reflexive and ‚lassen‘)
- The film is screening everywhere now.
- Shakespeare does not translate.
- Politicians bribe easily.
- She photographs well.(ambiguous in English)
What can be said abt typical morpho-syntactic structure in Engl.
this bed has been slept in
‘prepositional stranding‘
a syntactic construction in which a preposition with an object occurs somewhere other than immediately adjacent to its object; for example, at the end of a sentence.
In English, preposition stranding is found, for instance in open interrogatives, wh relatives, and passive constructions sometimes known as prepositional passives or pseudopassives.[4][5]
An open interrogative often takes the form of a wh- question (beginning with a word like what or who).
What are you talking about?[a]
Relative clauses in English can exhibit preposition stranding with or without an explicit relative pronoun:
This is the book that I told you about.[a]
This is the book I told you about.
Prepositional passives are the result of the movement of the object of a preposition to fill an empty subject position for a passive verb. This phenomenon is comparable to regular passives, which are formed through the movement of the object of the verb to subject position. In prepositional passives, unlike in wh-movement, the object of the preposition is not a wh-word but rather a pronoun or noun phrase:
This bed looks as if it has been slept in.
specifically English verbal constructions
deverbal adjectives for psych-verbs (as found in dict.)
- interesting, annoying, depressing, amusing, boring
gerunds
- You will risk not passing the exam
- I enjoy skiing.
- I insist on cleaning the car thoroughly
—> turns verb into a noun, actually gerund somewhere between a verb and a noun bc here its turned into a noun, but also takes an object
action nominalization (similar construction possible in G.) - I insist on a thorough cleaning of the car
participial relative clauses
- I will ask the man sitting over there
- Anyone working here is insured
deverbal prepositions
- baring, including, regarding, considering…
tense, def.
tense is a deictic (it depends…) category, relative to moment of speech and to point of reference
present -past
aspect
expresses perspective of speaker
perfective - continuous
future events
german vs. english
German
Präsens: Ich fahre morgen nach Basel
Futur I werden: Eines Tages wirst Du es auch verstehen.
English
- will future with infinitive (neutral): Manchester will win.
- be going to future (originally prediction and intention, now also neutral): M. is going to win.
- simple present (only for scheduled events): The train leaves at six. ße present progressive (planned events, future as continuation of present): Are you leaving tomorrow?
- will future progressive (future as matter of course): 17 I will be leaving tomorrow.
Perfekt versus present perfect
german vs engl
German
Perfekt
- resultative (no Präteritum possible)
Es hat geschneit. Warte, bis ich gegessen habe.
- narrative (can also be replaced by Präteritum) Gestern haben wir Anne gesehen und sind mit ihr Essen gegangen.
English
present perfect
- universal/continuative use (state up to present)
Jim has worked for them all his life.
Jim has lived in London for two years.
- time reference duration into present today, until now, so far, ever existential presupposition (*Einstein has not seen Ghana)
shared use in G/E
- existential use (bounded time reference in indefinite past)
Have you ever been to Ghana? I have played tennis but not very often.
- resultative perfect
I have lost my keys. Somebody has damaged the boat. - hot news perfect
The Prime Minister has resigned.
