Infinitival constructions in the German dialects of Austria: On variation, constraints and change of a prominent syntactic feature

Philip C. Vergeiner*, Stephan Elspaß

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Infinitival constructions (IC) have received considerable attention from syntacticians and typologists, but less so from variationist linguistics. Based on new data from a comprehen-sive dialect survey, this study investigates the variation and change of IC in Austrian dia-lects. Results reveal clear geographical patterns for different IC variants. Regarding linguis-tic factors, several constraints are identified, most importantly with respect to the IC’s syn-tactical function and governing element (e.g. phase verbs). Moreover, an apparent time anal-ysis shows that the variant zum + infinitive has spread at the expense of all other variants, presumably due to both dialect levelling and dialect-standard advergence.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages34
JournalJournal of Germanic Linguistics
Volume37
DOIs
Publication statusAccepted/In press - Oct 2023

Keywords

  • Syntax
  • dialectology
  • language variation and change
  • German in Austria
  • variational linguistics

Fields of Science and Technology Classification 2012

  • 602 Linguistics and Literature

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