Zur Sättigung der Valenz in den Kleinen Meldungen des Typus Notiz : Eine pragmatisch fundierte Analyse

Valency Realization in Short Excerpts of News Text. A Pragmatics-funded analysis This dissertation is a study of the so-called pragmatic valency. The aim of the study is to examine the phenomenon both theoretically by discussing the research literature and empirically based on evidence from a text corpus consisting of 218 short excerpts of news text from the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. In the theoretical part of the study, the central concepts of the valency and the pragmatic valency are discussed. In the research literature, the valency denotes the relation among the verb and its obligatory and optional complements. The pragmatic valency can be defined as modification of the so-called system valency in the parole, including non-realization of an obligatory complement, non- realization of an optional complement and realization of an optional complement. Furthermore, the investigation of the pragmatic valency includes the role of the adjuncts, elements that are not defined by the valency, in the concrete valency realization. The corpus study investigates the valency behaviour of German verbs in a corpus of about 1500 sentences combining the methodology and concepts of valency theory, semantics and text linguistics. The analysis is focused on the about 600 sentences which show deviations from the system valency, providing over 800 examples for the modification of the system valency as codified in the (valency) dictionaries. The study attempts to answer the following primary question: Why is the system valency modified in the parole? To answer the question, the concept of modification types is entered. The modification types are recognized using distinctive feature bundles in which each feature with a negative or a positive value refers to one reason for the modification treated in the research literature. For example, the features of irrelevance and relevance, focus, world and text type knowledge, text theme, theme-rheme structure and cohesive chains are applied. The valency approach appears in a new light when explored through corpus-based investigation; both the optionality of complements and the distinction between complements and adjuncts as defined in the present valency approach seem in some respects defective. Furthermore, the analysis indicates that the adjuncts outside the valency domain play a central role in the concrete realization of the valency. Finally, the study suggests a definition of pragmatic valency, based on the modification types introduced in the study and tested in the corpus analysis.

Vaggvisor i Kvevlax : Språkliga strukturer och konstruktioner

Lullabies in Kvevlax. Linguistic structures and constructions. The study is a linguistic analysis of constructions that shape the texts used in lullabies in Kvevlax in Ostrobothnia in Finland. The empirical goal is to identify linguistic constructions in traditional lullabies that make use of the dialect of the region. The theoretical goal was to test the usability of Construction Grammar (CxG) in analyses of this type of material, and to further develop the formal description of Construction Grammar in such a way as to make it possible to analyze all kinds of linguistically complex texts. The material that I collected in the 1960s comprises approximately 600 lullabies and concomitant interviews with the singers on the use of lullabies. In 1991 I collected additional material in Kvevlax. The number of informants is close to 250. Supplementary material covering the Swedish-language regions in Finland was compiled from the archives of the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland. The first part of the study is mainly based on traditional grammar and gives general information about the language and the structures used in the lullabies. In the detailed study of the Kvevlax lullabies in the latter part of the study I use a version of Construction Grammar intended for the linguistic analysis of usage-based texts. The analysis focuses on the most salient constructions in the lullabies. The study shows that Construction Grammar as a method has more general applicability than traditional linguistic methods. The study identifies important constructions, including elements typical of this genre, that structure the text in different variants of the same lullabies. In addition, CxG made it possible to study pragmatic aspects of the interactional, cultural and contextual language that is used in communication with small children. The constructions found in lullabies are also used in language in general. In addition to being able to give detailed linguistic descriptions of the texts, Construction Grammar can also explain the multidimensionality of language and the variations in the texts. The use of CxG made it possible to show that variations are not random but follow prototypical linguistic patterns, constructions. Constructions are thus found to be linguistic resources with built-in variation potentials.