Linguistische Berichte Heft 223

This contrastive study examines the role of grammaticized aspectual categories in processes of language production for Japanese native speakers and advanced-level German learners of Japanese. I first demonstrate on the theoretical level that the aspectual forms of Japanese verbs (the simple form and the tei -form) relate to complementary notions: the EVENT-perspective (with at least one BOUNDARY) and the STATE-perspective (without any BOUNDARIES). Then, I investigate influences of a verbal prompt which indicate a certain aspectual perspective on perception and conceptualization for both speaker groups, using film clips showing ongoing motion events as stimuli. The results are as follows: The L1 Japanese speakers establish a referential frame that requires a language-specific perspective (namely the STATEperspective) with respect to their knowledge of the complementary aspectual categories. Their decision for information organisation is then reasonably independent of any external prompt. In clear contrast, the L2 Japanese speakers typically adopt the aspectual form used in the verbal prompt. On the other levels of speech production, however, they follow the L1-related principles of information organisation. The categories grammaticized in L2 hardly influence conceptual planning in L2 production. These empirical results support the thinking for speaking -hypothesis.

Dimensional expressions are regarded as linguistic reflections of spatial cognition. By contrastive analysis of German and Japanese constructions using dimensional expressions, it is revealed that there are three functions associated with dimensional expressions: identification, norm-related comparison and non-norm-related comparison. These three functions are based on different ways of perceiving spatial objects, but for their linguistic realization the existence of certain grammatical constructions, especially the adjectival and the nominal, together with their markedness, plays an important role. In both languages, individual dimensional expressions are essentially characterized by cognitive parameters. German expressions are mostly explored in terms of the parameter, but certain Japanese expressions require additional conditions for lexicalization. This difference is mainly based on the different strategies taken by German and Japanese respectively: the observer-based (O) strategy and the proportion-based (P) strategy (Lang 2001). O terms are mostly free from selectional restrictions, but P terms often involve some restriction regarding the shape of the object. It is assumed that such restrictions are related to the cognitive saliency of the term, and a saliency hierarchy of dimensional parameters is proposed.

This paper proposes a new analysis of the Infinitivus Pro Participio construction (IPP) in German based on Bobaljik and Branigan's (2006) and Bobaljik's (2007) work on Chukchi. The hallmarks of the IPP are that (i) an infinitival form substitutes the otherwise expected past participle and (ii) certain constituents may appear in a position that is otherwise not available to them, i.e.behind the finite verb. Virtually all previous treatments invoke special mechanisms to account for the presence of the infinitive. Under the present analysis, by contrast, the infinitive is the default form that is inserted if the verb is displaced, thereby bleeding the participle form. Consequently, the present account views the infinitive form in the IPP as a retreat to the general case.

The present article on Beatrice Primus' paper "A featural analysis of the Modern Roman Alphabet" examines her claim that a systematic relationship exists between articulatory features of phonemes and visual features of graphemes representing these phonemes. The discussion of her data demonstrates that her analyses of letter shapes are implausible and that her paper exhibits several inconsistencies and contradictions upon which she bases her conclusions. In some instances, data conflicting with the intended result is not mentioned. All in all, the article shows that none of the claimed relationships can be maintained.