Multiple sources for the German scandal construction

Abstract

The interaction of several cases of grammaticalization going back to different source constructions may have dramatic consequences on a linguistic system. This paper discusses the so-called German scandal construction, which consists of a verbal complex displaying a number of synchronic form-meaning mismatches. The scandal is solved if a diachronic point of view is adopted, which shows that the mismatches result from the intraference of two different source constructions expanded in the course of the German linguistic history, namely the Perfekt construction and the zu-infinitive construction.

Contact phenomena in the verbal complex: the Walser connection in the Alpine area

“…In fact, only the former obligatorily displays the curious phenomenon of the so-called substitutive infinitive in which an infinitival form shows up in the place of the expected past participle commonly found with the perfect construction, which is an analytic tense formed by an inflected form of 'have' or 'be' followed by the past participle of the main verb (cf. Gaeta 2010Gaeta , 2013…”

A Note on Misplaced or Wrongly Attachedzuin German

“…This process can be stated in terms similar to Chomsky's (1957) affix hopping mechanism or some alternative device like the one proposed in this paper (see below). This restriction-that is, zu being confined to the right edge-is one of the sources of the so-called Skandalkonstruktion 'scandal construction', exemplified by 5c, where each verb in the right periphery bears the wrong (that is, an unexpected) morphological marking (see Reis 1979, Vogel 2009, Haider 2011, Gaeta 2013).…”