Von ich esse mich schlank zu ich lache mich kaputt: resultative und intensivierende Reflexivkonstruktionen im Deutschen

In this paper we address reflexive constructions in German that express resultative and intensifying meanings. We try to establish whether such constructions should be modelled within a constructional network rather than by means of projectionist, lexicon-based rules that generate new lexemes with their own valency patterns. On the basis of three corpus studies, we argue that a constructional model generally describes the formal and semantic properties of these constructions more adequately than a lexicon-based valency model. Another important claim this paper makes pertains to the status of the intensifying construction (Ich lache mich kaputt ‘I am laughing my head off’), which is argued to be a separate construction or node in the constructional network, as it clearly differs from the resultative reflexive construction, e.g. with respect to its Aktionsart properties. Finally, the paper also showcases the many idiosyncrasies and high degree of variation which is found in argument structure and as such corroborates earlier findings in this respect.

Publication year:2020

Keywords:A1 Journal article

BOF-keylabel:yes

Accessibility:Closed