Publication details
Zwei Verben des Tötens und die inhärente Perspektivierung von Lexemen
| Title in English | Two verbs of killing and the inherent perspectivization of lexical items |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2009 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Brünner Hefte zu Deutsch als Fremdsprache |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Linguistics |
| Keywords | verbs of killing; middle; middle verbs; reflexive verbs; perspectivization; functional grammar |
| Description | There are two synonymous verbs of killing in German (töten and umbringen), which, however, slightly differ in their inherent perspectivization. While the first one presents the event exclusively us other-directed situation, the second one is indifferent towards the way the action is directed. As a result, the corresponding nominalization (das Umbringen) can refer to a situation of murder as well as to a situation of suicide. In the first part of the article, evidence from the Mannheim corpus of written language is presented to support these observations. In the second part, the possibilities to integrate these facts into a formal model of language are explored. |