LINGUIST List 13.2079

Tue Aug 13 2002

Diss: Syntax: IJbema "Grammaticalization..."

Editor for this issue: Karolina Owczarzak <karolinalinguistlist.org>

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1. ijbema, Syntax: IJbema "Grammaticalization..."

New Dissertation Abstract

Institution: Leiden University
Program: Leiden Centre for Linguistics (ULCL)
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2002

Author: Aniek IJbema 

Dissertation Title: 
Grammaticalization and infinitival complements in Dutch

Linguistic Field: Syntax, Morphology, Semantics, Historical Linguistics
Subject Language: Dutch


Dissertation Abstract: 

'Grammaticalization and infinitival complements in Dutch' investigates
some basic insights of grammaticalization from the point of view of
generative grammar. The first chapter discusses the process of
grammaticalization in general. It is argued that the semantic
bleaching of grammaticalizing elements is always the result of raising
of functional morphemes in a hierarchy of (adverbial) functional
projections. Chapters 2 and 3 focus on historical developments in the
domain of infinitival complements in Dutch. In chapter 2 it is
proposed that the fact that grammaticalization invariably involves
raising accounts for both synchronic and diachronic variation in the
semantics of Dutch modal verbs. In chapter 3, the grammaticalization
process of the Dutch infinitival marker te 'to' is described. It is
shown that te is a grammaticalized morpheme which developed from a
marker of irrealis mood into a tense marker. As such, it raises from a
lower to a higher functional head. The diachronic development of the
morphosyntax of Dutch infinitival complements further supports the
hypothesis that meaning changes of lexical and functional items can be
derived from head movement in a hierarchy of functional projections.