Summary Details
| Query: |
German Modal Verb
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| Author: | Raija Solatie | |
| Submitter Email: | click here to access email | |
| Linguistic LingField(s): |
General Linguistics
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| Summary: |
Hi my colleagues, First of all I want to thank everybody who answered to my query about the modalverb "sollen" in German. My first impression is that, like with a lot of other subjects, which concern linguistical problems in German in general, their treatement is focused on syntactical points of view. Despite if this, many researches have been made also on the morphological behavior of modals verbs in German. So, I think there exists a need to do research on these verbs, and especially on "sollen", within semantic framework. "Sollen" is very different from the other modal verbs. Their first morphological difference exists in forms "Konjunktiv II" and "Praeteritum".With "sollen" you don't use "Umlaut" in Konjunktiv II, but with the other modal verbs yes. ich sollte - ich sollte ich koennte - ich konnte ich moechte - ich wollte ich muesste - ich musste ich duerfte - ich durfte ich moechte - ich mochte The semantics of "sollen" also seems to be somehow neutral or weak, if we compare it with the other modal verbs, and especially with "wollen". Let's have a look at the following examples: 1) Wir sollten uns gestern treffen, und es passierte, weil er sein Zimmer aufgeraeumt hatte. 2) Wir sollten uns gestern treffen, aber es passierte nicht, weil er sein Zimmer nicht aufgeraeumt hatte. 3) Wir wollten uns gestern treffen, und es passierte, weil seine Freundin sich nicht gemeldet hatte. 4) Wir wollten uns gestern treffen, aber es passierte nicht, weil seine Freundin sich gemeldet hatte. If we try to explane the reason with "the other woman" for using "sollen", it is not possible. 5)* Wir sollten uns gestern treffen, und es passierte, weil seine Freundin sich nicht gemeldet hatte. 6)* Wir sollten uns gestern treffen, aber es passierte nicht, weil seine Freundin sich gemeldet hatte. This prominent difference can still be defined by using "wollen" for explaining the reason, why we didn't meet each other. 7)* Wir wollten uns gestern treffen, aber es passierte nicht, weil er nicht wollte. Thus I am going to use these Praeteritum-sentences for developing my small theory to explain those special features of the modalverb "sollen" in German, within semantic framework. I want to thank the following persons who have helped me with my research: Andreas Ammann Jan Engberg Christoph Gutknecht Eva Breindl Guido Oebel Leslie K Arnovick Nick Sobin Tanja Mortelmans Hans Broekhuis Geert Brone Larry Kristin Melum Eide Soon we are going to know a little bit more about "Was soll mit "sollen" gemeint sein". raija solatie Mme Raija Solatie linguiste/philosophe Kaskihara 20 02340 Espoo20 Finlande tel : +358-9-8136989 courriel : raija.solatie@kolumbus.fi pages web : http://www.kolumbus.fi/raija.solatie |
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| LL Issue: | 13.268 | |
| Date Posted: | 31-Jan-2002 | |
| Original Query: | Read original query | |
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