Institution: Freie Universität Berlin
Degree Date: 2024

Dissertation Title: Because reasons. Non-finite causal constructions in English, German, Dutch, and Czech

Dissertation URL: https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/43787

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics
Morphology
Pragmatics
Semantics
Syntax

Subject Language(s): Czech (ces)
Dutch (nld)
English (eng)
German (deu)

Dissertation Director(s): Ferdinand von Mengden

Dissertation Abstract:

This manuscript represents a comprehensive analysis of non-finite causal constructions in English, German, Dutch, and Czech. Based on a corpus of social media posts, the study provides an analysis of the formal and functional aspects of these constructions, their development, and their cross-linguistic similarities and differences. The study follows the principles of (Diasystematic) Construction Grammar. Formally, these constructions differ from both causal clauses and causal prepositional constructions. In contrast to the former, the complement of non-finite causal constructions must be non-finite. In contrast to the latter, however, the complement slot can be filled by a wider range of elements than just noun phrases. Elliptical clauses, non-elliptical noun phrases, or non-elliptical non-noun phrases can fill the complement slot of non-finite causal constructions. Functionally, non-finite causal constructions express a causal link between a matrix clause, which they follow, and the element in their complement slot. In this regard, these constructions overlap with both causal clauses and prepositional constructions. However, non-finite causal constructions can also serve to express a comment about the causal link. The development of non-finite causal constructions cross-linguistically follows a uniform spiral pathway. Elliptical non-finite causal constructions develop in the first step out of non-elliptical causal clauses. Elliptical non-finite causal constructions subsequently give rise to their non-elliptical variants. Against the backdrop of these empirical observations, the study draws theoretical conclusions regarding the relationship between linguistic data and their interpretation, linguistic categories and categorisation, and questions of language contact.