Comparative constructions across the German minorities of Italy: a semasiological approach

Autor: Livio Gaeta
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads, Vol 1, Iss 1, Pp 288-332 (2021)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2785-0943
DOI: 10.6092/issn.2785-0943/13416
Popis: Comparative constructions of inequality display a recurrent pattern throughout all Germanic languages, which is partially inherited from the Indo-European mother tongue. This common semasiological format consists in a copulative construction in which the adjective expressing the quality carries a comparative suffix and is accompanied by a particle introducing the standard. For the latter, a morpheme coming from various onomasiological domains is generally recruited. After a general overview of the construction within the Germanic family, the paper will focus on its consistency in the German linguistic islands of Northern Italy, where a remarkable variety is found, which is only partially due to the long-standing contact with Romance languages. Besides an overview of the Bavarian islands of the North-East, particular attention is devoted to the Walser German islands of the North-West, where a number of peculiar patterns are found, which partially reflect structural possibilities attested in earlier stages of the German-speaking territory, but also display unique developments such as for instance the comparative particle ŝchu ‘so’ found in Rimella.
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