The Use of Verbs in Geotopographical Expression in German Based on the Results of Corpus Studies

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Other Title
  • ドイツ語存在表現における動詞の選択―地理、地形に関する表現を対象に―
  • ドイツゴ ソンザイ ヒョウゲン ニ オケル ドウシ ノ センタク : チリ 、 チケイ ニ カンスル ヒョウゲン オ タイショウ ニ

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This paper aims to clarify how verbs are used in existential expressions when the located entities are buildings and topographical objects. The classification of existential sentences in this paper is mainly based on the researches of Kinsui (2006) and Nishiyama (1994). In Section 2, existential sentences are defined and the literature of locational verbs is mentioned. In terms of typical verbs which are used in existential sentences, as Serra Borneto (1996) mentions, the usage of liegen and stehen can be distinguished in the following way: liegen is used when the entity is perceived from a two dimensional perspective, and stehen is used when it is perceived as a three dimensional object. In Section 3 and 4, the results of the corpus study are examined to demonstrate that the existential es gibt construction and locational verbs are used differently from a viewpoint of the classification of existential sentences. Namely, es gibt construction is used especially in the case where the sentences are epistemic. On the other hand, the locational verbs liegen and stehen are used in spatial sentences. Moreover, the two locational verbs tend to prefer locational sentences and existential-locational sentences respectively, even when the results on the relation between the verb choice and the size of location (in Section 4) are considered. Section 5 analyzes the results of the preceding two sections comprehensively, and Section 6 offers a summary of this paper as well as its further prospects.

Journal

  • 言語科学論集

    言語科学論集 21 59-84, 2015-12

    Department of Linguistic Science, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University

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