Research
Research line 1: Contrastive polysemy analyses
It is a commonplace that languages differ greatly in the distribution of meanings of related polysemous lexemes. For example, (sp.) paso can also mean 'mountain pass', which is not the case for (French) pas. On the other hand, (sp.) estilo, like (French) style, means not only 'artistic style', but also 'style of action' or 'lifestyle'. In view of such observations, one may ask whether polysemous lexemes of two or more languages that have the same basic meaning are more similar or more different in their further meanings.
Initial investigations following a small study from 2008 indicated that the polysemy configurations of lexemes with the same basic meaning in Spanish, French and German tend to coincide in more branches than they differ. This finding would be in contrast to the widespread opinion stated above, according to which polysemy configurations differ much more often than they are the same. With greater abstraction of the meaning descriptions, however, the interlingual deviations seem to become more apparent. Linguistics has long drawn attention to the fact that lexicographical descriptions need to be analyzed and critically assessed by linguists. The disputes about the concept of polysemy within semantics often lead to demands for a reduction in the diversity of meaning practised in lexicography - for example by grouping together predictable metonymy clusters - or even to calls to abandon the concept of polysemy altogether in favor of the assumption of consistent monosemy. The theoretical starting point for contrastive polysemy analyses is therefore less favorable than it appears from the lexicographical descriptions. In addition, there is the descriptive-empirical problem that the descriptions in different dictionaries are not identical. Before large-scale contrastive analyses can be undertaken that meet the demands of the current polysemy debate, various preliminary theoretical and methodological considerations are required.
The present line of research takes up this challenge and undertakes to develop and test appropriate instruments. The fact that polysemy is a reality is proven by an argumentation that takes up central approaches and concepts of cognitive semantics. The aim is to achieve a differentiated classification of the branches of a polysemy configuration, which would allow differences to be weighted. This should ultimately lead to an understanding that in a certain respect the claim can be supported that polysemes of languages of the same cultural group are rather different from each other, but in another respect the claim is supported that they can also show themselves to be rather similar to each other. In addition, a number of criteria are developed which should make it easier to justify how the sphere of meaning assigned to a word - its valeur in Saussure's sense - can be divided into partial meanings. In summa, an attempt is thus made to use the modern softening and questioning of the concept of polysemy precisely in order to proceed in a differentiated and considered way when working out polysemy contrasts. Following the elaboration of the theoretical and methodological basis, this will be tested on a small corpus of 30 simplicas and derivata of Spanish, French and German with the same basic meaning, which are representative of a larger number of comparisons that have been undertaken so far within the framework of the project.
Current publications on research line 1
(in preparation) Monographie Polysemiekontraste Spanisch-Französisch-Deutsch
Research line 2: Studies on integrative dynamic grammar (IDG)
In 2016, I proposed a grammar type which, within a spectrum of modern grammar types, can be understood as belonging to the CxG family in the broadest sense. Like the CxG, the IDG understands sentences as composed of interlocking constructions; as with the CxG, a close interpenetration of lexicon and grammar is assumed (although the IDG is not directly part of a Chomskyan tradition, but owes much more to the lexique-grammaire of Maurice and Gaston Gross inspired by Harris and Longacre's way of combining text-linguistic and valence-grammatical description). The complex structure of Integrative-Dynamic Grammar can only be outlined in comparatively many pages, so it may suffice here to characterize IDG from a CxG perspective, namely as a grammar that concentrates less on the elaboration of individual constructions on the basis of scattered empirical material than on showing how constructions are used in series, in the description of larger sections of dialogue and text, and how they can be related to the formation of a resulting, content-related summary of these sections in the communicants' mental model.
After clarifying some problematic points of the original theory, its value and functioning will be demonstrated in the next phase by means of section analyses with a corpus of conversations and short narrative texts in French. These analyses will be surrounded by two theoretical components: upstream lists of French constructions, each of which can be projected onto global structures of texts or dialogues in a functionally uniform way (fits from the linguistic inventory of French), and, downstream, a comparison between the CxG and the IDG.
Current publications on research line 2
(in preparation) Monographie Analysen mit der IDG
Research line 3: Historical text type networks and language change
One of the central trends in language history research - in addition to the reappraisal of the history of the subject - is historical variety linguistics and historical pragmatics as differentiations of a previously rather block-like description of the history of written language. Historical pragmatics in particular has also shown the possibilities of reconstructing dialogical parts of language development by dealing with imitated and normatively-didactically mediated oral language. Recently, it has been pointed out several times that historical dialects and sociolects, as well as the narrower environment of a certain discourse tradition, can be places of creative renewal of a language (creation of new regulata in the sense of Peter Koch), but also represent limits for the spread of innovations(regulans in the sense of Koch).
In this context, a special role could be played by networks of text types that permeate a network of institutions, such as the legal institutions of the French Middle Ages, and constitute intra-institutional as well as outwardly directed communication situations in which innovations can emerge or be adopted. The investigation of networks of modern text types in various areas of life, which has been promoted by German studies in particular, can be used as a model here. Where orders of text types are not taxonomically organized, but as a dense field of contiguous communicates, it also becomes visible which dialogues can be thought of to mediate between these texts and which dialogues these texts could produce externally. The investigation of the regulans, i.e. the conditions for the dissemination of innovations, and the reconstruction of the factors triggering new regulata would be significantly improved by taking into account networks of past communicative acts, because these tasks could be based on more concrete guidelines. This is the aim of the third line of research, which will initially focus on the analysis of legal text types from the Romanesque Middle Ages (France, Spain).
Current publications on research line 3
(in print) "Zur Vernetzung zwischen Diskurstraditionen im Rechtswesen des französischen Mittelalters". In: Böhmer, Heiner/Schmidt-Riese, Roland (eds.) [2022]: Kommunikation, Text und Sprachwandel im romanischen Mittelalter. Frankfurt a.M.: Lang, 207-248.
In the medium term, research lines 2 and 3 will merge into the more general thematic framework "Communication in 21st century Romance languages", in which, among other things, current language change under the conditions of multilingualism, digital communication and increased imagery will be examined.