"Argumente Hin, Argumente Her." Regularity and Idiomaticity in German N Hin, N Her. Issue 3 (1st August 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Finkbeiner, Rita
• Is Part Of: Journal of Germanic linguistics. Volume 29:Issue 3(2017)
• Page Start: 205
• Page End: 258
• Publication Date: 2017-08-01
• Subjects: Germanic philology -- Periodicals; 430.05
• DOI: 10.1017/S1470542716000234
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1470-5427

Abstract

Abstract : This paper seeks to find the best linguistic analysis of the German semispecified, productive pattern N hin, N her (for example, Krieg hin, Krieg her, es muss eine gute Show werden 'War or no war, it must be a good show'). The basic question is whether the properties of N hin, N her can be accounted for in a rule-based approach or whether they are to be regarded as idiosyncratic properties of this construction. One of the characteristic features of N hin, N her is the identity of the nouns. This raises the question of whether or not N hin, N her is an instance of syntactic reduplication. It is shown that rule-based copying accounts fail when they are applied to the case of N hin, N her . The paper argues for an alternative, constructionist account of N hin, N her, which is able to cover both regular and idiosyncratic aspects of the construction in a systematic fashion. However, the paper goes beyond a standard constructionist account by also arguing that the idiosyncratic features of the construction can be further explained if one takes into account general pragmatic principles. This requires a theory that incorporates a systematic interface with pragmatics. *