Morphosyntaktische Variation in Verbalkomplexen des Verbs lassen und der Modalverben im Infinitiv II. Eine Analyse aus der Perspektive von Zentrum und Peripherie

Abstract

Abstract This paper deals with a morphosyntactic variable of German verb clusters containing a full verb and an infinitive perfect of the verb lassen or of modal verbs (gelassen haben, gekonnt haben). The corpus-based analysis draws upon the concept of center and periphery as it was developed by the Prague School. The main research question underpinning the synchronic analysis concentrates on the use of the IPP (infinitivus pro participio equivalent to the German term Ersatzinfinitiv) and the word order of the auxiliary verb within the cluster. In total, there is empirical evidence for four variants in which this variable is realized. Two of them fully correspond to the system of German infinitive constructions (full verb + gelassen/gekonnt haben, or haben + full verb + IPP lassen/können). However, these systemic constructions are used (much) less frequently in contemporary written German than the other two constructions (past participle of full verb + haben + lassen/können, or full verb + haben lassen/können). Whereas the former ones can be counted to the center of the German infinitive system from the structural point of view, the latter ones are classified as peripheral, because they are not derivable from the rules of this system. In spite of that, the paper explores one of identifiable epicenters within the periphery of the system, arguing with the highest frequency and further regularities of the third type of the construction (past particple of full verb + haben + lassen/können). The structural analysis takes the functional equivalency of subordinate clauses and the corresponding infinitive constructions into consideration. This contributes to better clarification of both morphology and word order of the elements creating the analyzed verb clusters.