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備註
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The aim of this dissertation is to develop a synchronic and diachronic analysis of the German expressions "nachdem" (N) and "je nachdem" (JN), with respect to their lexical meaning on the one hand, and to their meaning within the context of a sentence on the other hand. Corpus studies provide the basis for a careful description of the usage of the two expressions, as well as for a thorough examination of existing assumptions from the literature on N and JN in the general context of the description and development of the meaning of subordinating conjunctions in German.
In contrast to previous analyses, it is argued that N and JN share a common underlying lexical modal lexemic meaning, and that the difference between them consists solely in the function of N constructions linking factual, and JN constructions linking non-factual, states of affairs.
The study points out the advantages of assuming a common basic modal meaning, existing connections with other expressions (e.g. the "nach dem, was" construction), and the kinds of co-text and context information that can specify or modify the sentence meaning and thus the coordinating function of the expressions. In the case of N, especially adverbs, verb semantics and tense combinations are examined with respect to their influence on the sentence meaning.
A diachronic perspective shows that for N we do not need to assume a meaning change since OHG, but rather a change in (standard co-text) usage. The appearance of JN in early HG led to a process of separating off the non-factual variant from the N-spectrum that had been unspecific with respect to factuality up to NHG, and to limiting N to factual contexts (from the beginning of the 20th century). Parallel to this, JN underwent an expansion of its syntactic usage, through the combination with indirect interrogative sentences on the one hand, and through elliptical usage on the other hand. |
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