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German Inflektiv | ||
Tags: Morphology | German | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Bakunin Diglot Senior Member Switzerland outerkhmer.blogspot. Joined 4924 days ago 531 posts - 1126 votes  Speaks: German*, Thai Studies: Khmer | Message 1 of 6 17 February 2014 at 8:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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A few days ago, I've played a smart phone game against a colleague of mine, and, having won, I wrote him a short message: '*vor Freude im Kreis herum tanz*'. Pondering this phrase, I started wondering what verb form I actually used in this message. To my bewilderment, I found out that this is the so-called 'Inflektiv', a non-inflected form of the verb used similar to an interjection. I've met this form first in comics when I was a child where I also learned how to use it but have never seen it being discussed or taught. It has obviously spread to text chats (from being something that is only encountered in certain literary genres - comics - to something that is used actively by many speakers of the language) and even to informal spoken language. I myself have used it on occasions to verbally express feelings or states of being as well as in text chats. It seems to have established itself as a new verb form. Isn't that awesome? :)
The Inflektiv is formed by reducing the infinitive to its stem: kratzen -> *kratz*, tanzen -> *tanz*, runterheben -> *runterheb* etc. Noun phrases can be added: 'vor Freude im Kreis herum tanzen' -> '*vor Freude im Kreis herum tanz*', or '*lächel und sie dann vom Motorrad runterheb*' (source for the last example: Google search for runterheb). The asterisks I use are actually a common way to mark the Inflektiv in chat German, the wikipedia article lists a few common ones. To me, it has to be marked, it would look unnatural without the asterisks - or at least dashes (as in 'vor-Freude-im-Kreis-herum-tanz'). Are there other inflected languages where the (equivalent of the) Inflektiv is a form separate from all other verb forms? Edited by Bakunin on 17 February 2014 at 8:56pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| outcast Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member China Joined 4743 days ago 869 posts - 1364 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 2 of 6 21 February 2014 at 2:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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What status/information is this form supposed to convey? If I send you such a text ("vor Freude im Kreis herum tanz*", is it supposed to mean I am performing this action at the time of sending the message? Or merely that this activity is occurring at this time? (but not necessarily performed by me or just by me)
If the latter is so, it seems analogous to how the progressive in English or Spanish can be used at times, without the subject being explicit but assumed ("dancing around/bailando en círculos"). In both cases, which can be perfectly legitimate texts to be sent during an exchange on the phone, imply those actions are occurring right now, but by relegating the subject you are putting the focus on the action. Sort of a passive without right out using the passive itself, which still would require some sort of grammatical subject. In the end, maybe this form is so convenient for texting in German because you can ditch the grammatical subject being explicitly mentioned, thus saving space? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cabaire Senior Member Germany Joined 5393 days ago 725 posts - 1352 votes | Message 3 of 6 21 February 2014 at 2:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well, the Erikative (i.e. the Inflective) is supposed to being done by the speaker (or the thing, which makes a noise in comics) just at that moment. It cannot be in reference to another person.
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| Bakunin Diglot Senior Member Switzerland outerkhmer.blogspot. Joined 4924 days ago 531 posts - 1126 votes Speaks: German*, Thai Studies: Khmer | Message 4 of 6 21 February 2014 at 3:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm by no means an expert on German grammar, maybe someone with more experience can weigh in (but judging from the lack of Responses so far interest in this topic seems to be modest). Wikipedia writes:
Äußerungen im Inflektiv sind eine Sonderform der Interjektion und werden wie diese syntaktisch unverbunden als satzwertige Äußerung verwendet. Die Verben, aus denen sie geformt werden, bezeichnen oft Lautäußerungen und Geräusche (quietsch, stotter) oder mimische und gestische Handlungen (grins, kopfkratz, brems!), die der Sprecher oder speziell im Comic auch ein Tier oder Ding ausführt. English: Utterances in Inflektiv are a special variant of interjections and are used, like the latter, unconnected and equivalent to sentences. The verbs used to form the Inflektiv often express sounds and sound-like utterances (squeak, stutter/splutter) or mimic or gestural actions (grin, head-scratch, brake!) performed by the speaker or, in particular in comics, animals or objects. Coming back to your question: As cabaire already pointed out, it's definitively the author of the text who performs the action, not somebody else. I don't know how common the Inflektiv is, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's pretty wide-spread in texting (at least in its simple form: lach, grins, gähn). What amazes me is that this is a new form with unique (and never seen before) morphological rules, probably not much older than a few decades. EDIT: Here is a paper in English on the Inflektiv. Edited by Bakunin on 21 February 2014 at 3:18pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| schoenewaelder Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5354 days ago 759 posts - 1197 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 5 of 6 21 February 2014 at 8:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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So is this what we should use in German if we want to insert little descriptions about our personal actions or reactions into our posts?
In English we usually put that in the 3rd person, but maybe that sounds odd in German. Things like, *waves* or *goes and makes cup of tea* or presumably *dances round in circles for joy* ? *Goes to consult grammer book* What about slightly less personal "stage directions" e.g. *sounds of pages turning and indistinct muttering* ? Edited by schoenewaelder on 21 February 2014 at 8:36pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Bakunin Diglot Senior Member Switzerland outerkhmer.blogspot. Joined 4924 days ago 531 posts - 1126 votes Speaks: German*, Thai Studies: Khmer | Message 6 of 6 21 February 2014 at 9:04pm | IP Logged | ||
Well, at least in text chats, third person sounds odd - I think you actually need to use the Inflektiv: *wink* *Tee machen geh* *vor Freude im Kreis tanz* *Grammatikbuch konsultier* or *Grammatikbuch konsultieren geh* *mit Seiten raschel* *grummel* or *vor sich hinmurmel* (note the use of 'sich') Less personal stage directions are fine, but it might be that some kind of personal connection is required. I wouldn't use the Inflektiv in forum posts unless the interaction is similar to a conversation - as opposed to, say, an email exchange. It doesn't sound appropriate to me, but as said before, I'm in no way an expert on this. If you're interested, also have a look at the paper I linked to above, it's a good introduction. Edited by Bakunin on 21 February 2014 at 9:16pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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