In the minds of language users, situations are represented as states, processes, and events. Each such representation originates from perception, imagination, or illusion (cf. e.g., Glasersfeld 1972) and includes the partaking entities and the respective relations holding between them. Since situations cannot be represented by linguistic means in all their aspects, verbalization always requires schematization, i.e. the reduction of information. In the consequence, in linguistic expressions some of the information ...

Adjective order restrictions on attributive adjectives (AORs) have been subject to debate in modern linguistic research for a long time. Most generally, the question whether AORs can be located in grammar as such in rule-based fashion is still unsettled. In the current paper, we largely argue against this view and claim that several of the core data to be explained are preferences based on norms rather than rules. A pragmatic explanation is offered to account for marked or apparently ungrammatical examples. First, ...

The notion of “Eigentlichkeit” (‘authenticity’), when approached from a perspective of language philosophy, is associated with the quality of linguistic entities of referring to things in the world in a truthful and a maximally transparent way, cf. Gardt (1995). Obviously, there are numerous expressions that do not seem to conduct themselves accordingly and display a rather “non-authentic”, i.e., non-transparent behavior instead, like indirect and ironic speech acts or idiomatic expressions like Cat got your tongue? ...

Das zentrale Interesse des Forschungsprojekts ADEQUA gilt der Frage, wie selbständiges Lernen in textbasierten und kooperativen Lernumgebungen des Englischunterrichts möglichst effektiv unterstützt werden kann, insbesondere durch die Förderung des situationsadäquaten Einsatzes von Lernstrategien. Zu diesem Zweck wurden im Rahmen der Studie geeignete Lernumgebungen entwickelt, die in verschiedenen Settings mit und ohne Lehrerinterventionen erprobt werden. Im Zentrum dieser Lernumgebungen stehen Aufgabenformate zur ...

The current paper investigates these cases from a lexicalist perspective. In particular, I will discuss whether realizations of arguments of non-heads of the above types are based on a regular grammatical process or not. I will argue that this is the case indeed with constructions of the type Designanalyse des Geschirrs, where the post-nominal element figures as argument of both the head as well as the non-head. In contrast, (prepositional) external argument realizations of the type in (1)—i.e. constructions in which ...

In this paper I discuss the role of learning strategies in the context of learning and instruction. I start out by describing the discrepancy between several statements in the discussion of "strategies" and "techniques ". Taking into account the findings of investigations in this field, I point out the importance of both cognitive and affective factors. Not only learning strategies have to be considered: individual differences, conceptual knowledge and attitudes seem to interact with strategies to produce strategy ...

The current paper discusses the lexicalization of complex constructions composed of an adjective and a noun. It is argued that compounds/compound-like constructions are more prone to become lexicalized than phrases/phrase-like constructions. The relationship between lexicalization and the cognitive process of memorization represents a key point of our analysis. We report evidence from psycholinguistic studies contrasting compounds/compound-like constructions to phrases/phrase-like constructions either within a single ...

Eine Theorie des mentalen Lexikons muss im Wesentlichen zwei Dinge leisten: Einerseits muss sie die grammatisch relevanten Merkmale der einzelnen Einträge definieren, und es müssen andererseits die Bedingungen, die den Zugriff auf einen Lexikoneintrag restringieren, in irgendeiner Weise festgelegt sein. In einem generativen lexikalischen System, wie es hier im Sinne von Bierwisch & Schreuder (1992); Härtl (2001); Pustejovsky (1991); Wunderlich (1997) u.a. angenommen wird, kommt hinzu, dass das sprachliche Verhalten ...

Neue Technologien und Medien, im Besonderen durch Formen computerunterstützten Lernens, haben in den letzten Jahren im Englischunterricht zunehmend an Bedeutung gewonnen, sei es durch die Nutzung von Sprachlernsoftware oder des Internets mit seinen vielfältigen Möglichkeiten zur zielsprachlichen Kommunikation sowie der Informations- und Materialbeschaffung. Mit der zunehmenden Verbreitung computerunterstützten Fremdsprachenlernens (Computer Assisted Language Learning, CALL) besteht auf Seiten vieler Englischlehrerinnen ...