Von der Primär- zur Sekundärmotivation. Der semantische Sprung bei Volksetymologie und Verballhornung
From Primary Motivation to Secondary Motivation. The Semantic Jump Connected with Folk Etymology and Corruption

Summary/Abstract: The historical loss of motivation causes many compound words to become arbitrary like simple words or to become only partly motivated. This situation doesn’t please the language community. People search for a new morphological and semantic integration of the lexemes into the network of the lexicon by having recourse to lexical items with similar sound. The results are explainings of the meaning by additional morphemes, folk etymological changes, corruptions, malapropisms, playings on words. Lost primary motivation is replaced by secondary motivation. The relation between both is investigated in detail. Are both expressions connected with each other only by common phonetic features or is there also a semantic continuation by common semantic features or by the same situational context of use? What is the nature of the „semantic jump“?

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