On the functions of haben in German Cover Image

ZU DEN FUNKTIONEN VON HABEN IM DEUTSCHEN
On the functions of haben in German

Author(s): Bogdana Crivăț (Cîrtilă)
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Editura Universitaria Craiova
Keywords: haben; predicative possession; atypical transitive structure

Summary/Abstract: The goal of this article is to give a detailed description of the lexical functions of the verb haben in present-day German. The semantic analysis points out numerous and quite different uses, ranging from alienable to inalienable possession, but also covering non-possessive cognitive domains such as existence and location. The verb proves to establish ultimately a relationship between two discourse participants. Syntactically, it is a transitive, but non-agentive structure, in which the human being is coded in topical position as the grammatical subject of the sentence.

  • Issue Year: 2008
  • Issue No: 1-2
  • Page Range: 165-171
  • Page Count: 7
  • Language: Dutch
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