journal: Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft

Impact Factor: 0.3

Open Access Published since January 1, 1982

Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft

ISSN: 1613-3706

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About this journal

Objective

The aim of the journal is to promote linguistic research by publishing high-quality contributions and thematic special issues from all fields and trends of modern linguistics. In addition to articles and reviews, the journal also features contributions to discussions on current controversies in the field as well as overview articles outlining the state-of-the art of relevant research paradigms.

Topics

General Linguistics
Language Typology
Language acquisition, language change and synchronic variation
Empirical linguistics: experimental and corpus-based research
Contributions to theory-building

Article formats

Research articles, reviews, forum articles

Your Benefits

Your benefits

(Gold) Open access journal published by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft (DGfS)
Freely available articles disseminating the latest research in Linguistics
Comprehensive overview of all areas and emerging fields within Linguistics
Double-blind peer review
Timely online publication

History

„Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft" was founded 1981 by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft (German Linguistic Society) and has been published by De Gruyter Mouton since 2004.

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft

With more than 1000 members, the DGfS is one of the largest associations of linguists in the world.

Other publications in the field

Linguistics Vanguard
Linguistics
Folia Linguistica
Glottotheory
Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft / Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science (HSK)
Topics in English Linguistics [TiEL]
Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs [TiLSM]
The World of Linguistics

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Volume 42 Issue 3

December 2023

Publicly Available February 7, 2024

Frontmatter

Page range: i-iii

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Open Access February 7, 2024

Introduction special issue: marking the truth: a cross-linguistic approach to verum

Izabela Jordanoska, Anna Kocher, Raúl Bendezú-Araujo

Page range: 429-442

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Abstract

This special issue focuses on the theoretical and empirical underpinnings of truth-marking. The names that have been used to refer to this phenomenon include, among others, counter-assertive focus , polar(ity) focus , verum focus , emphatic polarity or simply verum . This terminological variety is suggestive of the wide range of ideas and conceptions that characterizes this research field. This collection aims to get closer to the core of what truly constitutes verum. We want to expand the empirical base and determine the common and diverging properties of truth-marking in the languages of the world. The objective is to set a theoretical and empirical baseline for future research on verum and related phenomena.

Open Access February 7, 2024

Indirect truth marking via backgrounding: evidence from Bantu

Elisabeth J. Kerr, Jenneke Van der Wal

Page range: 443-492

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Abstract

Verum focus has long been analysed as part of information structure, being accounted for within a theory of focus as generation of alternatives on a polarity value. Recently, however, this view has been challenged, with some authors arguing for a separation between verum and focus. The empirical debate focuses on two types of strategies: either verum is marked identically to focus (e.g., pitch accent in German, English) or through a dedicated strategy (e.g., dedicated markers in Gitksan, Bura, South Marghi). On the basis of the second type, it has been argued that the link between focus and verum is only superficial, with verum instead arising from a lexical operator VERUM. In this paper, we provide evidence in support of the traditional link between truth marking and focus, using original field data on the morphosyntactic expression of information structure in 11 Bantu (Niger-Congo) languages. By working from function to form, we show that these languages use a variety of grammatical strategies for truth expression, strategies that are used elsewhere in the information structural system for backgrounding. In this way, verum is not directly marked by focal accent but marked indirectly via backgrounding, which we formulate as the Backgrounding and Underspecification Thesis (BUT). On the basis of this Bantu evidence, we add a third type of strategy to the typology, where verum is marked indirectly via backgrounding. We use this updated typology to argue in favour of maintaining a conceptual link between verum, polarity focus, and predicated-centred focus more broadly.

Open Access February 7, 2024

Verum in Xhosa and Zulu (Nguni)

Eva-Marie Bloom Ström, Jochen Zeller

Page range: 493-524

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Abstract

In this paper we investigate how verum is realized in Xhosa and Zulu, two Southern Bantu languages belonging to the Nguni group. The data for our study were collected through interviews with native speakers who were prompted to produce sentences in discourse contexts that typically license utterances with verum. We found that the main grammatical strategy for the expression of verum in Xhosa and Zulu involves the removal of phrasal constituents from the focus domain (the VP). This leaves the verb as the sole remaining focus host, and allows auxiliary features of the verb, such as polarity, to be marked as focus. Consequently, we analyse verum in Xhosa and Zulu as polarity focus, which is expressed indirectly, via the backgrounding of potentially focusable phrasal material. We also examined the prosodic properties of verum utterances in Xhosa. Based on findings from previous studies on Nguni intonation, we expected to observe lengthening of the penultimate vowels of phrase-final verbs and utterance-final words in our data. However, contrary to expectation, we did not find evidence of penultimate vowel lengthening in Xhosa sentences with verum, a (preliminary) result which suggests that the expression of verum may have an effect on prosody in Nguni languages.

Open Access February 7, 2024

Clausal doubling and verum marking in Spanish

Carlos Muñoz Pérez, Matías Verdecchia

Page range: 525-548

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Abstract

This paper offers a description and analysis of the clausal doubling construction, and contrasts it with predicate doubling based on their formal and verum-related properties. The study shows that the behavior of both patterns can be captured by extending the analysis of predicate doubling by Muñoz Pérez and Verdecchia (2022. Predicate doubling in Spanish: On how discourse may mimic syntactic movement. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 40(4). 1159–1200). Basically, both doubling constructions have the same structure, with a contrastive topic in the left periphery; they differ, however, in the nature of the constituents carrying this function. The proposal derives from this single factor all formal and interpretative differences between the constructions. Moreover, the paper provides evidence to distinguish these phenomena from other verum-marking strategies in Spanish.

Open Access February 7, 2024

Whether-exclamatives: a verum strategy

Sara Amido, Sebastian Buchczyk

Page range: 549-576

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Abstract

Verum has been attested in declaratives, interrogatives, and imperatives. In this paper, we show that whether -exclamatives, a subtype of exclamatives, also qualify as a verum strategy, thus showing that the phenomenon ranges across all sentence moods. Motivation stems from the discourse properties of our data and the pragmatic contrast between whether -exclamatives and plain assertions. Furthermore, we argue that whether -exclamatives are illocutionarily defined as a coordination of assertion and excl , the illocutionary force of exclamatives. Assembling the formal tools for exclamatives, verum, and speech act coordination, we provide an analysis of verum in this complex hybrid speech act.

Open Access February 7, 2024

Getting the facts right: focus on adverbial verum marking in German

Kalle Müller

Page range: 577-609

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Abstract

Two types of analyses of verum can be distinguished: either it is decomposed into focus and a focused verum element or it is a single, non-decomposable specialized lexical element which operates on discourse conditions. This paper argues for the former by investigating adverbs like tatsächlich , echt , wirklich in German that overtly realize a truth related predicate by illustrating the parallel between verb-verum and these adverbs for which their lexical contribution and the contribution of focus can be distinguished. It is shown, however, that this predicate does not encode polarity but factuality, which is analyzed in terms of a modal object. The syntactic location is determined to be between polarity and speaker-oriented categories. Other effects regarding commitment and evidentiality come as a by-product of highlighting factuality.

Open Access February 7, 2024

Verum, focus and evidentiality in Conchucos Quechua

Raúl Bendezú-Araujo

Page range: 611-642

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Abstract

For most Quechuan languages, the discourse enclitic =mi has been described as a (contrastive) focus marker and/or as a marker of direct evidentiality. In this paper, I argue that these claims do not seem to apply to Conchucos Quechua (Ancash, Peru). To challenge the association between =mi and focus, I offer a quantitative analysis that strongly suggests that this connection is not categorical in nature. To contest the association between =mi and direct evidentiality, I offer a qualitative analysis based on a question-under-discussion (QUD) model of discourse structure, using naturalistic data. I will argue that this enclitic is better characterised as an assertion operator, whose function is to bring closure to the current QUD (be it explicit or implicit). In this sense, the use of =mi is reminiscent of what has been called verum in the literature, and I thus explore how this characterisation fits within this discussion.

Ahead of Print / Just Accepted

Ahead of Print / Just Accepted

Volume 42 (2023)

Volume 41 (2022)

Volume 40 (2021)

Volume 39 (2020)

Volume 38 (2019)

Volume 37 (2018)

Volume 36 (2017)

Volume 35 (2016)

Volume 34 (2015)

Volume 33 (2014)

Volume 32 (2013)

Volume 31 (2012)

Volume 30 (2011)

Volume 29 (2010)

Volume 28 (2009)

Volume 27 (2008)

Volume 26 (2007)

Volume 25 (2006)

Volume 24 (2005)

Volume 23 (2004)

Volume 22 (2003)

Volume 21 (2002)

Volume 20 (2001)

Volume 19 (2000)

Volume 18 (1999)

Volume 17 (1998)

Volume 16 (1997)

Issue 1-2

Volume 15 (1996)

Volume 14 (1995)

Volume 13 (1994)

Volume 12 (1993)

Volume 11 (1992)

Volume 10 (1991)

Volume 9 (1990)

Issue 1-2

Volume 8 (1989)

Volume 7 (1988)

Volume 6 (1987)

Volume 5 (1986)

Volume 4 (1985)

Volume 3 (1984)

Volume 2 (1983)

Volume 1 (1982)

Journal Impact Factor	0.3	2022, Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate, 2023)
5-year Journal Impact Factor	0.5	2022, Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate, 2023)
Journal Citation Indicator	0.30	2022, Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate, 2023)
CiteScore	1.0	2022, Scopus (Elsevier B.V., 2023)
SCImago Journal Rank	0.312	2022, SJR (Scimago Lab, 2023; Data Source: Scopus)
Source Normalized Impact per Paper	0.484	2022, CWTS Journal Indicators (CWTS B.V., 2023; Data Source: Scopus)

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All contributions published under a Open access license at no costs for authors
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Authors retain copyright – articles published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY-4.0) License
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Please submit your manuscript via our submission system: https://ojs.ub.rub.de/index.php/zs/index.
Before submitting your article please consult the Instruction for Authors and our De Gruyter Mouton journal style sheet and our Publication Ethics Statement.
Accepted articles are published approx. 20 weeks after submission
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Book reviews

ZS publishes reviews of recently published books. Contributors may ask the review editor for a book copy.

Editorial

Herausgeber

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft

Co-Editors

Mathias Scharinger
Philipps-Universität Marburg
Institut für Germanistische Sprachwissenschaft
Pilgrimstein 16
35032 Marburg

Ingo Feldhausen
ATILF (UMR 7118), CNRS-Université de Lorraine
UFR Sciences Humaines et Sociales, Université de Lorraine
54001 Nancy, France

Redaktion

Pia Bergmann
- Managing Editor -
Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Institut für Germanistische Sprachwissenschaft
Fürstengraben 30
07743 Jena

Stefanie Dipper
- Technische Redakteurin (OJS) -
Sprachwissenschaftliches Institut
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Universitätsstr. 150
44801 Bochum

Tanja Kupisch
University of Konstanz
Department of Linguistics
Universitätsstraße 10
78464 Konstanz, Germany

Sarah Schimke
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Department I - Germanistik, Komparatistik, Nordistik, Deutsch als Fremdsprache
Institut für Deutsche Philologie
Schellingstraße 3 RG
80799 München

Gutachterrat

Artemis Alexiadou (Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany)
James Peter Blevins (University of Cambridge, UK)
Daniel Büring (University of Vienna, Austria)
Cornelia Ebert (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Germany)
Martina Faller (The University of Manchester, UK)
Paula Fikkert (Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands)
Peter Gallmann (Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany)
Hubert Haider (Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Austria)
Katharina Hartmann (Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany)
Nikolaus Himmelmann (University of Cologne, Germany)
Roland Hinterhölzl (Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, Venice, Italy)
Anke Holler (Georg August University of Göttingen, Germany)
Baris Kabak (Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, Germany)
Claudia Maienborn (Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany)
Theodoros Marinis (University of Reading, UK)
Judith Meinschäfer (Free University of Berlin, Germany)
Christine Mooshammer (Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany)
Natascha Müller (University of Wuppertal, Germany)
Petra Schulz (Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany)
Elisabeth Stark (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
Christiane von Stutterheim (Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, Germany)
Benedikt Szmrecsanyi (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium)
Luka Szucsich (Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany)
Judith Tonhauser (Universität Stuttgart, Germany)
Ruben Van de Vijver (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany)
Ralf Vogel (Bielefeld University, Germany)
Heike Wiese (Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Germany)

(Deutsch)

Print ISSN: 0721-9067
Type: Journal
Languages: German, English
Publisher: De Gruyter
First published: January 1, 1982
Publication Frequency: 2 Issues per Year