Open Access

Novel formats of construction-based description hold great potential for phenomena that fall through the cracks in traditional kinds of linguistic reference works. On the example of German verb argument structure constructions with a prepositional object, we demonstrate that a construction-based description of such phenomena is superior to existing lexicographic and grammaticographic treatments, but that it also poses a number of new problems. The most fundamental of these relates to the fact that construction-based analyses can be proposed on different levels of abstraction. We illustrate pertinent problems relating to the precise identification of constructional form and meaning and suggest a multi-layered descriptive format for web-based electronic reference constructica that can accommodate these challenges. Semantically, the proposed solution integrates both lumping and splitting perspectives on constructional grain size and permits users to flexibly zoom in and out on individual elements in the resource. Formally, it can capture variation in the number and marking of realised arguments as found in e.g. passives and transitivity alternations. Aspects of the theoretical controversy between Construction Grammar and Valency Theory are addressed where relevant, but our focus is on questions of description and the practical implementation of construction-based analyses in a suitable type of linguistic reference work.

Der Beitrag befasst sich zunächst mit der Satzklammer des Deutschen aus der Perspektive der Informationsverteilung. Nachdem gezeigt ist, dass sie als Informationsklammer fungiert, wird ihre Interaktion mit den Teilen gespaltener Nominalphrasen untersucht. Dabei zeigen sich zwei interessante Befunde: • die Satzklammer und die NP-Teile unterstützen sich bei der Informationsklammerbildung; insbesondere können die Spalt-NP-Teile Akzent tragen; • die Spalt-NP-Teile können alleine die Rolle einer Informationsklammer spielen, wodurch eine Topikalisierung des Partizips II möglich wird.