A GENERAL THEORY OF MULTIVALUATION A GENERAL THEORY OF MULTIVALUATION

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(Old Database about Coordination)

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STANDARD GERMAN

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Himmelreich, Anke, Melissa Jeckel, Katharina Hartmann, Johannes Mursell (2021): Agreement with Coordinated Subjects in the World's Languages [Data set]. Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main (Link: https://www.multivaluation.de/database.php)

Overview

Language family:Indo-European (Germanic)
Countries:Germany, Austria, Switzerland
Number of speakers:90-105 million
Agreement features:number, person
Attested word orders:SV
Coordination types:and, or

Data Collection

The data about number agreement in ``or''-coordinations comes from an acceptability study with 67 native speakers. The rest of the data comes from an online questionnaire filled out by one native speaker.

Patterns for number

Coordination with ``and''

SV order

Pattern: The number on the verb is plural in all cases.

1st | 2ndsgpl
sgplpl
plplpl

Examples:

(1)     DerJungeundderMannrennen.
the.sgboy.sgandthe.sgman.sgrun.3pl
`The boy and the man run.'
(2)     DieJungsundderMannrennen.
the.plboy.plandthe.sgman.sgrun.3pl
`The boys and the man run.'
(3)     DerJungeunddieMännerrennen.
the.sgboy.sgandthe.plman.plrun.3pl
`The boy and the men run.'
(4)     DieJungsunddieMännerrennen.
the.plboy.plandthe.plman.plrun.3pl
`The boys and the men run.'

Coordination with ``or''

SV order

Pattern: With two singular conjuncts, the verb can be singular or plural. If the two conjuncts mismatch in number, number is resolved to plural.

1st | 2ndsgpl
sgsg/plpl
plplpl

Examples:

(7)     DerJungeoderderMannrennt/rennen.
the.sgboy.sgorthe.sgman.sgrun.3sg/run.3pl
`The boy or the man run.'
(8)     DieJungsoderderMannrennen.
the.plboy.plorthe.sgman.sgrun.3pl
`The boys or the man run.'
(9)     DerJungeoderdieMännerrennen.
the.sgboy.sgorthe.plman.plrun.3pl
`The boy or the men run.'
(10)     DieJungsoderdieMännerrennen.
the.plboy.plorthe.plman.plrun.3pl
`The boys or the men run.'

VS order

Pattern: With two singular conjuncts, the verb can be singular or plural. If the two conjuncts mismatch in number, number is resolved to plural.

1st | 2ndsgpl
sgsg/plpl
plplpl

Examples:

(11)     InsDorfrennt/rennenderJungeoderderMann.
into.thevillagerun.3sg/run.3plthe.sgboy.sgorthe.sgman.sg
`The boy or the man run into the village.'
(12)     InsDorfrennendieJungsoderderMann.
into.thevillagerun.3plthe.plboy.plorthe.sgman.sg
`The boys or the man run into the village.'
(13)     InsDorfrennenderJungeoderdieMänner.
into.thevillagerun.3plthe.sgboy.sgorthe.plman.pl
`The boy or the men run into the village.'
(14)     InsDorfrennendieJungsoderdieMänner.
into.thevillagerun.3plthe.plboy.plorthe.plman.pl
`The boys or the men run into the village.'

Patterns for person

Coordination with ``and''

SV order

Pattern: In all cases person is resolved to 1st/3rd person plural. (Note: 1st and 3rd person plural are syncretic.)

1st | 2nd123
11/3pl1/3pl
21/3pl
31/3pl

Examples:

(15)     Duundichrennen.
youandIrun.1/3pl
`You and I run.'
(16)     Ichunddurennen.
Iandyourun.1/3pl
`I and you run.'
(17)     Wirunddierennen.
weandtheyrun.1/3pl
`We and they run.'
(18)     Dieundwirrennen.
theyandwerun.1/3pl
`They and we run.'

Coordination with ``or''

SV order

Pattern: In all cases person is resolved to 1st/3rd person plural. (Note: 1st and 3rd person plural are syncretic.)

1st | 2nd123
11/3pl1/3pl
21/3pl
31/3pl

Examples:

(19)     Duoderichrennen.
youorIrun.1/3pl
`You or I run.'
(20)     Ichoderdurennen.
Ioryourun.1/3pl
`I or you run.'
(21)     Wiroderdierennen.
weortheyrun.1/3pl
`We or they run.'
(22)     Dieoderwirrennen.
theyorwerun.1/3pl
`They or we run.'