Eine datengesteuerte Untersuchung deutscher Funktionsverbgefüge. Artikelvarianz in stehen-Funktionsverbgefügen

In the paper, I present a corpus-based study on putative restrictions on articles within German light verb constructions. It is commonly proposed that the nominal element within a light verb construction is either used without any article or that the definite article is clitizised onto a preceding preposition. Based on data collected from the German reference corpus, I show that this restriction does not hold. The analysis is based on a sample of 50 light verb constructions headed by the light verb stehen. I argue that light verb constructions are basically unrestricted concerning the PP-internal article, but light verb constructions show different preferences concerning article use. Thus, general claims concerning a restriction on article variance within German light verb constructions cannot be supported by actual language data. On the contrary, the result of the study reveals that restrictions on the article do neither present a criterion for identifying light verb constructions nor for distinguishing them from other types of predicative constructions.