GE2102 - Lecture 1 - Word classes

Word classes - Wortarten:

• verbs
• adjectives
• nouns
• pronouns
• articles
• adverbs
• prepositions
• conjunctions

Criteria for word classification:

• Semantic - based on meaning - e.g. a verb is a 'doing' word
• Morphological - based word structure - e.g. suffixes, prefixes etc
• Syntax - based on how and where a word is used in a sentence and how they can be combined with other words
• Is it comparable?
• Can it take an article?
• Can it form a sentence element/unit (Satzglied) on its own - i.e. subject/object

Flektierbarkeit - Inflection:

•  when words change their form in any way they are 'inflected'. e.g. lachen - gelacht, alt - altes
• there are different types of inflection - verbs are conjugated but other words are declined.

Verbs:

• Inflectable - can be conjugated
• Semantically - describes what happens or what is
• Syntactically - the centre of the sentence

Nouns:

• Capitalised (in German)
• Can take articles
• have gender
• Semantically - refers to people, places, animals, plants, things, abstract concepts
• Syntactically - can be subject or object of a sentence

Adjectives:

• inflectable - declinable
• comparable
• semantics - describe qualities and characteristics
• syntax - used attributively, predicatively, adverbial

Articles:

• declinable
• can't form Satzglied alone
• only used in conjunction with nouns

Pronouns:

• declinable
• semantics - replace nouns
• syntax - used attributively in place of nouns

Adverbs:

• not inflectable
• semantics - give more information about the details of a sentence
• syntax - obligatory complement of verb, optional extra detail, also predicatively, can form full sentence unit by itself

Prepositions:

• not inflectable
• semantic - denotes place/time/mode
• syntax - can't be sentence unit alone
• demands a case

Conjunctions:

• not inflectable
• semantic - connect clauses/groups of words
• syntax - can't be within the Satzglied, however it joins the Satzglieder together