@article{1065383,
  abstract     = {{Researchers have long debated the meanings of morphological cases, as markers of core arguments as well as adjunct phrases. However, the proposed semantic paraphrases have traditionally mainly relied on introspection and usually prove problematic from an observational standpoint. This article explores the semantics of variable case marking by focusing on the distribution of the Accusative and Dative in phrases with two-way prepositions in present-day German. The empirical aim of the article is to gain a better understanding of the conditions under which the variation between Accusative and Dative occurs in German locative constructions with prepositional verbs. To this end, a classification of four subclasses of prepositional verbs is presented and discussed. The theoretical aim of the article is to confront current cognitive claims about case meanings in German with observations that Hermann Paul made about a century ago in his Deutsche Grammatik (1916-1920). It is concluded, firstly, that cognitive-semantic explanations tend to overspecify the semantic content encoded in the case morphemes while at the same time underestimating the importance of inference and psychological associations of all kind. Secondly, an alternative approach is presented which emphasises the role of syntactic constructions in the case alternation. It is shown that Paul's account is valuable because of the way it combines a balanced view of the relative semantic homogeneity of prepositional cases with instructive corpus findings on variable case marking. Furthermore, Paul's account contains several aspects that characterise it as a "constructionist" analysis avant la lettre. It is argued that this kind of analysis is superior to the currently dominant projectionist approach for a number of reasons.}},
  author       = {{Willems, Klaas}},
  issn         = {{0019-7262}},
  journal      = {{INDOGERMANISCHE FORSCHUNGEN}},
  keywords     = {{variable case marking,semantics,construction grammar,case alternation,meaning,semantics-syntax interface}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{324--366}},
  title        = {{The semantics of variable case marking (Accusative/Dative) after two-way prepositions in German locative constructions: towards a constructionist approach}},
  volume       = {{116}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}

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