Congruence in the Spanish language

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As congruence , concordancia gramatical is in linguistics in general and in the Spanish grammar in particular the consistency of characteristic values at different the set designated constituent elements.

The Spanish is a relatively inflectional language , which has, therein shows that the Spanish language mainly with synthetic Konjugationssystemen works, which affixes be realized. A sentence formed in it follows the construction principles of the inflected language, for example the Spanish verb shows morphological features of finiteness. A person and number congruence with the subject is opposed to a tense-aspect-mode morpheme (TAM) . According to Talmy Givón (2001), the tense-aspect-mode morpheme (TAM) and the subject congruence are the elementary components of this finiteness.

The congruence thus designates a dependency relationship between at least two grammatical forms or linguistic entities . With this, the congruence also becomes a component of the morphology , because the question is implied what occurs when using a word in terms of remote effects in the sentence :

  • What can a word XY, ( equis i griega ) do? Can it be flexed , is it compartible , can it be articulated , etc.
  • Then why does this word have to be congruent? How does the individual word develop its “morphological long-range effect” (“congruence domain”) on other words. How are symmetrical morphological relationships formed between the words in a sentence?

A general distinction is made between:

  • grammatical congruence, concordancia gramatical : it is internal to the sentence and exists within the individual parts of the sentence and conceptually characterizes “congruence” in the broader sense. Their function is to mark the syntactic relationships.

Juana compró los juguetes para su hija. Juana se los compró. Juana bought the toys for her daughter. Juana bought it for her.

  • Nominal congruence, concordancia nominal : for the determinants , the adjectival attributes and the appositions , a match is made to the reference noun with regard to their case, gender, number.

la bella novia, una hermosa novia, a la novia hermosa the beautiful bride, a beautiful bride, the beautiful bride

  • verbal congruence, concordancia verbal : the inflected part of the predicate congruates with the subject in relation to the person and the number.

I love you. La mujer ama. I love you. The woman loves.

  • Predicative congruence, concordancia predicativo : the subject and predicate congruent in relation to the gender, number or case.

Ella es una profesora universitaria. Él es un profesor universitario. She is a college professor. He is a college professor.

  • anaphoric congruence, concordancia anafórica : here the sentence- internal congruence becomes a sentence-boundary-crossing congruence relation, for example in the case of pronominalizations.
Juana estaba cansada. Ella pensó que su novio iba simplemente al baño en el restaurante. Juana war müde. Sie dachte, dass ihr Bräutigam einfach auf die Toilette im Restaurant ging.

This can be summarized for the most important points: In the Spanish language, on the one hand, the finite verb and its subject in person and number, a predicative adjective with the subject in number and gender and an attributive adjective and an article with its reference noun also in Number and gender.

Explanation

If inflectional languages are involved, the congruence is attempted on the basis of the morphology or morphemes.

But it is not the morphemes as such, but actually the sentence elements that congruent with one another. Through them, morphological-syntactic categories find their expression in the changed or coincident morphology.

It is a phenomenon that has developed within a syntactic domain (e.g. sentence elements or constituents ).

The term “ congruence ” generally describes such a formal agreement, mostly in the categories of person , number , gender and case ; as a related phenomenon, the agreement in tense and mode within a sentence can be cited.

Generally speaking, congruence in linguistics is the agreement of characteristics in different linguistic elements within a syntactic domain (e.g. sentence or constituent ).

To put it simply, it denotes the agreement, for example with regard to person, number or gender in the corresponding words of the clauses , i.e. with regard to their grammatical categories. Congruence is one of the syntactic relations, they define relationships or relationships between the sentence elements within the sentence; others are word order , inflection , intonation . - Examples: Juana compró los juguet es para su hija. Juan se los compró. Juana bought the toys for her daughter. Juana bought it for her. Pretérito indefinido de indicativo Juan compró una cas a para sus hijas. Juan se la compró. Juan bought a house for his daughters. Juan bought it for them.

The sentence-internal congruence can be seen in three elements constituting the sentence, for example between the subject and verb (subject-verb congruence), between the subject and the predicatively used noun phrases and within the noun phrase between the noun and its possible companions. The elements are to be distinguished in terms of the characteristics that make up the differentiations. With subject-verb congruence, person and number must match. The case in the narrower sense is usually not implemented here in Spanish. With subject-predicative congruence and noun phrase-internal congruence, it is gender and number that have to correspond. The third person is specified in the case of the internal congruence of nouns.

In Romance languages ​​in general, the congruence between the conjugated verb and a noun or the pronoun representing it in person and number should be emphasized. It comes to the fore because it is a "connection" between grammatical forms inflected so differently that appear here verbally and nominally. But also because the congruence emphasizes or delimits one noun from another, another.

The congruence must be differentiated from the term “concordance” from theoretical linguistics . Concordance describes in languages ​​with so-called nominal classes the morphological correspondence of a verb or attribute with the noun intended as the starting term . The concordance of verbs and attributes with the nouns is done using affixes , i.e. prefixes and suffixes. The phenomenon is therefore comparable in its external appearance with the congruence in the Indo-European languages , but not completely equated with it. In many cases, concordance is understood as a special form of congruence.

The grammatical term "congruence" is also not to be equated with the same terms, for example of "equivalence" and "congruence" in contrastive linguistics . This branch of linguistics deals with the comparison of languages ​​with one another.

Congruence, concordancia gramatical in the Spanish sentence

In inflectional languages , such as Spanish, there is a fundamental tendency to bring the words that are related to one another into a formal correspondence. The most significant form of congruence in Spanish and in the other Romance languages is the congruence between the conjugated form of the verb and a noun, or a pronoun representing it in number and person. It very often justifies the prototypical sentence from a noun in its syntactic role as a subject and a verb in its role as a predicate.

Transferred to the conceptual system of classical grammar , this means that a morpho - syntactic correspondence ( morphosyntax ) of the corresponding parts of the sentence in relation to gender , number between noun and adjectival attribute as well as grammatical person and number between subject and verbal form first leads to a grammatically correct one Lead sentence. - Examples:

Me gust at los coch es . I like the cars. Me gust a el coch e . I like the car.

En ese bar se com en un os bocadill os muy ric os . In this bar you can eat some very delicious rolls. En ese bar se com e un o bocadill o muy ric o . In this bar you eat a very delicious bread roll.

En ese bar se com en un as tart as muy ric as . This bar has some very delicious cakes. En ese bar se com e un a tart a muy ric a . In this bar you can eat a very delicious cake.

¿Os gust an los conciert os de Juan del Encina ? Sí. También nos gust a escuchar músic a de Francisco de Salinas . Do you like the concerts of Juan del Encina? Yes, we also like hearing the music of Francisco de Salina.

The person-number congruence is obligatory in Spanish, the gender congruence, however, only in some predicate constructions, such as the passive , the participle phrases . - Examples, both sentences in the tense of the Pretérito perfecto compuestos : He comprado una camis a y un chalec o amarillo. I bought a shirt and a yellow vest. He comprado un abrig o y un sombrer o negros. I bought a coat and a black hat.

Estoy copiando los ejercici os para vosotros. Estoy copiándoosl os . I am copying the exam papers for you [masculine]. I'll copy them [the exam papers] to you [masculine]. Gerundio Estoy copiando los ejercici os para vosotras. Estoy copiándoosl os . I'm in the process of copying the exam papers for you [feminine]. I'll copy them [the exam papers] to you [feminine].

Estoy copiando las pintur as para vosotros. Estoy copiándoosl as . I'm in the process of copying the paintings for you [masculine]. I'll copy them [the exam papers] to you [masculine]. Estoy copiando las pintur as para vosotras. Estoy copiándoosl as . I'm in the process of copying the paintings for you [feminine]. I'll copy them [the exam papers] to you [feminine].

If the subject consists of several words, sujeto múltiple , the correspondence of the congruence in and for the persons can be more difficult. A distinction must be made here between different cases or constructions, depending on which types of subjects are connected to one another in which way. - Example: Su amabilidad y cordialidad me impresion aron . His friendliness and warmth impressed me. (Plural predicate) Me impresion ó su amabildidad y su cordialidad. I was impressed by his friendliness and warmth. (Predicate in singular)

Unlike in German, however, it is possible to override the congruence rule , taking into account the semantic sense . - Examples, both sentences in the tense of the Pretérito perfecto simple La mayoría comieron sin decir nada. The majority ate without saying anything. La mayoría comió sin decir nada. The majority ate without saying anything. The subject “la mayoría” is represented in the singular as shown in the use of the article, but semantically and content-wise it refers to a plurality. The predicate used in the form of the verb "comer" can therefore be used both in the plural and in the singular. The concept of congruence is related to inflection, which means changing the shape of a word or a lexeme to represent its grammatical features or its grammatical function in the sentence .

The phenomenon of syntactic congruence occurs mainly in inflected languages . There it regulates certain tasks in the constitution of sentences. In this context, integrated in the linguistic system, the congruence can be determined as a sub-area of ​​the sentence level ( syntax ) and not the word level ( morphology ). When considering morphological dependency or dependence, the pivot point is the question of which word the concrete verbalized and uttered word form is determined by that of another word, such as number, gender. Explanatory terms for this are congruence and direction . From the point of view of syntactic dependence, it becomes apparent which words syntactically dominate the phrases . In addition to the (finite) verbs, you also have to include their arguments .

In Spanish, the compound past, Pretérito perfecto de indicativo with the auxiliary , verbo auxiliar "haber" is formed without congruence. In contrast to French , for example, congruence is never valid in transitive constructions, even with a preceding object clitic .

María ha regad o las plantas. Maria watered the plants. Pretérito perfecto de indicativo voz activa  Without congruence concordancia gramatical Las ha regad o . She poured them. Pretérito perfecto de indicativo voz activa

The Spanish passive voice always shows congruence between participio pasado and internal argument. Regarding the differences between the process passive and the state passive, there are no differences with regard to the congruence of the participle, participio pasado . - Examples:

Las plantas fueron regad as . The plants were watered. Pretérito indefinido de indicativo voz pasiva more precisely process passive, pasiva con ser o pasiva de proceso   with congruence Las plantas han sido regad as . The plants have been watered. Pretérito pluscuamperfecto de indicativo voz pasiva process passive, pasiva con ser o pasiva de proceso

Las plantas estaban regad as . The plants were watered. Pretérito imperfecto de indicativo voz pasiva state passive, pasiva con estar  with congruence Las plantas han estado regad as . The plants were watered. Pretérito perfecto de indicativo voz pasiva state passive, pasiva con estar

Congruence of the Spanish adjective in the sentence

All adjectives used predicatively are always unflexed and not congruent in German, but in Spanish they are adjusted in gender and number. - Examples:

Est e hombre me puso cachond o . This man turned me on. Est a mujer me puso cachond a . This woman turned me on. Los hombr es se pusieron cachond os . The men turned on each other. Las mujer es se pusieron cachond as . These women turned on each other.

The attributive Spanish adjectives are adjusted in prenominal or postnominal position according to gender and number, in German, however, the prenominal attributive adjectives are always inflected, but the less common postnominal adjectives never. - Examples: Prenominal adjective. - example:

  • a handsome man, handsome men

Postnominal adjective - examples:

  • Little Hans went alone.
  • Little Johanna went alone.
  • The little hans went alone.
  • Little Johannas went alone.

In Spanish, however, gender and number are adjusted.

El pequeñ o Juanit o fue sol o . La pequeña Juanit a fue sol a . Los pequeñ os Juanit os fueron sol os . Las pequeñ as Juanit as fueron sol as . In the examples given above, you can see that the adjective always matches the noun. This also applies if both, noun and adjective, arefurther separated from each otherin a sentence or in a sentence series . - Example: Est as fald as son para ti. ¡Qué bonit as ! These skirts are for you. How beautiful you are! In the event that an adjective refers to several nouns with the same gender, the adjective in Spanish is placed in the plural. - Example: He comprado un a fald a y un a brag a roj as . I bought a red skirt and red panties. However, if an adjective appears that refers to several nouns with different gender, the plural of the adjective is used in its masculine form. - Example: He comprado un sujetador, un a fald a , un a brag a y un calcet ín roj os . I bought a red bra, red skirt, red panties, and red socks.

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ to Latin congruentia “agreement” , English “agreement” or “concord” .
  2. ↑ morphology expresses u. a. the following features; so the case (if available nominative, genitive, dative, accusative), the number (singular, plural), the person (first, second, third), the gender (masculine, feminine). This is how the information important for the syntax is passed on; through this and only through the congruence does the language producer say "How do you know who is giving what to whom?"

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Talmy Givón : syntax. An introduction. Vol. 2., revision. Edition, John Benjamin Pub, Amsterdam / Philadelphia 2001, ISBN 1-5881-1068-0 , p. 352.
  2. ↑ Klaus-Michael Köpcke, Arne Ziegler (Ed.): Grammar - Teaching, Learning, Understanding: Approaches to the grammar of contemporary German. Vol. 293 German Linguistics series, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2011, ISBN 3110263181 , p. 297 f.
  3. ^ Hans Altmann, Suzan Hahnemann: Syntax for the exam: study and work book. Vol. 1 Linguistics for the exam, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg / Berlin / New York 2013, ISBN 3-3229-7092-2 , p. 37
  4. ^ It was Steven G. Lapointe (1952-1999): A Theory of Grammatical Agreement. Garland Publishing, New York 1979, who was one of the first to develop a comprehensive theory of congruence and to relate it to Government and Binding Theory (GB) .
  5. ↑ Peter Gallmann: Nouns - Syntactic control of case inflection. University of Jena, summer 2014, pp. 1–7
  6. ^ The concordance / congruence - La concordancia. Justo Fernández López, hispanoteca.eu
  7. ^ Günter Holtus: History of the subject Romance studies. Methodology (The Language System). Vol. 1 by Holtus, Günter; Metzeltin, Michael; Schmitt, Christian: Lexicon of Romance Linguistics (LRL). Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-1109-3838-3 , p. 959
  8. ↑ Michael Metzeltin: Explanatory grammar of the Romance languages. Praesens Studies Books Vol. 17, Praesens, Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-7069-0548-0 , p. 47 f
  9. ↑ Hadumod Bußmann (ed.) With the assistance of Hartmut Lauffer: Lexikon der Sprachwissenschaft. 4th, revised and bibliographically supplemented edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-520-45204-7 , pp. 363-364.
  10. ^ Helmut Berschin , Julio Fernández-Sevilla, Josef Felixberger: The Spanish language. Distribution, history, structure. 3. Edition. Georg Olms, Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 2005, ISBN 3-487-12814-4 , p. 269.
  11. ↑ Duden online: Flexion
  12. ↑ Christoph Jaeger: Problems of syntactic congruence: theory and comparison of norms in German. German Linguistics series, De Gruyter, Berlin 1992 (Reprint 2010), ISBN 3-4843-1132-0
  13. ↑ Syntax and Morphology Syntax and Morphology. Introductory course 8th lecture. Saarland University, winter semester 2010