What the study found
The study found that Middle Low German blîven with a present participle or an infinitive could express both mutative and nonmutative meanings, but the nonmutative interpretation clearly predominated.
Why the authors say this matters
The authors conclude that the findings help deepen understanding of the development and aspectual behavior of periphrastic constructions in historical Germanic languages. The study also suggests that blîven patterns show significant semantic convergence with comparable predicative structures involving wērden and wēsen.
What the researchers tested
The researchers carried out a corpus-based analysis of blîven in combination with present participles and infinitives in Middle Low German from the thirteenth to seventeenth century. They used a broader corpus than previous studies, with the aim of identifying the aspectual and semantic properties of these constructions across different periods and genres.
What worked and what didn't
The analysis showed that blîven can occur with both present participles and infinitives and that both forms can be read as mutative or nonmutative. In the reported data, the nonmutative reading was clearly more frequent regardless of form, and the study also examined how the aspectual interaction between blîven and the nonfinite verb shapes interpretation.
What to keep in mind
The abstract does not report specific counts, statistical tests, or detailed limitations. It also focuses on Middle Low German between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries, so the findings are limited to that corpus and time span.
Key points
- Middle Low German blîven with participles or infinitives could have mutative and nonmutative meanings.
- The nonmutative interpretation was clearly the more common one.
- The study used a broader corpus covering the thirteenth to seventeenth century.
- The authors compare blîven with wērden and wēsen and report semantic convergence among these constructions.
Disclosure
- Research title:
- Blîven shows mostly nonmutative meanings in Middle Low German
- Authors:
- Marta Woźnicka
- Institutions:
- Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
- Publication date:
- 2026-04-07
- OpenAlex record:
- View
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