Parallel vs. Alternating Inflection in DAT SG MASC/NEUTER - An Explanatory Approach to the Persistence of Variation

Sahel S. Parallel- vs. Wechselflexion im dat sg mask/neutr – Ein Erklärungsansatz zur Persistenz der Variation. Zeitschrift für germanistische Linguistik. 2021;49(1):3-32.This paper deals with the variation of adjective inflection in nominal phrases with two consecutive adjectives in the dative singular masculine/neuter (e.g. mit grosserem politischem [strong inflection] Einfluss vs. mit grosserem politischen([WEAK) (INFLECTION]) Einfluss,with greater political influence'). Only the second adjective is affected by the variation; it can show strong or weak inflection (parallel inflection vs. alternating inflection). In Standard German, both uses coexist without any difference in meaning or function. This phenomenon is analyzed using corpus data. The focus is on the question why this variation persists almost exclusively in the dative singular masculine/neuter. After the discussion of different explanations available, a phonological approach to explain the persistence of the variation is presented. It is argued that the low phonological contrast between the strong inflection -m and its weak counterpart -n is the reason why the variation is still persistent in the dative singular masculine/neuter. The role of grammar reference works in the persistence of the concerning variation is also discussed