Taxis contextems in the German language: a functional-semantic analysis of constructions with deverbatives
DOI: 10.23951/1609-624X-2026-3-31-40
This study develops the theoretical and methodological foundations for analyzing taxis relations in German, drawing on the functional-semantic approach developed by A.V. Bondarko, who defines taxis as a category of temporal correlation of actions. The relevance of this work stems from the need to overcome the fragmentation of taxis studies and develop a comprehensive approach to analyzing the structural organization of taxis meanings realized through prepositional-deverbative constructions. The goal of the study is to identify the structural and semantic features of the organization of taxis contexts in German. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the development and operationalization of the concept of a taxis context as a structural and semantic unity including core (deverbatives) and peripheral (prepositions, actualizers, quantifiers) components. The empirical base consists of over 5,000 examples from corpus sources (LC, DWDS). A methodological framework integrating functional-semantic and contextual analysis has enabled the identification and systematic description of two types of contextualities: primary-tactic (chronological) relations and secondary-tactic (logical-semantic) relations. Primary-tactic contextualities specialize in actualizing chronological relations (simultaneity, precedence, succession) through the integration of temporal prepositions with deverbatives and aspectual-temporal quantifiers. Secondary-tactic contextualities encompass a wide range of logical-semantic relations (modal, instrumental, medial, conditional, causal, concessive, consequential, final), where various classes of prepositions, in combination with deverbatives, form specialized semantic structures. Iterative-tactic contextualities, which actualize procedural multiplicity, occupy a special place. The structural organization of contextemes is established, including the specification of quantifiers as temporal delimiters, deverbative multiplicatives and iteratives, and specialized verb groups. The analysis demonstrates the systemic nature of the organization of taxis relations in German and confirms the effectiveness of the proposed methodological framework. The research’s potential lies in conducting a typological analysis of taxis contextemes in other Germanic languages, applying corpus linguistics methods to identify the discursive features of various types of contextemes, and developing practical applications for German language teaching.
Keywords: deverbatives, taxis, taxis context, primary-taxis context, secondary-taxis context, core components, peripheral components
References:
1. Bondarko A.V. Glagol’nyye kategorii v sisteme funktsional’noy grammatiki [Verb categories in the system of functional grammar]. 2-e izd. Moscow, Yazyki slavyanskoy kul’tury Publ., 2017. 336 p. (in Russian).
2. Bondarko A.V. Kategorizatsiya v sisteme grammatiki [Categorization in the system of grammar]. Moscow, Yazyki slavyanskikh kul’tur Moscow Publ., 2011. 488 p. (in Russian).
3. Bondarko A.V. Obshchaya kharakteristika semantiki i struktury polya taksisa [General characteristics of the semantics and structure of the taxonomy]. Teoriya funktsional’noy grammatiki: vvedeniye, aspektual’nost’, vremennaya lokalizovannost’, taksis [Theory of functional grammar: Introduction, specificity, temporal localization, taxis]. Izd.7-e. Moscow, Lenand Publ., 2017. Pp. 234–242 (in Russian).
4. Arkhipova I.V. Sistemno-yazykovyye i konkretno-rechevyye svyazi v sfere taksisa [System-linguistic and concrete-speech connections in the sphere of taxis]. Neofilologiya – Neophilology, 2023, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 89–96 (in Russian).
5. Arkhipova I.V. Nemetskiye deverbativy: ot taksisnykh funktsiy k ikh aktualizatsii [German deverbatives: from taxis functions to their actualization]. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 9: Filologiya – Moscow University Bulletin. Series 9: Philology, 2023, no. 4, pp. 82–93 (in Russian).
6. Nedyalkov V.P., Otaina T.A. Tipologicheskiye i sopostavitel’nyye aspekty zavisimogo taksisa (na materiale nivkhskogo yazyka v sopostavlenii s russkim) [Typological and comparative aspects of dependent taxation (based on the Nivkh language in comparison with Russian)]. Teoriya funktsional’noy grammatiki: vvedeniye, aspektual’nost’, vremennaya lokalizovannost’, taksis [Theory of functional grammar: Introduction, specificity, temporal localization, taxis]. Izd. 7-e. Moscow, Lenand Publ., 2017. Pp. 296–319 (in Russian).
7. Nedyalkov I.V. Zavisimyy taksis v raznostrukturnykh yazykakh: znacheniya odnovremennosti/predshestvovaniya/sledovaniya [Taxis dependencies in languages with different structures: the meanings of simultaneity/precedence/succession]. Problemy funktsional’noy grammatiki: Semanticheskaya invariantnost’/variativnost’ [Problems of functional grammar: Semantic invariance/variability]. Saint Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 2003. Pp. 156–173 (in Russian).
8. Kudinova N.L. Vzaimodeystviye kategorii taksisa i aspektual’nosti [Interaction between the category of taxis and specificity]. Filologicheskiye nauki. Voprosy teorii i praktiki – Philological sciences. Issues of theory and practice, 2015, no. 10-2 (52), pp. 115–117 (in Russian).
9. Kudinova N.L. Vzaimodeystviye kategorii taksisa i temporal’nosti [The Interaction of the Category of Taxes and Temporality]. Filologicheskiye nauki. Voprosy teorii i praktiki – Philological sciences. Issues of theory and practice, 2014, no. 12–2 (42), pp. 95–98 (in Russian).
10. Kotskova Ya. Nelichnyye formy glagola kak sredstva vyrazheniya taksisa v russkom i cheshskom yazykakh [Non-verbal Forms as Means of Expressing Taxes in the Russian and Czech Languages]. Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. Trudy instituta lingvisticheskikh issledovanii – Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. Proceedings of the Institute of Linguistic Research, 2019, no. 15 (3), pp. 87–110 (in Russian).
11. Ivonina M.Yu. Nefinitnyye glagol’nyye formy kak sposob aktualizatsii taksisa v romanskikh yazykakh [Non-finite verb forms as a way to actualize tax in Romance languages]. Evraziyskiy gumanitarnyy zhurnal – Eurasian Humanitarian Journal, 2024, no. 2, pp. 75–82 (in Russian).
12. Makarov I.M. Prichastiya proshedshego vremeni na -gan kak sredstvo vyrazheniya taksisa (na materiale tatarskogo yazyka) [Past participles in -gan as a means of expressing tax (based on the Tatar language)]. Filologicheskiye nauki. Voprosy teorii i praktiki – Philological Sciences. Issues of Theory and Practice, 2025, no. 2 (18), pp. 460–464 (in Russian).
13. Donchenko E.V. Kategoriya taksisa i analiz aspektual’no-taksisnykh situatsii s atributivnym pridatochnym vo frantsuzskom yazyke [The category of tax and the analysis of special-tax situations with an attributive clause in French]. Gumanitarnyye issledovaniya – Humanitarian studies, 2020, no. 4 (76), pp. 45–51 (in Russian).
14. Nematulloeva M. SSP kak konstituent FSP nezavisimogo taksisa [SSP as a constituent of FSP of an independent taxis]. Uchyonyye zapiski Khudzhandskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta im. akademika B. Gafurova. Gumanitarnyye nauki – Scientific notes of the Khujand State University named after academician B. Gafurov. Humanitarian sciences, 2012, no. 1 (29), pp. 79–85 (in Russian).
15. Nurtazina M.B. Semanticheskiy potentsial taksisa pri realizatsii idei vremeni [Semantic potential of tax in the implementation of the idea of time]. Vestnik Kazakhskogo natsional’nogo universiteta. Seriya filologicheskaya – KazNU Herald. Philology Series, 2010, no. 4-5, pp. 127–129 (in Russian).
16. Orkina L.N. Aspektual’no-temporal’naya kharakteristika vyskazyvaniy s semantikoy obuslovlennosti v sovremennom russkom yazyke. Dis. d-ra filol. nauk [Aspectual-temporal characteristics of utterances with the semantics of conditionality in the modern Russian language. Dis. doc. philol. sci.]. Saint Petersburg, 2000. 389 p. (in Russian).
17. Tirado R.G. O kategorii taksisa v russkom i ispanskom yazykakh [On the category of tax in the Russian and Spanish languages]. Aktual’nyye problemy filologii i pedagogicheskoy lingvistiki – Current Issues in Philology and Pedagogical Linguistics, 2016, no. 1, pp. 90–94 (in Russian).
18. Ursul K.V. Kategoriya taksisa v strukture sovremennogo ispanskogo yazyka [The category of taxis in the structure of the modern Spanish language]. Vestnik universiteta Rossiyskoy akademii obrazovaniya – Bulletin of the University of the Russian Academy of Education, 2015, no. 1, pp. 30–34 (in Russian).
19. Polyanskiy S.M. O kategorii taksisa i putyakh yeyo issledovaniya (Na materiale nemetskogo yazyka) [On the category of taxis and ways of its study (Based on the German language)]. Funktsional’no-semanticheskiye otnosheniya v leksike i grammatike [Functional-semantic relations in vocabulary and grammar]. Mezhvuzovskiy sbornik nauchnykh trudov [Interuniversity collection of scientific papers]. Redkol. C.M. Polyanskii (otv. red.) i dr. Novosibirsk, Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University Publ., 1991. Pp. 3–18 (in Russian).
20. Snigireva O.M. Taksisnyye znacheniya prichastnykh form nemetskogo yazyka [Taxis Meanings of Participial Forms in the German Language [Taxic meanings of participial forms in German]. Vestnik Krasnoyarskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta im. V.P. Astaf’yeva – Bulletin of the Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University named after V.P. Astafiev, 2013, no. 3, pp. 188–191 (in Russian).
( 421.63 kB ) 
( 416.5 kB )
Issue: 3, 2026
Series of issue: Issue 3
Rubric: GERMANIC AND ROMANCE LANGUAGES
Pages: 31 — 40
Downloads: 278