Gesamtbedeutung
Encyclopedia
Gesamtbedeutung in linguistics
, is the general meaning of the various uses of a morphological
element. The Gesamtbedeutung of a language's past tense
, for instance, might be conceived as "distance from the present". This meaning might later be generalized to refer to events both temporally distant (e.g. the box was empty) as well as separated in terms of reality or likelihood (e.g. the box might be empty, if the box were empty..., the box could be empty, etc.)
In Japanese
, for example, the tense system has been reduced to a system of "past", "non-past", and "probable", where the latter two tenses share the Gesamtbedeutung of abstraction from the real. The past tense refers to events which are complete and definite, whereas the non-past refers to virtually everything else, including present and future events. The probable tense functions in much the same way as the non-past, but with a stronger sense of separation from the present reality.
For another example, consider the English
word endings "-ing" and "-er". Both share a Gesamtbedeutung of agency
(as opposed to that of patienthood
, represented by such morpheme
s as "-ed" and "-ee"). One who is driving is, by definition, a driver. Though differing in grammatical function, these two morphemes share a common Gesamtbedeutung.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, is the general meaning of the various uses of a morphological
Morphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
element. The Gesamtbedeutung of a language's past tense
Past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future...
, for instance, might be conceived as "distance from the present". This meaning might later be generalized to refer to events both temporally distant (e.g. the box was empty) as well as separated in terms of reality or likelihood (e.g. the box might be empty, if the box were empty..., the box could be empty, etc.)
In Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, for example, the tense system has been reduced to a system of "past", "non-past", and "probable", where the latter two tenses share the Gesamtbedeutung of abstraction from the real. The past tense refers to events which are complete and definite, whereas the non-past refers to virtually everything else, including present and future events. The probable tense functions in much the same way as the non-past, but with a stronger sense of separation from the present reality.
For another example, consider the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
word endings "-ing" and "-er". Both share a Gesamtbedeutung of agency
Agent (grammar)
In linguistics, a grammatical agent is the cause or initiator of an event. Agent is the name of the thematic role...
(as opposed to that of patienthood
Patient (grammar)
In linguistics, a grammatical patient, also called the target or undergoer, is the participant of a situation upon whom an action is carried out. A patient as differentiated from a theme must undergo a change in state. A theme is denoted by a stative verb, where a patient is denoted by a dynamic...
, represented by such morpheme
Morpheme
In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest semantically meaningful unit in a language. The field of study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. A morpheme is not identical to a word, and the principal difference between the two is that a morpheme may or may not stand alone, whereas a word,...
s as "-ed" and "-ee"). One who is driving is, by definition, a driver. Though differing in grammatical function, these two morphemes share a common Gesamtbedeutung.