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The present paper deals with grammaticalization as a comprehensive model of erosive processes in the history of natural languages, exemplified in German and Brazilian Portuguese. Grammaticalization is conceived of as the reduction of pragmatic versatility, semantic concreteness, syntactic liberty and phonetic substance of linguistic elements. It is subdivided into the processes of lexicalization, which transforms polylexematic into monolexematic elements, and deslexicalization, which reduces lexematic to sublexematic elements. In the middle of these processes stands the lexicon, which is seen as the central stock of linguistic elements. Within the lexicon, the process of grammaticalization continues, from lexical word classes through intermediate classes to grammatical word classes. The lower boundary of the lexicon is a critical threshold, down to which the process of grammaticalization is compensated for by linguistic recycling that leads lexematic elements back into the linguistic circuit, through the formation of new polylexematic units. Beyond this threshold, however, no recycling is possible any more, so that elements which have once lost their lexical character are condemned to disappear in the long run. The different stages of grammaticalization are introduced and illustrated by means of concrete examples, first from Brazilian Portuguese and afterwards from German. ; Der vorliegende Aufsatz behandelt am Beispiel des Deutschen und des brasilianischen Portugiesisch den Prozeß der Grammatikalisierung als ein umfassendes Modell für erosive Vorgänge in der Geschichte natürlicher Sprachen. Grammatikalisierung wird vorgestellt als Abbau der pragmatischen Vielseitigkeit, semantischen Konkretheit, syntaktischen Freiheit und phonetischen Substanz von Sprachelementen. Ihr Gesamtgebiet wird zerlegt in den Prozeß der Lexikalisierung, der polylexematische Elemente in monolexematische überführt, und den der Delexikalisierung, der lexematische Elemente zu sublexematischen reduziert. Im Mittelpunkt dieser Vorgänge steht ...
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