Lexeme Mein- Part-of-Speech Appurtenance in the Modern German Grammar in the Framework of Optimality Theory

Abstract

This paper focuses on the determination of the part-of-speech appurtenance of MEIN-lexeme concerning the Optimality Theory. The aim of the analysis is also to find the solution to the problem in the frame of a new course of formal research which appeared in the beginning of 90-s years of the 20-th century (the Optimality Theory) by using its methodological terms. The following working hypothesis was made: MEIN belongs to an article class. The constraints were formulated on the basis of main article characteristics presented in various German grammars. According to multifunctional nature of a lexeme, the constraints combine morphological, syntactic and semantic features: an article can't be the head of a noun phrase, it agrees with a noun in case, gender and number, has no lexical meaning, affects the inflection of the adjective in the attributive position, doesn't coordinate with other articles, has the function of determination, can be moved into an A-position only as a part of noun phrase. The results are made in the form of tables that present the process of harmony-evaluation and the final optimal candidate. The results of the study show that MEIN-lexeme belongs to an article class. It is equally important that the methodological tools of the Optimality Theory could be extended for research in the sphere of morphology and semantics.