Los German verbs suffixed in «-ier-»: a study based on a literary corpus

Abstract

This paper deals with word formation and Applied Linguistics, as far as Corpus Linguistics is concerned. Features and functions of verbs with the suffix -ier will be traced in a literary corpus. An in-depth study of the following aspects is proposed: the origin and evolution of this suffix and its variants will be determined, the features and functions of this suffix will be described, based upon the available bibliography about word formation, and an analysis of the frequency of appearance and use of -ier within a corpus of five literary works from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries will be made. First of all, a theoretical framework is set up regarding the morphological, semantic and syntactic features of these types of verbs. Secondly, the empirical work will be carried out through a corpus analysis based on that theoretical framework. Finally, the frequency of appearance of such verbs in our corpus will be analysed. The final hypothesis will show that the functions and behavioural patterns of this type of verbs are diverse, but they do not differ very much from those described in the available literature