132133How to Get into Containers
Fabian Fleißner · 2025
Semantic changes of lexical verbs and within multi-word expressions remains a relatively unexplored domain in historical semantics in contrast to studies on grammaticalization.This paper deals with the diachronic development of the syntactic pattern [in 'in' N kommen 'come'].The most prominent debate within this context revolves around different light verb constructions of the pattern [P N V] which have received much attention in recent literature (see Fleischhauer and Hartmann 2021).Particular attention was given to the semantic content of the verb kommen and a presumed desemanticization process.By introducing a German 'Come to mind' construction I will demonstrate that the general development of the structure cannot be uniformly described.Instead, I propose a comprehensive semantic and cognitive viewpoint to explore the evolution of [in N kommen], which suggests that the emergence of individual constructions depends on the application of several metaphorical schemas that were conventionalized at different points in time.