Präteritumschwund und Diskursgrammatik

This work demonstrates that what is commonly called ‘preterite decay in Upper German’ (PS; cf. German Präteritumschwund ) is in fact a phenomenon common to a great number of European languages, all of which are in areal con-tact. However, the conclusion that this is a phenomenon arising under areal influence appears clearly mistaken — not only so because it would no more than postpone the search for the real trigger of this development. It will be shown, first, that the preterite loss in the lan