German Composites as Taxis Actualizers

This article describes composites in German as a means of taxis actualization. The object of this study is German complex deverbatives, represented by six different structural models. The research focuses on the functional semantics of complex verbal nouns, as well as on their role as means of actualizing taxis categorical meanings in utterances containing prepositional constructions. The material for the analysis was obtained through targeted sampling from the electronic database of the Leipzig National Corpus of the German Language. The study utilized hypothetico-deductive and inductive methods, a descriptive method, and methods for interpreting and systematizing linguistic data. An analysis of empirical data revealed that complex deverbatives in prepositional-nominal constructions act as actualizers of taxis-based categorical meanings, defining chronological relationships between actions (events, states) expressed by the verb and the deverbative itself. In constructions with temporal prepositions (nach, vor, bis, etc.), complex deverbatives indicate simultaneity, precedence, or succession of events. In sentences with constructions with non-temporal prepositions (concessive, final, etc.), complex deverbatives participate in the actualization of taxis-based meanings with the semantics of logical determinacy – concessive-tactic, final-tactic, etc.