Expressivity in German

Abstract This chapter provides an overview of expressive phenomena in German. There have been a lot of relevant publications on expressivity and German; this chapter deals with a selection of them. It focuses on expressivity in the nominal domain (in the form of expressive adjectives, which show argument extension, and epithets, which do not) and expressive intensification in the degree domain (expressive intensifiers and the external degree modification). Expressive predication (including expressive vocatives) and the expressive aspects of pronouns in German (politeness/honorification, the ethical dative, as well as gender features) are discussed, before the chapter turns to further aspects of expressivity in German (including modal particles, expressive subordinate clauses, and expressive word formation). The chapter mostly concentrates on the description of the grammatical and semantic properties of these phenomena, but also hints at short characterizations of possible analyses and points the reader towards the relevant literature.