Abstract

This paper deals with morphosyntactic differences between proper names and common nouns in German, focusing on the realization of case and the syntax of adnominal genitives. Reviewing the historical development of the relevant contrasts, it is argued that the deviating behavior of proper names should not be taken to reflect a difference in syntactic category (D vs. N). Instead, it is proposed that the synchronic differences between proper names and common nouns can be attributed to a change in which the genitive case suffix -s of (prenominal) proper names has been reanalyzed as a clitic possessive marker located in D0. This approach predicts the development of new possessor constructions in German similar to the English group genitive, which seems to be borne out by the facts.