Abstract

The current article aims at an adequate description and a plausible explanation of the inflecting and non-inflecting behavior of substantives in modern German. The concept of the (in)finite substantive forms the theoretical framework of the study. Typological and language-historical arguments are brought forward which support the theory that the form of the respective gender realization motivates the form of the respective case realization. Since the realization of gender is periphrastic in the singular and synthetic in the plural, the realization of case is respectively also periphrastic and synthetic. The argumentation calls for, among other things, a new approach to gender. It is assumed that the categorization of gender is not limited to the singular, but rather also extends to the plural. The system of plural marking – with the exception of the s-plural – constitutes a synthetic gender marking system. Thus, the gender system of modern German consists of systematic relations between periphrastic “target genders” in the singular and synthetic “controller genders” in the plural.