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Aspect Meets Modality: A Semantic Analysis of the German Am-Progressive

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2016

Lynn Anthonissen ,
Astrid De Wit  and
Tanja Mortelmans
Lynn Anthonissen*
Affiliation:
University of Antwerp
Astrid De Wit*
Affiliation:
Université Libre de Bruxelles/University of Antwerp
Tanja Mortelmans*
Affiliation:
University of Antwerp
*
Center for Grammar, Cognition and Typology, University of Antwerp, Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium, [[email protected]]
Université Libre de Bruxelles/University of Antwerp, Campus du Solbosch, CP175, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, 1050, Brussels, Belgium, [[email protected]]
Center for Grammar, Cognition and Typology, University of Antwerp, Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium, [[email protected]]
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Abstract

This paper presents a corpus-based analysis of the semantics of the German am V-inf sein construction, or am-progressive. Like its English counterpart and many other progressive constructions in the world's languages, the am-progressive is shown to convey not only a variety of aspecto-temporal meanings, but also a range of (inter)subjective qualifications, such as intensification, irritation, and evasiveness. These (inter)subjective connotations are argued to reflect the am-progressive's core meaning of epistemic contingency, which we believe is instantiated in all of its uses.*

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Germanic Linguistics , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , March 2016 , pp. 1 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Germanic Linguistics 2016 

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