SEMANTIC PECULIARITIES OF PROGRESSIVE STRUCTURES IN MODERN GERMAN LANGUAGE

Abstract

The article deals with the syntactic possibilities of expressing the aspect of progressivity in modern German. The author analyzes the most common constructions of the prepositions (and articles) am, beim, im, as well as dabei with substantivized infinitives, which not only denominate the action performed by the agent but also emphasize its duration in temporal space. In addition, the object of scientific interest is also the form of the so-called absentive, an alternative progressive structure, which, in addition to information about duration, also implicates a locative component of themeaning, that indicates the absence of the subject in the moment. The article also describes the classification of semantic classes of verbs involved in the formation of progressive forms by the criteria «durative», «dynamic», «telic», which are crucial in determining the «progressive potential» of the verb and its co-occurrence with the corresponding prepositions. The result is a further consideration of the four verbs classes: activities, accomplishments, achievements, states. In the study, the author also performs a comparative analysis of the listed above constructions, in particular for their potential capability to bild grammatical forms of the passive voice and imperatives, as well as the use of different objects, agentive and non-agentive subjects of action.