Volume 138, Issue 2

The German am progressive ( am Arbeiten sein ›to be working‹) is a multi-word unit ( at + enclitic definite article + infinitive/verbal noun) expressing progressive meaning. It is the result of a relatively young grammaticalization. This article takes up a constructional perspective and shows that the am progressive must be analyzed as conventionalized pairing of form and meaning and hence as a construction. It will be shown that this partial schematic construction is closely associated with other parallel expressions, i. e. die Stimmung ist am Kochen (›the atmosphere is boiling up‹) or die Verhandlungen sind am Laufen (›the negotiations are being conducted‹) which we can find in contemporary German. While the am progressive takes up its place at the grammatical side of the constructional network, these lexically specified phrases are closer to the lexical pole. The article addresses the question how variable these potential micro constructions are. Since not every verb is equally compatible with the progressive meaning it will additionally be discussed how the verbal semantic affects productivity. In order to empirically attest the variability of the am progressive and its related constructions a corpus study using data from the German Reference Corpus was conducted. By the means of collostructional analyses it will be revealed which verbs are attracted to the am progressive. Furthermore, the data show which kinds of constructions have already been entrenched as new knot in the constructional network. Ich bedanke mich bei Renata Szczepaniak und Melitta Gillmann für die ausgedehnten und hilfreichen Diskussionen über den am -Progressiv sowie bei Fabian Barteld für die methodische Unterstützung. Mein Dank gilt außerdem den zwei anonymen Gutachtern/Gutachterinnen, die den Aufsatz mit ihrer konstruktiven Kritik bereichert haben.

Biblical allusions in the ›Vorauer Alexander‹ are seen as background setting underscoring Alexander’s role in God’s design. This essay will show how these allusions generate paradigmatic structures of equivalence between Alexander and examples from the bible, hence producing contemporaneous effects of similarity and opposition. Regarding Schmid’s theory of non-temporal linking in narration, the analysis of the text brings out a discursive commentary on Alexander. He fails to fit adequately into the equation with Samson. Through the Tyrian woman, a model for reading figurative words in a Christian way, the equivalences give guidance on reading the exchange of symbolic gifts between Darius and Alexander.

New editions of the so-called contaminated manuscripts of the ›Nibelungenlied‹ demand new considerations about the transmission of the text. The article tries to prove that some usual assumptions about the different versions of the epic have to be revised and that new models of the filiation of manuscripts are necessary.