Development of the Progressiv Form in Germanic

Curme, George O.

doi:10.2307/457039

Cited by 29 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Faarlund et al 1997: 472). Presumably Germanic present participles were originally adjectival (Curme 1913: 159) or adjectival-verbal hybrids (Mustanoja 1960: 551; Brinton & Traugott 2005: 113, 121). However, they were also used in adverbial-like function in earlier Germanic, as shown in the Old Norse examples in (6) and (7).…”

Section: Background Aims and Organizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The grammaticalization and subjectification of adverbial -ingclauses (converb clauses) in English

Killie¹,

Swan²

2009

English Language and Linguistics

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The present article discusses the development of adverbial -ing clauses, so-called ‘converb clauses’, in English. We argue that Middle English does not have a category of truly subordinate adverbial clauses in -ing, but that such clauses have developed on the basis of semi-coordinate -ing clauses denoting an accompanying circumstance or exemplification/specification. In the course of the Middle English period, such clauses began to be reinterpreted as clauses expressing adverbial relations such as time, condition, cause, purpose, etc. Another likely source of converb clauses is participial relative clauses. We see the development of converb clauses as an instance of grammaticalization, as it involves the development of a grammatical means of expressing a rhetorical function, viz. the ‘Nucleus-Satellite’ relation (Mathiessen & Thompson 1988). This grammaticalization process also involves subjectification, given that the source constructions are propositional, while time and cause clauses have textual and expressive functions/meanings. The grammaticalization process was probably also fed by other participial structures – notably the progressive and the gerund, which were being grammaticalized at the same time – and also nonclausal adverbial structures.

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Section: Background Aims and Organizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The grammaticalization and subjectification of adverbial -ingclauses (converb clauses) in English

Killie¹,

Swan²

2009

English Language and Linguistics

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An analysis of be-passives

Frajzyngier¹

1978

Lingua

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The Development of the English Progressive

Smith

2007

JGL

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Invoking findings from studies on the grammaticization of tense/aspect meanings, I argue that semantic reconstruction of the Present Day English progressive from an often cited Old English construction (beon + PAP) is semantically very unlikely. Instead I argue for a reconstruction of the progressive from a locative construction source of the type, be on hunting. However, as I also show, there is a kind of formal relationship between the present-day English progressive and the OE construction that was encouraged by the prescriptions and proscriptions of the Early Modern English grammarians. Thus, by paying attention to both semantic and formal aspects of the development of the progressive, I provide a clearer picture of its historical reconstruction.

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Development of the Progressiv Form in Germanic

Cited by 29 publications

References 0 publications

The grammaticalization and subjectification of adverbial -ingclauses (converb clauses) in English

The grammaticalization and subjectification of adverbial -ingclauses (converb clauses) in English

An analysis of be-passives

The Development of the English Progressive

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