Article published In:
English World-WideVol. 39:3 (2018) ► pp.309–337
The progressive versus non-progressive alternation
A semantic exploration across World Englishes
This corpus-based study focuses on the alternation between progressive and non-progressive constructions in native and non-native varieties. We adopt a quantitative-qualitative approach starting with a collostructional analysis of the two constructions to assess association strengths between lexical verbs, semantic domains and Aktionsart categories on the one hand, and progressive and non-progressive constructions on the other hand. We then explore the constructions semantically and qualitatively. Overall, associations between the two constructions and Achievements and Accomplishments on the one hand, and semantic domains other than Activity or Existence on the other, do not unanimously influence writers’ constructional choices. Further, there may not be one single core meaning of the progressive, but rather a complex of meanings activated by the use of the progressive construction. Ultimately, we paint a multifaceted picture of the meanings of the progressive and show the benefit of combining quantitative and qualitative approaches to explore constructional semantics across Englishes.
Keywords: progressive versus non-progressive, native English, ESL, EFL, distinctive collexeme analysis, semantic domains
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Taking stock of the meaning of the progressive construction
- 3.Methodological approaches to (the semantics of) the progressive
- 4.Data: Annotation and statistical approach
- 4.1Corpora and data extraction
- 4.2Factors and semantic annotation
- 4.3Statistical approach: Distinctive collexeme analysis
- 5.Results
- 5.1Collexeme analyses
- 5.1.1Collexeme analysis: Collexemes for lemma per variety
- 5.1.2Collexeme analysis: Collexemes for semantic domains per variety
- 5.1.3Collexeme analysis: Collexemes for Aktionsart per variety
- 5.1.4A qualitative look at the semantics of progressive marking
- i.Incompleteness
- ii.Temporariness
- iii.Prolonged duration
- 5.1Collexeme analyses
- 6.Discussion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
References
References
Biber, Douglas
2012 “Register as a Predictor of Linguistic Variation”. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory 81: 9–37. 
Biber, Douglas, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad, and Edward Finegan
1999 Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Ltd.
Brinton, Laurel J.
1988 The Development of English Aspectual Systems: Aspectualizers and Post-verbal Particles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Collins, Peter
2008 “The Progressive Aspect in World Englishes: A Corpus-Based Study”. Australian Journal of Linguistics 281: 225–249.
Comrie, Bernard
1976 Aspect: An Introduction to the Study of Verbal Aspect and Related Problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Deshors, Sandra C.
2017 “Zooming in on Verbs in the Progressive: A Collostructional and Correspondence Analysis”. Journal of English Linguistics 451: 260–290.
Dowty, David R.
1979 Word Meaning and Montague Grammar. The Semantics of Verbs and Times in Generative Semantics and in Montague’s PTQ. The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Edwards, Alison
Greenacre, Michael
2007 Correspondence Analysis in Practice, 2nd ed. Boca Raton: Chapman & Hall/CRC.
Greenbaum, Sydney
1991 “The Development of the International Corpus of English
”. In Karin Aijmer, Bengt Alterberg, and Jan Svartvik, eds. English Corpus Linguistics: Studies in Honour of Jan Svartvik. London: Longman, 83–91.
Gries, Stefan Th
2014 Coll.analysis 3.5. A Script for R to Compute Perform Collostructional Analyses.
Gries, Stefan Th., and Tobias Bernaisch
2016 “Exploring Epicentres Empirically: Focus on South Asian Englishes”. English World-Wide 371: 1–25.
Heller, Benedikt, Benedikt Szmrecsanyi, and Jason Grafmiller
2017 “Stability and Fluidity in Syntactic Variation World-Wide: The Genitive Alternation Across Varieties of English”. Journal of English Linguistics 451: 3–27.
Hundt, Marianne, and Katrin Vogel
2011 Overuse of the Progressive in ESL and Learner Englishes – Fact or Fiction? In Joybrato Mukherjee, and Marianne Hundt, eds. Exploring Second-Language Varieties of English and Learner Englishes: Bridging a Paradigm Gap. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 145–165.
Kranich, Svenja
2010 Progressive in Modern English: A Corpus-Based Study of Grammaticalization and Related Changes. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Kruger, Haidee, and Bertus van Rooy
2017 “Editorial Practice and the Progressive in Black South African English”. World Englishes 361: 20–41.
Laitinen, Mikko, and Magnus Levin
2016 “On the Globalization of English: Observations of Subjective Progressives in Present-day Englishes”. In Elena Seoane, and Christina Suárez Gómez, eds. World Englishes: New Theoretical and Methodological Considerations. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 229–252.
Lee, Seung-Ah
2007 “
Ing Forms and the Progressive Puzzle: A Construction-based Approach to English Progressives”. Journal of Linguistics 431: 153–195.
Leech, Geoffrey
1987 Meaning and the English Verb, 2nd ed. London: Longman.
Leech, Geoffrey, Marianne Hundt, Christian Mair, and Nicholas Smith
2009 Change in Contemporary English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Meriläinen, Lea, Heli Paulasto, and Paula Rautionaho
2017 “Extended Uses of the Progressive in Inner, Outer and Expanding Circle Englishes”. In Markku Filppula, Juhani Klemola, Anna Mauranen, and Svetlana Vetchinnikova, eds. Changing English: Global and Local Perspectives. Berlin: De Gruyter, 191–216.
Nesselhauf, Nadja
2007 “The Spread of the Progressive and its ‘Future’ Use”. English Language and Linguistics 111: 191–207.
Paulasto, Heli
2014 “Extended Uses of the Progressive Form in L1 and L2 Englishes”. English World-Wide 351: 247–276.
Quirk, Randolph, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik
1985 A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.
Rautionaho, Paula
2014 Variation in the Progressive: A Corpus-based Study into World Englishes. Tampere: Tampere University Press.
Rautionaho, Paula, and Sandra C. Deshors
2018 “Progressive or not Progressive?: Modeling Constructional Choices in EFL and ESL”. International Journal of Learner Corpus Research. Special Issue on Tense and Aspect in Second Language Acquisition and Learner Corpus Research 4(2): 225–252.
Römer, Ute
2005 Progressives, Patterns, Pedagogy: A Corpus-Driven Approach to English Progressive Forms, Functions, Contexts and Didactics. Philadelphia: Benjamins.
Van Rooy, Bertus
2006 “The Extension of the Progressive Aspect in Black South African English”. World Englishes 251: 37–64.
2014 “Progressive Aspect and Stative Verbs in Outer Circle Varieties”. World Englishes 331: 157–172.
Van Rooy, Bertus, and Caroline Piotrowska
2015 “The Development of an Extended Time Period Meaning of the Progressive in Black South African English”. In Peter Collins, ed. Grammatical Change in English World-Wide. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 465–483.
Schneider, Gerold
2008 Hybrid Long-Distance Functional Dependency Parsing. PhD Dissertation, University of Zurich.
Schneider, Gerold, and Marianne Hundt
2012 “ ‘Off with Their Heads’: Profiling TAM in ICE corpora”. In Marianne Hundt, and Ulrike Gut, eds. Mapping Unity and Diversity World-Wide: Corpus-Based Studies of New Englishes. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 1–34.
Sharma, Devyani
Smith, Carlota S.
1991 The Parameter of Aspect. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Stefanowitsch, Anatol
2006 “Distinctive Collexeme Analysis and Diachrony: A Comment”. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory 21: 257–262.
Stefanowitsch, Anatol, and Stefan Th. Gries
2003 “Collostructions: Investigating the Interaction of Words and Constructions”. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 81: 209–243.
de Swart, Henriëtte
1998 Aspect Shift and Coercion. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 161: 347–385
Vendler, Zeno
1957 Verbs and Times. The Philosophical Review 661: 143–160.
Wulff, Stefanie, Nick C. Ellis, Ute Römer, Kathleen BardoviHarlig, and Chelsea J. Leblanc
2009 “The Acquisition of Tense-Aspect: Converging Evidence from Corpora and Telicity Ratings”. The Modern Language Journal 931: 354–369.
Cited by
Cited by 8 other publications
Chen, Tingting, Lixia Du & Naeem Jan
2022. English Semantic Analysis Algorithm and Application Based on Improved Attention Mechanism Model. Mathematical Problems in Engineering 2022 ► pp. 1 ff. 
Fuchs, Robert & Valentin Werner
2018. The use of stative progressives by school-age learners of English and the importance of the variable context. International Journal of Learner Corpus Research 4:2 ► pp. 195 ff.
Fuchs, Robert & Valentin Werner
2020. The use of stative progressives by school-age learners of English and the importance of the variable context. In Tense and Aspect in Second Language Acquisition and Learner Corpus Research [Benjamins Current Topics, 108], ► pp. 54 ff.
Hundt, Marianne, Paula Rautionaho & Carolin Strobl
2020. Progressive or simple? A corpus-based study of aspect in World Englishes. Corpora 15:1 ► pp. 77 ff.
Rautionaho, Paula
2022. Revisiting the myth of stative progressives in world Englishes. World Englishes 41:2 ► pp. 183 ff.
RAUTIONAHO, PAULA & ROBERT FUCHS
2021. Recent change in stative progressives: a collostructional investigation of British English in 1994 and 2014. English Language and Linguistics 25:1 ► pp. 35 ff.
Rautionaho, Paula & Marianne Hundt
2022. Primed progressives? Predicting aspectual choice in World Englishes. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory 18:3 ► pp. 599 ff.
Wu, Tianqi & Min Wang
2022. Development of the progressive construction in Chinese EFL learners’ written production: From prototypes to marginal members. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory 18:2 ► pp. 307 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 29 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.