Selected Papers from the Fourteenth International ... - STIBA Malang
Selected Papers from the Fourteenth International ... - STIBA Malang
Selected Papers from the Fourteenth International ... - STIBA Malang
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The English progressive 85<br />
If we assume that <strong>the</strong> ‘attitude-focussed’ uses of <strong>the</strong> progressive go back to <strong>the</strong><br />
beon/wesan + Vende construction, this accords well with <strong>the</strong> fact that narrative<br />
and stative progressives are so well represented in <strong>the</strong> Old English data, i.e., in <strong>the</strong><br />
period when <strong>the</strong> beon/wesan + Vende periphrasis was prevalent.<br />
It may seem, <strong>the</strong>n, that <strong>the</strong> English progressive has not undergone PROG<br />
imperfective drift, at least not on <strong>the</strong> above definition of <strong>the</strong> phenomenon. However,<br />
Bertinetto et al. present an alternative version of PROG imperfective drift as<br />
well. Their secondary hypo<strong>the</strong>sis is expressed in <strong>the</strong>ir discussion of <strong>the</strong> following<br />
well-known sentence <strong>from</strong> Old English:<br />
(18) Sume syndan creopende on eorða mid eallum lichoman, swa swa<br />
some are creeping on <strong>the</strong> earth with all body such as<br />
wurmas doð. Sume gað on twam fotum, sume on feower fotum, sume<br />
worms do some walk on two feet some on four feet some<br />
fleoð mid fyðerum.<br />
fly with wings<br />
“some creep on <strong>the</strong> earth with <strong>the</strong>ir whole body, just as worms do. Some walk<br />
on two feet, some on four feet, some fly with wings”<br />
(Ælfric’s Lives of Saints, I, 11.52–55)<br />
This sentence is given a peculiar treatment by Bertinetto et al. The whole idea<br />
that <strong>the</strong> English progressive was originally locative seems to rest on this very sentence<br />
as it is <strong>the</strong> only example <strong>the</strong>y give <strong>from</strong> Old English. Then later on – in a<br />
footnote! – it is admitted that <strong>the</strong> relevant sentence is in fact a dubious example of<br />
a locative construction and <strong>the</strong>refore throws doubt on <strong>the</strong> hypo<strong>the</strong>sis in Fig. 1. The<br />
relevant passage is given below:<br />
Note, however, that <strong>the</strong> permanent stative (or individual-level) interpretation<br />
of example (25b) [my example 18, KK] presupposes an equative, ra<strong>the</strong>r than<br />
a locative meaning of <strong>the</strong> copula. Thus, <strong>the</strong>re are grounds to believe that <strong>the</strong>re<br />
are in fact two possible sources for progressive periphrases, incorporating an existential-locative<br />
meaning or an existential-equative meaning respectively, with<br />
<strong>the</strong> latter converging with <strong>the</strong> former at some stage.<br />
Ano<strong>the</strong>r hypo<strong>the</strong>sis that one could plausibly put forth is that stage (i) constitutes<br />
an entirely independent evolutionary path. Accordingly, one could suppose<br />
that <strong>the</strong> periphrases of stage (ii) exploited an already existing morphosyntactic<br />
structure, which had become available for a different usage. However, this hypo<strong>the</strong>sis<br />
is weakened by <strong>the</strong> fact that <strong>the</strong> same development has made its appearance<br />
in two fairly heterogeneous languages, Latin and Old English.<br />
(Bertinetto et al. 2000: 553, note 16)<br />
The last sentence of this paragraph is an odd statement given that <strong>the</strong> reason<br />
why Bertinetto et al. offer an alternative hypo<strong>the</strong>sis in <strong>the</strong> first place is precisely <strong>the</strong><br />
fact that <strong>the</strong>ir original hypo<strong>the</strong>sis did not seem to be borne out by <strong>the</strong> English data.