Selected Papers from the Fourteenth International ... - STIBA Malang

Subjective progressives in 7th and 8th century English 4
observed behaviour is commented upon or interpreted by the speaker (cf. Ljung
980: 70f.). Examples of all of these can be found in the period under consideration
here. 6 Examples from the seventeenth and eighteenth century data in ARCHER-2
include:
( ) Ay, ay, you are always suspecting me, when Heaven knows I am
such a poor constant Fool, I never so much as dream of any man
but my own dear Fubby (archerii\ 650–99.bre\ 697pix.d )
Type : Subjective progressives with ALWAYS
(2) If you have a good estate, every covetous rogue is longing
for it. (archerii\ 650–99.bre\ 680otwa.d )
Type 2: Subjective progressives without ALWAYS
(3) HARRY. Why, it is possible you may yet receive a valentine.
SOPHIA. Nay, now, but don’t you go to think that I am asking for one;
(archer\ 750–99.bre\ 792holc.d3)
Type 3: Interpretative progressives
The first two types are evidently old and can already be found in OE. 7 Type 3
seems to be younger: it is sparse in the seventeenth and eighteenth century data from
ARCHER-2, but becomes more common in the nineteenth century, as Smitterberg’s
analysis of data from CONCE shows (cf. Smitterberg 2005: 227–24 ).
. Smitterberg (2005) makes a similar distinction in his treatment of what he terms ‘not-solely
aspectual’ progressives. His criteria for distinguishing these subjective progressives from objective,
aspectual progressives are, however, different from mine as will become apparent in the
following section, particularly in my discussion of type 2. My choice to call these progressives
‘subjective’, rather than ‘not-solely aspectual’ is based on the fact that in a number of cases these
progressives do not carry the aspectual meaning normally associated with the progressive at
all. Particularly in regard to interpretative progressives, type 3, the situation expressed in the
predicate containing the progressive is often perfective, cf. e.g., the present-day example I am
not speaking to you, where the situation cannot possibly be viewed as in progress because then
this sentence could never be truthfully uttered (cf. Ljung 980: 76).
. An example of an OE subjective progressive without ALWAYS was already presented in the
preceding section; a subjective progressive with ALWAYS from OE can be found in the following
instance adduced by Goedsche ( 932: 474): þa gehældan hiene þa apostole Petrus & Johannes,
cwiþ seo boc, þæt he up astode & ongunne hliapettan, mied þæm apostolum in þæt temple eode aa
wæs gongende hleapende & Dryghten herigende, “then the apostles Peter and John healed him,
and the book says that he stood up and began to leap, went with the apostles into the temple,
and was forever going leaping & praising the lord”, where the event of the ‘going leaping’ is very
remarkable, since the person performing it is a leper. Furthermore, the adverb aa must be interpreted
as a hyperbole, not as objectively refering to ‘all the time, at all moments possible’.