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

0 Svenja Kranich
description which is nearer to the merely physical and is less dependent on wider
circumstances” (König 980: 280), as is evident from the following examples:
(9) A they dooe moste nimbly bestur themselvs
B as if they were dancing the Hey. (=interpretation of A)
(archerii\ 600–49.bre\ 634butl.p0b 43)
( 0) A they wished him success, and prayed for him
B as if he had been going to execution.
(archer\ 750–99.bre\ 778reev.f3)
Obviously, it would not be impossible to use a simple form in these contexts.
However, it seems clear that in PDE the progressive is the preferred form in such
uses (cf. König 980), and this seems to be a trend which is slowly starting in the
period under consideration here.
It is not necessary for two sentences to be present. If there are, the conjunction
as if, as in the two examples above, often supports the interpretative meaning
of the progressive, introducing a comparison which serves to elucidate the
more basic description. But the role of the more basic A-part may also be some
activity in the communicative situation that all participants are immediately aware
of – often, this will be a speech act, as in (3) Nay, now, but don’t you go to think that
I am asking for one, where the speaker rejects an interpretation that she assumes
her interlocutor may have. 8 Such uses generally are not possible with a mere simple
form of the verb. Rather, if a progressive is not chosen, one needs to express
the interpretative function differently, e.g., by lexical choice or by a modal element
(e.g., I wouldn’t ever ask for one).
4. Objective progressives
In order to evaluate the changing distribution of the subjective and objective
meanings of the progressive in the data, it is necessary to relate very briefly which
objective functions were distinguished. The function of the progressive is clearly
a highly controversial topic. The idea that the progressive is a marker of aspect
is, however, widely accepted, although whether it marks the general imperfective
or only the progressive viewpoint is debated (cf. e.g., Hirtle 967; Goosens 994;
Smith 997: 7 – 74). I have found both uses in the data and shall thus differentiate
between the general imperfective (abbreviated ‘Imp.’ in the table) and the
progressive function (abbreviated ‘Progr.’) of the progressive form. The former is
1 . It has thus been noted by Girard (2002) that it is often verbs of saying that occur in this
function in present-day English.