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

4 Svenja Kranich
a decrease or loss of subjective meanings, by objectification – but the one seems a
logical consequence of the other. Furthermore, studies of other secondary grammaticalization
processes show similar tendencies (Kranich 2007a). In Kranich
(2007a), the grammaticalization of progressive constructions in the Romance
languages was studied, and a similar tendency could be observed: subjective meanings
are evidenced early on (when the constructions just emerge), but when the
constructions acquire more clearly grammatical functions in secondary grammaticalization,
such meanings get lost or become uncommon. 23 The reason behind
such a general tendency is quite clear: in the course of secondary grammaticalization
processes, elements or constructions acquire more fixed, more grammatical
meanings, eventually often acquiring obligatory status. In these obligatory uses,
they can be expected to lose the ability of expressing speaker attitude, thus overall
tending toward the more objective as they become more grammatical.
Source of data
ARCHER-2, A Representative Corpus of Historical English Registers 2. 990– 993/2002. Compiled
under the supervision of Douglas Biber and Edward Finegan at Northern Arizona University,
University of Southern California, University of Freiburg, University of Helsinki,
Uppsala University and University of Heidelberg.
References
Arnaud, René. 983. On the progress of the progressive in the private correspondence of famous
British People ( 800– 880). Papers from the Second Scandinavian Symposium on Syntactic
Variation ed. by Sven Jacobson, 83–94. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.
Arnaud, René. 998. The development of the progressive in 9th century English: A quantitative
survey. Language Variation and Change 0: 23– 52.
Biber, Douglas. 988. Variation across speech and writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Biber, Douglas Edward Finegan. 989. Drift and the Evolution of English Style: A History of
three genres. Language 65: 487–5 7.
Buyssens, Eric. 968. Les deux aspectifs de la conjugaison anglaise au XXe siècle. Étude de
l’expression de l’aspect. Bruxelles: Presses Universitaires de Bruxelles.
Bybee, Joan, Revere Perkins and William Pagliuca. 994. The Evolution of Grammar. Tense, Aspect
and Modality in the Languages of the World. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
3. The focus of Kranich (2007a) was on the Romance progressives, but future expressions and
perfects were also briefly touched upon. Cross-linguistic comparison of more and less grammaticalized
expressions of such grams indicated a similar direction of change. These will be
promising candidates for further investigation.