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

From locative to durative to focalized?
The English progressive and ‘PROG
imperfective drift’ 1
Kristin Killie
Faculty of Humanities, University of Tromsoe
In the present paper I test the claim of Bertinetto et al. (2000) that the English
progressive has undergone ‘PROG imperfective drift’, originating as a locative
construction, to develop into a durative progressive and subsequently also into a
focalized progressive. I argue that it is doubtful whether the English progressive
has evolved along these lines. While the construction has clearly become much
more focalized, and less durative, there is no evidence of a predominantly
durative stage. Instead, the English progressive shows a variety of functions all
through the period under study, and the durative type is not among the most
frequent types in any one period. As for origins, the many meanings or functions
of the progressive in the earliest records may seem to suggest multiple origins
rather than a single, locative source.
1. Aims and organization
Although a large number of monographs and articles have been written on the
history of the English progressive, the problems surrounding its origins and
semantic development remain unsolved. As for origins, a number of hypotheses
have been proposed. Poppe (2003: 16) sums up the status quo in the following
manner:
Historical linguists seem to have reached no definitive agreement on the origin of the
English progressive, i.e., on the construction which formed the basis for Modern
English ‘be’ plus V-ing. The main candidates are Old English ‘wesan/beon’
plus present participle in -ende, or Old/Middle English ‘be’ plus preposition (later
reduced > a > zero) plus a nominal form in -ing/-ung, or possibly a blend of the
two constructions, with or without further external (Latin, French and Brythonic
Celtic) influences.
1. I thank Åsta Haukås, Tore Nesset, and Toril Swan for reading and commenting on an early
draft of this paper. I also thank two anonymous readers.