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 81<br />
form is probably to draw attention to one specific verb phrase, making it stand<br />
out <strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong> surrounding verb phrases. Such uses may <strong>the</strong>refore be characterized<br />
as emphatic. As shown in Table 2, narrative progressives are quite common in Old<br />
English, while <strong>the</strong>y represent a peripheral phenomenon in more recent periods.<br />
Table 2 shows that <strong>the</strong> increase in <strong>the</strong> category ‘o<strong>the</strong>r’ in Middle English is<br />
due to a rise in <strong>the</strong> proportion of ‘stative progressives’. Stative progressives, as <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
name implies, do not involve dynamic situations at all, but refer to facts or unchanging<br />
relations such as belonging, feelings, eternal truths, habits, etc. Also in this use,<br />
<strong>the</strong> progressive most probably provides emphasis. Examples of stative progressives<br />
are given in (12) and (13).<br />
(12) & ymbutan þone weall is se mæsta dic, on þæm is iernende<br />
and around that wall is <strong>the</strong> greatest ditch in which is running<br />
se ungefoglecesta stream<br />
<strong>the</strong> most enormous river<br />
“and around that wall is <strong>the</strong> greatest ditch, in which <strong>the</strong> most enormous river<br />
runs” (Alfred’s Orosius; HCO2)<br />
(13) Arestotill sais þat þe bees are feghtande agaynes hym þat will<br />
Aristotle says that <strong>the</strong> bees are fighting against him that will<br />
drawe þaire hony fra thaym.<br />
steal <strong>the</strong>ir honey <strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong>m<br />
“Aristotle says that bees fight against those who try to steal <strong>the</strong>ir honey <strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong>m.”<br />
(The bee and <strong>the</strong> stork; HCM4)<br />
More than half of <strong>the</strong> Middle English progressives in <strong>the</strong> Helsinki Corpus are<br />
of <strong>the</strong> stative type. This fact sets <strong>the</strong> Middle English period off <strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r periods.<br />
There is a corresponding difference between <strong>the</strong> verb types or meanings<br />
found in <strong>the</strong> progressive in this subcorpus, and <strong>the</strong> verb types found in <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
subcorpora, in <strong>the</strong> sense that certain ‘stative meanings’ are particularly well represented<br />
in <strong>the</strong> Middle English subcorpus. In particular, <strong>the</strong> most frequent verbs<br />
are those with meanings such as “live, remain” (viz. wunien, eardien): seventeen<br />
of <strong>the</strong> eighty-eight occurrences, viz. nineteen percent, involve <strong>the</strong>se verbs. 11 The<br />
next most frequent verb is also a highly stative verb, viz. ʓeornen “yearn, desire”.<br />
This verb occurs six times in <strong>the</strong> data, constituting approximately seven percent<br />
of <strong>the</strong> Middle English tokens. Thus, wunien, eardien and ʓeornen alone make up<br />
one fourth of <strong>the</strong> Middle English uses. By comparison, only eight percent (twenty<br />
tokens) of <strong>the</strong> Old English progressives involve “live, remain” verbs, while “yearn”<br />
is not represented at all. Some examples of “yearn, desire” and “live, remain” progressives<br />
<strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong> Middle English corpus are given in (14)–(16).<br />
11. Live is, of course, not infrequent in <strong>the</strong> progressive in Present-day English. However<br />
progressive live does not normally refer to a permanent situation in Present-day English, as it<br />
does in earlier English.