Towards a constructional analysis of the progressive aspect in Texas German
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Margaret Blevins
Abstract
This paper provides a constructional analysis of progressive aspect in Texas German (TxG) in present, indicative, active, non-negative sentences. TxG speakers used the present tense (progressive), am-progressive, tun-progressive, and the adverb jetzt to translate English sentences containing the present tense progressive be + -ing into TxG. This paper compares translation elicitation data from TxG speakers from Gillespie County from Gilbert’s (1972) Linguistic Atlas of Texas German, Guion (1996), and the present-day Texas German Dialect Project. It demonstrates that there is still a range of constructions available to TxGs to express progressivity, with the present tense being the most commonly used construction, followed by the temporal adverb jetzt (38%), the am-progressive (7%), and the tun-progressive (4%).
Abstract
This paper provides a constructional analysis of progressive aspect in Texas German (TxG) in present, indicative, active, non-negative sentences. TxG speakers used the present tense (progressive), am-progressive, tun-progressive, and the adverb jetzt to translate English sentences containing the present tense progressive be + -ing into TxG. This paper compares translation elicitation data from TxG speakers from Gillespie County from Gilbert’s (1972) Linguistic Atlas of Texas German, Guion (1996), and the present-day Texas German Dialect Project. It demonstrates that there is still a range of constructions available to TxGs to express progressivity, with the present tense being the most commonly used construction, followed by the temporal adverb jetzt (38%), the am-progressive (7%), and the tun-progressive (4%).
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface 1
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Part I. Constructions in contact
- Construction Grammar and language contact 5
- Grammar is community-specific 37
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Part II. Constructional variation and change in contact
- Towards a constructional analysis of the progressive aspect in Texas German 73
- Tense and aspect marking in (Low) German perfect constructions based on variety contact 115
- Distributional assimilation in constructional semantics 143
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Part III. Item-based patterns and constructional generalizations in contact
- Constructions as cross-linguistic generalizations over instances 181
- Texas German and English word order constructions in contact 211
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Part IV. Semantic frames in contact
- A constructional account of the modal particle ‘ja’ in Texas German 253
- Frames change in language contact environments 277
- Author index 311
- Index of constructions 313
- Subject index 315
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface 1
-
Part I. Constructions in contact
- Construction Grammar and language contact 5
- Grammar is community-specific 37
-
Part II. Constructional variation and change in contact
- Towards a constructional analysis of the progressive aspect in Texas German 73
- Tense and aspect marking in (Low) German perfect constructions based on variety contact 115
- Distributional assimilation in constructional semantics 143
-
Part III. Item-based patterns and constructional generalizations in contact
- Constructions as cross-linguistic generalizations over instances 181
- Texas German and English word order constructions in contact 211
-
Part IV. Semantic frames in contact
- A constructional account of the modal particle ‘ja’ in Texas German 253
- Frames change in language contact environments 277
- Author index 311
- Index of constructions 313
- Subject index 315
