Subjective progressives in seventeenth and eighteenth century English
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Svenja Kranich
Abstract
The aim of the study is to analyse the subjective uses of the progressive in 17th and 18th century English, i.e., uses of the progressives as expressions of speaker attitude. After an overview of the Old and Middle English meanings of the progressive, I discuss the three different types of subjective progressives found in the 17th and 18th century data from ARCHER-2 (A Representative Corpus of Historical English Registers 2). In this context, I discuss some methodological issues, as formal criteria have proved insufficiently reliable for the distinction of subjective uses (cf. Killie 2004). I then look at the relation between subjective and other meanings of the progressive. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the aspectual function of the progressive grammaticalizes, which leads to changing relative frequencies between subjective and objective uses. The paper ends with some suggestions about general tendencies in the relation between grammaticalization and subjectification and objectification.
Abstract
The aim of the study is to analyse the subjective uses of the progressive in 17th and 18th century English, i.e., uses of the progressives as expressions of speaker attitude. After an overview of the Old and Middle English meanings of the progressive, I discuss the three different types of subjective progressives found in the 17th and 18th century data from ARCHER-2 (A Representative Corpus of Historical English Registers 2). In this context, I discuss some methodological issues, as formal criteria have proved insufficiently reliable for the distinction of subjective uses (cf. Killie 2004). I then look at the relation between subjective and other meanings of the progressive. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the aspectual function of the progressive grammaticalizes, which leads to changing relative frequencies between subjective and objective uses. The paper ends with some suggestions about general tendencies in the relation between grammaticalization and subjectification and objectification.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Introduction ix
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Part I. Old and Middle English
- The balance between syntax and discourse in Old English 3
- The Old English copula weorðan and its replacement in Middle English 23
- Verb types and word order in Old and Middle English non-coordinate and coordinate clauses 49
- From locative to durative to focalized? The English progressive and 'PROG imperfective drift' 69
- Gender assignment in Old English 89
- On the position of the OE quantifier e all and PDE a ll 109
- On the Post-Finite Misagreement phenomenon in Late Middle English 125
- Syntactic dialectal variation in Middle English 141
- Particles as grammaticalized complex predicates 157
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Part II. Early and Late Modern English
- Adverb-marking patterns in Earlier Modern English coordinate constructions 183
- 'Tis he, 'tis she, 'tis me, 'tis – I don't know who … cleft and identificational constructions in 16th to 18th century English plays 203
- Emotion verbs with to -infinitive complements: From specific to general predication 223
- Subjective progressives in seventeenth and eighteenth century English 241
- Index of subjects & terms 257
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Introduction ix
-
Part I. Old and Middle English
- The balance between syntax and discourse in Old English 3
- The Old English copula weorðan and its replacement in Middle English 23
- Verb types and word order in Old and Middle English non-coordinate and coordinate clauses 49
- From locative to durative to focalized? The English progressive and 'PROG imperfective drift' 69
- Gender assignment in Old English 89
- On the position of the OE quantifier e all and PDE a ll 109
- On the Post-Finite Misagreement phenomenon in Late Middle English 125
- Syntactic dialectal variation in Middle English 141
- Particles as grammaticalized complex predicates 157
-
Part II. Early and Late Modern English
- Adverb-marking patterns in Earlier Modern English coordinate constructions 183
- 'Tis he, 'tis she, 'tis me, 'tis – I don't know who … cleft and identificational constructions in 16th to 18th century English plays 203
- Emotion verbs with to -infinitive complements: From specific to general predication 223
- Subjective progressives in seventeenth and eighteenth century English 241
- Index of subjects & terms 257
