The development of an extended time period meaning of the progressive in Black South African English
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Bertus van Rooy
Abstract
This chapter examines the use of the progressive aspect in Black South African English (BSAfE) since the late 19th century in corpora of fiction and newspapers. Previous research points to on-going change in native varieties and the extension to stative contexts in non-native varieties of English. The findings are: There has been a consistent increase in the frequency of the construction. Stative and achievement verbs are used in the progressive aspect proportionally more often in BSAfE than in native varieties. The progressive with stative verbs encodes states of longer duration alongside the meaning of temporary duration which is conventional in native varieties. The functional differences are not a recent or gradual innovation, but are present from the earliest available BSAfE data. Keywords: Black South African English; progressive aspect; stative verbs; duration
Abstract
This chapter examines the use of the progressive aspect in Black South African English (BSAfE) since the late 19th century in corpora of fiction and newspapers. Previous research points to on-going change in native varieties and the extension to stative contexts in non-native varieties of English. The findings are: There has been a consistent increase in the frequency of the construction. Stative and achievement verbs are used in the progressive aspect proportionally more often in BSAfE than in native varieties. The progressive with stative verbs encodes states of longer duration alongside the meaning of temporary duration which is conventional in native varieties. The functional differences are not a recent or gradual innovation, but are present from the earliest available BSAfE data. Keywords: Black South African English; progressive aspect; stative verbs; duration
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
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PART 1. Inner Circle Englishes
- Diachronic variation in the grammar of Australian English 15
- At the crossroads of change 43
- Do -support in early New Zealand and Australian English 65
- The progressive in Irish English 87
- Cross-variety diachronic drifts and ephemeral regional contrasts 119
- Passives of so-called ‘ditransitives’ in nineteenth century and present-day Canadian English 147
- Dual adverbs in Australian English 179
- The evolution of epistemic marking in West Australian English 205
- May and might in nineteenth century Irish English and English English 221
- The present perfect and the preterite in Australian English 247
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PART 2. Outer Circle Englishes
- Recent diachronic change in the progressive in Philippine English 271
- Linguistic change in a multilingual setting 297
- Patterns of regularisation in British, American and Indian English 335
- An apparent time study of the progressive in Nigerian English 373
- American influence on written Caribbean English 389
- Cultural keywords in context 411
- Recent quantitative changes in the use of modals and quasi-modals in the Hong Kong, British and American printed press 437
- The development of an extended time period meaning of the progressive in Black South African English 465
- Index 485
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
PART 1. Inner Circle Englishes
- Diachronic variation in the grammar of Australian English 15
- At the crossroads of change 43
- Do -support in early New Zealand and Australian English 65
- The progressive in Irish English 87
- Cross-variety diachronic drifts and ephemeral regional contrasts 119
- Passives of so-called ‘ditransitives’ in nineteenth century and present-day Canadian English 147
- Dual adverbs in Australian English 179
- The evolution of epistemic marking in West Australian English 205
- May and might in nineteenth century Irish English and English English 221
- The present perfect and the preterite in Australian English 247
-
PART 2. Outer Circle Englishes
- Recent diachronic change in the progressive in Philippine English 271
- Linguistic change in a multilingual setting 297
- Patterns of regularisation in British, American and Indian English 335
- An apparent time study of the progressive in Nigerian English 373
- American influence on written Caribbean English 389
- Cultural keywords in context 411
- Recent quantitative changes in the use of modals and quasi-modals in the Hong Kong, British and American printed press 437
- The development of an extended time period meaning of the progressive in Black South African English 465
- Index 485
