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Extended uses of the progressive form in Inner, Outer and Expanding Circle Englishes

  • Lea Meriläinen , Heli Paulasto and Paula Rautionaho
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Changing English
This chapter is in the book Changing English

Abstract

This article examines extended uses of the progressive form (PF), especially the stative and habitual functions, across Inner, Outer and Expanding Circle Englishes. Extended use of PF has been observed in numerous L1 and L2 varieties, and it is often characterized as an angloversal (i.e, a shared nonstandard feature) found in Englishes worldwide. Although this feature is sometimes explained with factors relating to second language acquisition (SLA) and teaching in the context of L2 varieties, it has been less examined in English used by foreign language learners. Some recent studies have compared non-standard uses of PF across a range of English as a native language (ENL), English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) varieties, but there is, thus far, no systematic description of the semantically extended (esp. habitual and stative) uses of PF in a large sample of Englishes. In the present study, the functional variation of PF is examined in a large number of Englishes representing ENL, ESL and EFL, taking into consideration the fact that the functional variation is linked to the ongoing general increase of the construction over the past few centuries. The results reveal considerable variation in terms of the frequency and functions of PF between the corpora. The factors which primarily account for extended use of PF are the type of English (ENL, ESL, EFL), the substrate language or the learners’ L1, and in the case of EFL data, the learners’ proficiency level. The present results do not lend support for the angloversality of extended PF use as a general learner language feature.

Abstract

This article examines extended uses of the progressive form (PF), especially the stative and habitual functions, across Inner, Outer and Expanding Circle Englishes. Extended use of PF has been observed in numerous L1 and L2 varieties, and it is often characterized as an angloversal (i.e, a shared nonstandard feature) found in Englishes worldwide. Although this feature is sometimes explained with factors relating to second language acquisition (SLA) and teaching in the context of L2 varieties, it has been less examined in English used by foreign language learners. Some recent studies have compared non-standard uses of PF across a range of English as a native language (ENL), English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) varieties, but there is, thus far, no systematic description of the semantically extended (esp. habitual and stative) uses of PF in a large sample of Englishes. In the present study, the functional variation of PF is examined in a large number of Englishes representing ENL, ESL and EFL, taking into consideration the fact that the functional variation is linked to the ongoing general increase of the construction over the past few centuries. The results reveal considerable variation in terms of the frequency and functions of PF between the corpora. The factors which primarily account for extended use of PF are the type of English (ENL, ESL, EFL), the substrate language or the learners’ L1, and in the case of EFL data, the learners’ proficiency level. The present results do not lend support for the angloversality of extended PF use as a general learner language feature.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of abbreviations vii
  4. Changing English: global and local perspectives xi
  5. I. Towards the study of Global English
  6. Editors’ Introduction to Part I 3
  7. Crisis of the “Outer Circle”? – Globalisation, the weak nation state, and the need for new taxonomies in World Englishes research 5
  8. The Ecology of Language and the New Englishes: toward an integrative framework 25
  9. II. Ongoing changes in Englishes around the globe
  10. Editors’ Introduction to Part II 59
  11. The Present Perfect as a core feature of World Englishes 63
  12. Innovative structures in the relative clauses of indigenized L2 Asian English varieties 89
  13. Morphosyntactic typology, contact and variation: Cape Flats English in relation to other South African Englishes in the Mouton World Atlas of Variation in English 109
  14. Omission of direct objects in New Englishes 129
  15. The definite article in World Englishes 155
  16. Aspects of Verb Complementation in New Zealand Newspaper English 169
  17. Extended uses of the progressive form in Inner, Outer and Expanding Circle Englishes 191
  18. III. Expanding the horizons: lingua franca, cognitive, and contact-linguistic perspectives
  19. Editors’ Introduction to Part III 219
  20. A glimpse of ELF 223
  21. Lending bureaucracy voice: negotiating English in institutional encounters 255
  22. On the relationship between the cognitive and the communal: a complex systems perspective 277
  23. Transfer is Transfer; Grammaticalization is Grammaticalization 311
  24. Subject index 331
  25. Languages and Varieties index 340
  26. Author Index 343
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110429657-011

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of abbreviations vii
  4. Changing English: global and local perspectives xi
  5. I. Towards the study of Global English
  6. Editors’ Introduction to Part I 3
  7. Crisis of the “Outer Circle”? – Globalisation, the weak nation state, and the need for new taxonomies in World Englishes research 5
  8. The Ecology of Language and the New Englishes: toward an integrative framework 25
  9. II. Ongoing changes in Englishes around the globe
  10. Editors’ Introduction to Part II 59
  11. The Present Perfect as a core feature of World Englishes 63
  12. Innovative structures in the relative clauses of indigenized L2 Asian English varieties 89
  13. Morphosyntactic typology, contact and variation: Cape Flats English in relation to other South African Englishes in the Mouton World Atlas of Variation in English 109
  14. Omission of direct objects in New Englishes 129
  15. The definite article in World Englishes 155
  16. Aspects of Verb Complementation in New Zealand Newspaper English 169
  17. Extended uses of the progressive form in Inner, Outer and Expanding Circle Englishes 191
  18. III. Expanding the horizons: lingua franca, cognitive, and contact-linguistic perspectives
  19. Editors’ Introduction to Part III 219
  20. A glimpse of ELF 223
  21. Lending bureaucracy voice: negotiating English in institutional encounters 255
  22. On the relationship between the cognitive and the communal: a complex systems perspective 277
  23. Transfer is Transfer; Grammaticalization is Grammaticalization 311
  24. Subject index 331
  25. Languages and Varieties index 340
  26. Author Index 343
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