The article presents an analysis of the periphrastic expression of continuative aspect by taking into account Dutch blijven + Vinf and French continuer à + Vinf. As prototypical marks of continuation, or the middle phase of an event, they will be argued to constitute the core of a formal field of equivalent expressions and of a semantic field intersecting with other meanings, including spatiality, stativity, iteration and counter-expectation. The lack of substantial research into continuative aspect motivates a semasiological approach making use of translation data which, although potentially controversial, will be shown to be a highly effective heuristic for formal and semantic equivalence in linguistic phenomena. A quantitative outset will be combined with qualitative analyses of synchronic data, resulting in an outline of potential pathways of grammaticalization and, potentially, subjectification.
© Mouton de Gruyter – Societas Linguistica Europaea
Articles in the same Issue
- Compositional and constructional reduplication in Kam-Tai languages
- Metaphorical projection, subjectification and English speech act verbs
- The possessive perfect construction in Estonian
- The semantic field of continuation: Periphrastic blijven and continuer à
- The role of age in Austrians' perceptions of the frequency of use and likeability of lexical Teutonisms and Austriacisms
- Typology meets usage: The case of the prohibitive infinitive in Dutch
- A comprehensive account of full-verb inversion in English
- Book reviews
- Acknowledgements
- Conference announcement
- Publications received
- Index to Volume 44
Articles in the same Issue
- Compositional and constructional reduplication in Kam-Tai languages
- Metaphorical projection, subjectification and English speech act verbs
- The possessive perfect construction in Estonian
- The semantic field of continuation: Periphrastic blijven and continuer à
- The role of age in Austrians' perceptions of the frequency of use and likeability of lexical Teutonisms and Austriacisms
- Typology meets usage: The case of the prohibitive infinitive in Dutch
- A comprehensive account of full-verb inversion in English
- Book reviews
- Acknowledgements
- Conference announcement
- Publications received
- Index to Volume 44