the progressive in english

The PROGRESSIVE in

ENGLISH (I)

Lecture 5 (part II)

Organization

1. The core value of the PROGRESSIVE

2. The progressive: previous approaches

3. The progressive and situation-type aspect

Starting point...

in order to understand the meaning of

“progressive” verbal constructions we should

first understand what the progressive choice

actually means, i.e. the basic meaning of the

progressive, and the way in which it interacts

with situation-type aspect.

The core meaning of the

progressive

The progressive

(1) a. I enjoy the seaside.

b. I’m enjoying the seaside.

(2) a. My car drives smoothly.

b. My car is driving smoothly today.

temporariness

The progressive

(3) a. I raise my arm.

b. I am raising my arm.

(4) a. The house falls.

b. The house is falling.

Gradual change

(limited)

duration

The progressive

(5) a. The bus stops!

b. The bus is stopping.

(6) The plane is landing.

+

incompleteness

The progressive

CORE value = temporary incomplete

happening (ET) that holds (at least) at RT

ET at (least at) RT

The Progressive

+ dynamism

+ gradual change

+ temporariness

+ incompleteness

+ indeterminacy

Some ...”progressive” flavour

(7) I am understanding everything without reading the subtitles.

(8) I am hating this LEC lecture!

(9) Your glass is standing on my chair.

(10) This cake is looking done.

(11) John has been finding lice in his hair for weeks now.

(12) If we choose to place the dividing line between the two at

the county line, then we are basing our decision on social

rather than linguistic facts.

The Progressive in English

Previous accounts

The Progressive

Otto Jespersen (1932) - A Modern English

Grammar on Historical Principles

David Dowty (1979) – Word Meaning and

Montague Grammar

Susan Kearns (1991) – The Semantics of the

English Progressive

Jespersen (1932)

He was hunting.

“The hunting is felt to be a kind of frame round

something else; it is represented as lasting some

time before and possibly (or probably) also some

time after something else, which may or may not

be expressly indicated, but which is always in the

mind of the speaker.”

Jespersen (1932)

< ”the phrase he was on hunting , which meant

‘he was in the course of hunting, engaged in

hunting, busy with hunting’; he was, as it

were, in the middle of something [...], denoted

by the substantive hunting.”

Jespersen (1932)

= the progressive represents an event as a

TEMPORAL FRAME around some other event

or some other moment in time:

(13) a. John was making coffee when Bill arrived.

b. John was making coffee at 3.00.

c. John is making coffee now.

Jespersen (1932)

The “progressive” event is presented as

temporally framing the time denoted by the

time adverbial

the framed time must be specific/”anchored”

Jespersen (1932)

(14) John was making coffee at 3 o’clock.

= the framed time is denoted by the time adverbial

(15) Mary is making coffee. = the framed time is RT=ST

(16) Every time I went in there they were watching TV.

Jespersen (1932)

(17)

a. John was playing the piano from ten to

eleven.

b. John played the piano from ten to eleven.

“from ten to eleven” = the whole duration in

(a) but not in (b)

Jespersen (1932)

the progressive does not always have a

framing effect

< the time interval denoted by the time

adverbial is not shorter than the time of the

situation denoted by the progressive

predicate

Jespersen (1932)

(18) The child was sleeping when I was cooking.

She was reading this morning.

ET does not frame the RT

ET and RT coincide

Jespersen (1932)

“The hunting is felt to be a kind of frame round

something else; it is represented as lasting some time

before and possibly (or probably) also some

time after something else, which may or may not

be expressly indicated, but which is always in the mind of

the speaker.”

the event begins before RT and continues

after RT

Jespersen (1932)

BUT:

(19) John was sleeping when the clock woke

him.

Dowty (1979)

The progressive: aspect and modality

(20)

a. John was running John ran.

b. She was singing she ran

c. It was raining it rained

Atelic predicate + PROG


(21) John is drawing a circle.

does not entail “John has drawn a circle”

draw a circle = [+telic]


the imperfective paradox

= a puzzle concerning the existence of an

entailment from a progressive to the

corresponding simple past sentence for atelic

predicates, and the lack of such an

entailment for telic predicates.


entailment: a relation between propositions

propositions: the meaning of declarative sentences

(true/false)

A entails B = if A is true then B must also be true


the existence of a circle is a possible outcome

of John's activity.

possibility = modality

= PROG relates an incomplete event in the

actual world to a complete version of that event

in some possible world


the progressive is not simply a temporal-

aspectual operator but a kind of temporal-

aspectual-modal operator, i.e. its meaning

has a major modal component

the progressive possible outcomes

The PROGRESSIVE in

ENGLISH (II)

Lecture 6

So far...

the progressive choice

= focus on the internal stages of durative situations/ dynamism

= incompleteness

= limited duration

= indeterminacy

So far...

Previous approaches to the progressive:

(i) the temporal frame analysis: the progressive

represents an event as a temporal frame around

an RT (Jespersen 1932)

(i) the progressive has a modal value (Dowty 1979)


John is drawing a circle.

the existence of a circle is a possible outcome

of John's activity.

possibility = modality

= PROG relates an incomplete event in the

actual world to a complete version of that event

in some possible world

Today

Kearns (1991)

The progressive and situation-type aspect


the progressive is not simply a temporal-

aspectual operator but a kind of temporal-

aspectual-modal operator, i.e. its meaning

has a major modal component

the progressive possible outcomes

Kearns (1991)

the most important contribution of the

progressive to the temporal meaning of a

sentence is that it locates the reported

event at or around RT

< John was crossing the street when a car hit him.

< John was sleeping when some terrible noise woke him.

The progressive

Our analysis:

< Kearns (1991): PROG: ET at/around RT

< modal value (Dowty 1979): possible outcomes

The progressive: so far

(22) We are discussing the core value of the

progressive .

ST= NOW

RT=ST (Present Tense)

ET at/around RT (progressive viewpoint)

ET at/around ST ( a situation in progress at ST)


(23) We were discussing the core value of the

progressive at the time.

ST= NOW

RT prior to ST (Past Tense)

ET at/around RT (progressive)

ET before ST (past situation)


(24) We will be discussing the core value of the

progressive at 10.00 next Friday.

ST= NOW

RT after ST (Future Tense)

ET at/around RT (progressive)

ET after ST (future situation)


PROGR:

non-deictic

its meaning is not anchored into ST Present progressive

Past progressive

Future progressive The value of the PROG

remains the same (ET

at (least at) /around

RT) irrespective of the

relation ST/RT (i.e.

Tense)

The Progressive

The progressive and situation-type

The progressive

PROG = [+dynamic], [+gradual change]

the predicates are interpreted as processes

States = [-dynamic]

They usually resist the progressive.

The Progressive

(25) a. * John is liking beer.

b. * Mary is being slim.

c. * Most students are being interested in

linguistics.

d. * My brother is knowing how to repair

cars.

The Progressive

(26) a. Your friend is really liking the party.

b. Amy is enjoying the concert.

c. Nowadays the children are wanting us to bring

them toys.

d. You are being rude today!

states which can be

interpreted as

EPISODIC/temporary can

appear in the progressive

The Progressive

BUT:

(27) Er…why are you calling that owl Pig? Harry

asked Ross. Because he’s being stupid, said

Ginny. Its proper name is Pig Widgeon.

The Progressive

(i) Do all state predicates allow the progressive?

(ii) How does the progressive affect the meaning of a

state predicate?

The Progressive

(i) sit, stand, lie, hang, rest

= verbs of position & location

The Progressive

(28)

a. The church stands at the top of the hill.

b. The box is standing in the middle of the room.

c. John is standing on the podium.

The Progressive

(29)

a. The village lies on a small river.

b. Your socks are lying under the bed.

c. The children are lying on the beach.

stand, sit, lie : at the boundary between states and

activities. When denoting permanent states, they resist the

progressive; when applying to temporary situations, they

allow the progressive.

The Progressive

(30)

a. The glass is sitting near the edge of the table.

b. Her book is lying in the grass.

c. The box is standing on end.

d. One corner of the piano is resting on the bottom

step.

Focus on an

interval that

follows a

change of state

The Progressive

[- Animate] subject

No agency

No movement

Not a process

The Progressive

This kind of progressive :

semantic and pragmatic restrictions !

The Progressive

(31)

New Orleans lies at the mouth of the Mississippi

River.

vs.

??New Orleans is lying at the mouth of the

Mississippi River.

The Progressive

(32)

John’s house sits at the top of a hill.

vs.

??John’s house is sitting at the top of a hill.

The Progressive

(33)

That argument rests on an invalid assumption.

vs.

??That argument is resting on an invalid assumption.

The Progressive

“ [..] the progressive is acceptable with these verbs

just to the degree that the subject denotes a

moveable object, or to be more exact, an object that

has recently moved, might be expected to move in

the near future, or might possibly have moved in a

slightly different situation.” (Dowty 1979)

The Progressive

(34)

a. ?? Two trees were standing in the field.

b. After the forest fire, only two trees were still

standing.

The Progressive

(35)

When you enter the gate to the park there will be a

statue standing on your right, and a small pond

will be lying directly in front of you.

Stationary objects that

momentarily come into

the observer’s view

The Progressive

(36)

a. We reached the knoll and the peak was standing

majestically above the glacier.

b. When he got there, a wonderful castle was standing

in the middle of the forest!!!

The Progressive

”the limited duration feature reflects the narrator’s

experience of the situation, rather than the objective

state itself.”

The Progressive

(ii) flow, run, enter

motion verbs which can be used as locatives

The Progressive

(37)

a. The river flows through the center of the town.

b. (?) The river is flowing through the center of the

town.

A flood in

progress

The Progressive

(38)

a. The highway runs past the farm.

b. ? The highway is running past the farm.

focus on the internal

stages of durative

situations/ dynamism

= A highway planned or

under construction

The Progressive

(iii) Psychological statives:

know, guess, believe, think, imagine, suppose,

understand, hope, see, hear, smell, taste

love, hate, adore, like, dislike, want, desire

individual-level

predicates

The Progressive

(39) I loathe this author.

I am loathing this book.

(40) I hate reorganisations.

I am hating all these reorganisations in

the office.

The Progressive

(41)

a. I’m finally seeing London with my own eyes!

b. I can’t believe I’m hearing this!

c. I’m hearing you clearly.

+temporariness

+ conscious

experience

The Progressive

Temporary episodes which are presented as

consciously experienced and the emotional state

coincides with the experience which caused it

The situation is reinterpreted as a process which is

on at RT

The Progressive

(41)

a. We are knowing more and more about the connotations of the progressive now.

b. We are missing you more and more.

c. These examples are seeming less and less unacceptable to me.

d. Amy is resembling her mother more and more.

= the idea of progress/gradual change is explicit

The Progressive

(42) I hope you’ll help us.

I’m hoping you’ll help us.

(43) I wonder if you could help us.

I’m wondering if you could help us.

(44)You are forgetting/forget the moral argument.

[+polite] < tentative

The Progressive

[..] the Progressive is a more tentative, and hence

more polite method of expressing a mental

attitude” (Leech 1986).

“lack of commitment”

The Progressive

(45)

a. I hope you will come and have dinner with us

when you’re in Bucharest next time.

b. ???I’m hoping you will come and have dinner

with us when you’re in Bucharest next time.

The progressive

(46)

This rose smells sweet.

*This rose is smelling sweet.

(47)

The pudding tastes great.

*The pudding is tasting great.

Permanent (?) property

Inert perception

The Progressive

(48) I am smelling some perfumes.

She is tasting the pudding.

I am feeling the ground.

The V indicates active

perception

The V does NOT

denote a state!

It can occur in the

PROG freely!

The Progressive

Perception verbs used as “link” verbs;

(49)

a. That sounds like John’s voice. / * That is sounding…

b. She sounds tired./ * She is sounding tired.

c. This apple tastes sour. / *This apple is tasting sour.

d. The flowers smell good./ *The flowers are smelling

good.

The Progressive

feel, sound, look, smell, taste + Adjective Phrase =

copulative predicates; they denote permanent

properties

[-control]

the progressive is generally excluded

The Progressive

(50)

a. She looks as fresh as a daisy.

b. She is looking as fresh as a daisy.

The Progressive

Verbs of bodily perception

(51) a. I feel hungry.

b. I am feeling hungry.

(52) a. My arm hurts.

b. My arm is hurting.

The Progressive

ache, feel (sick/ well), hurt, itch, tingle: at the boundary

between stative and activity

(i) can be used in the progressive; + progressive = internal

sensation/ - Progressive = external sensation (Leech

1971)

(ii) can be used in the progressive with a change of meaning

( Huddleston 2002): the progressive = activity.

The Progressive

(53)

a. I am feeling hungry.

b. I can feel a stone in my shoe.

The Progressive

(54)

This cake is looking done.

You fancy you are being clever!

She is having one of her headaches.

+ Indeterminacy

+ Irrealis

PROG: a modal value

The Progressive and state predicates: so far...

state predicates which allow a temporary

interpretation ( i.e. situations which can be

‘experienced in episodes’) can be used in the

progressive when we emphasize that the situation

is in progress at a particular time (sometimes

contrastively)


“temporary conscious experience” will allow the

use of the progressive with state predicates

which normally resist the progressive


speaker’s involvement /subjectivity/evaluation allows

the use of the progressive with state predicates

The Progressive and state predicates: so far ...

PROGR a shift in the semantics of the state predicate

+ episodic

+ dynamic

+ progress

+ indeterminacy

+ involvement on the part of the speaker

The Progressive so far...

the aspect marker triggers a situation-type shift:

the situation will be reinterpreted as a process

which is on at RT

one possible exception

The Progressive

Are there any state predicates which resist the

progressive?

States which resist the PROGR

< Kearns (1991) :

BE verbs are more likely to resist the progressive

BE verbs =

statives which behave like copula BE.

they can be paraphrased with BE // BE + a PP


(55)

a. John is 200 pounds.

b. John’s weight is 200 pounds.

c.John is 200 pounds in weight.

= WEIGH

(56)

John weighs 200 pounds.

*John is weighing 200 pounds.


(57)

a. That book is $25.

b. The cost/price of that book is $25.

c. That book is $25 in price.

= COST

(58) That book costs $25.

Apples cost a lot at this time of the year.

*That book is costing $25.


(59)The moat surrounds the castle.

The moat is around the castle.

*The moat is surrounding the castle.

(60) The woodshed adjoins the workshop.

The woodshed is beside the workshop.

*The woodshed is adjoining the workshop.


HAVE verbs:

(i) paraphrased by be + PP

contain

hold

(61) The box contains my books and pens.

= My books and pens are in the box.


(ii) be + possessive

own, belong

(62) John owns a car.

= That car is John’s.


verbs in the BE class and in the HAVE class seem to

form a semantic class. They are prototypical statives;

extremely few members of these two subclasses can

appear in the progressive

cost (?), weigh, adjoin, surround, resemble (?),

have, own, possess, contain, measure, consist of,

belong


the same in:

Leech (1986): state verbs of having and being

matter = BE important

own = HAVE in one’s possession


(63) This carpet belongs to me.

* This carpet is belonging to me.

(64) Your age doesn’t matter.

* Your age isn’t mattering.


(65)

a. She has two sisters.

b. I have a bad backache. / I have got ...

c. What are you doing? I am having breakfast/a

party/a cigarette/ a bath.

State HAVE vs.

‘activity’ HAVE


(66) My sister is having a headache. = pretending

vs.

(67) My sister is having hysterics. = activity


(68) She is being kind.

He’s being a fool.

He’s being awkward.

The car is being difficult.

He’s being useful.

You’re being a nuisance!

The Progressive

achievements denote instantaneous changes of

state

vs. PROGR

gradual change of state

limited duration

The Progressive

Achievements [-durative]

PROG [+(limited) duration]

(69)

* I am finding my book.

vs.

He is reaching the summit now and will certainly reach

it before the other climbers.

Bill is constantly discovering web pages for lunatics.

The Progressive

(70) a. * Helen is finding her watch.

b. * They are losing the key.

c. * She is noticing a friend in the middle

of the crowd.

(71) a. Smith is winning the race.

b. Helen is reaching the top.

c. The plane is landing.

The Progressive

focus on the preliminary stages of the change of

state with no information as to its outcome

[ +/- preliminary stages]

the telic predicates have shifted to the atelic class, i.e.

winning the race or reaching the top are seen as

possible outcomes of a process which is on at ST.

BUT: * He was reaching the top for 5 hours.!

The Progressive

(72)

a. Helen has been finding lice in her hair

for weeks now.

b. Tourists have been discovering this

beautiful lake for ages.

= iterativity

The Progressive

(73)

a.The train was arriving.

b.The helicopter was landing.

c.The old man was dying.

“an approach to the transition, rather than the

transition itself.” (Leech 1986).

The Progressive

(74)

a.The flesh was drying and withering now.

b.The tears were drying now.

c.And they had these spotlights on and we were melting.

d.The last of the winter snow was melting off the steep slopes.

e.The sky was brightening, the shadows lifting.

f. The sky was darkening by the moment.

g.The wages and jobs gap between Wales and better-off parts

of England was widening, an economist warned yesterday.

The Progressive cont.

Semelfactives [+telic] [-durative] [-stative]

hiccup, hit, jump, kick, knock, nod, tap, wink

The Progressive

(78) a. The man is belching.

b. The child is coughing.

c. They are jumping up and down.

d. He was nodding.

activities of the multiple action type (i.e. as a temporal succession of momentary, completed events)

The Progressive

such predicates denote events that take place at a

minimal interval, whereas in the progressive they

denote durative situations

The Progressive

activities

(79) What are you doing?

They are still waiting for her.

She is writing.

Activities can freely occur in the progressive

when [+ going on] [+durative] activity

The Progressive

(80)

Mary worked at Bellcore in 1989.

Mary was working at Bellcore in 1989.

the temporal adverbial is understood to give the whole duration of a situation described by a simple past predicate, but it carries the “at least then” interpretation with a progressive

< the mid-interval feature of the progressive

The Progressive

Contextual values

THE PROGRESSIVE & habitual situations

(82)

She's always asking silly questions!

They are forever shouting!

Their baby is always weeping!

He is forever getting into trouble with the LEC teacher.

The Progressive

habitual and …“emotional overtone”

ALWAYS:

(i) on all occasions (in non-progressive sentences)

(ii) constantly (in progressive sentences)

The Progressive

+ adverbials of the type always, forever, continually,

constantly, perpetually.

the speaker's disapproval of the habit.

= emotional involvement on the part of the speaker

this use of the progressive = "emotional"/

"disapproving“ is just a sub-set

The Progressive

< occurrence with adverbs such as “always”

= possibly, a leading role in the subjectification of

the English progressive

(83) It happens every other minute with ladies, who

are always dying to have, or to do, or to know –

this thing or that.

The Progressive & habit in existence over a limited

period of time

(84)

a. I'm taking my son to school this week because my

husband has a cold.

b. He was staying at our parents’ place because his

house was being redecorated.

c. In those days, we were getting up at 7.00.

The Progressive

The “limited period” = generally specified by a

time adverbial.

the progressive = a series of events

ET is limited to the temporal value of the time

adverbial.

(85) She is studying in Venice this year.

The Progressive & repetition of events of limited

duration

(86)

a. You never listen to what people are saying.

b. He rarely lets us know what he is doing.

d. Whenever I visit them they are watching TV.

The Progressive & repetition of events of

limited duration

“ … the notion of limited duration is applied not

to the habit as a whole, but to the individual

events of which the habit is composed. The

result […]is thus to stretch the time-span of the

event” (Leech 1971)

ET at/around RT

The Progressive cont

Compare:

(86)

a. Whenever I visit him he mows the lawn.

b. Whenever I visit him he is mowing the lawn.

= stretch the time -span of the event

The progressive for future events

(87)

They are leaving for Oslo tomorrow.

I'm seeing my dentist this afternoon.

the temporal value of the adverbial establishes a

future RT: ST prior to RT


BUT:

not always an explicit future time adverbial.

(88) John is leaving town.

(i)…

(ii)…

(89) John is eating salad.

(i)


something planned by a human agent more

subjective, less certain :

(90)

??? The sun is setting at 6.48 today.

?? The conference is beginning on the 29th .

??? The academic year is beginning on the 2nd of

October this year.

? She’s having her operation tomorrow.


the "uncertainty" = the reflex of the modal value of

the progressive. The indeterminacy and the

incompleteness which we associate with the

progressive could be one of the causes of the

[-certainty] reading in this case.

The ‘context-dependent progressive’

In saying these things he was warning you.

When a person is described as having fought and

won, or as having journeyed and arrived, he is not

being said to have done two things, but to have done

one thing with a certain upshot.

If we choose to place the dividing line between the

two at the county line, then we are basing our

decision on social rather than linguistic facts.


a. In saying this he was urging her to leave.

b. ?In saying this he urged her to leave.

a predicate in the

progressive gives a

‘redescription’ of an

event which is

independently reported,

usually in the preceding

clause.


it is evaluated at the time given by the event

which is redescribed, i.e. it specifies that

the sentence in which it occurs must be evaluated at the

same interval as the ‘preceding’ sentence.

the progressive in the in frame maps the

redescriptive predicate to the interval of the redescribed

event


a. In understanding the humorous nature of his

remark she was getting the joke.

b. *She was getting the joke when the doorbell rang.

It is compatible with

prototypical momentary

achievements


In mentioning her name (= the redescribed event)

Jones was breaking his promise. (the redescriptive

predicate)


In reciting the limerick she was making a dreadful

mistake.

* ... she was making a dreadful mistake for just 5

minutes.

Vs.

She was reciting the limerick for just 5 minutes.

The redescriptive

predicate does not

denote a measurable

process


a. She was still reciting the limerick.

b. She continued reciting the limerick.

aspectual

modification is

acceptable with

the redescribed

event


a. *She was still making a dreadful mistake.

b. * She continued making a dreadful mistake.

aspectual

modification is not

acceptable with

the redescriptive

predicate


the context-dependent progressive lacks a process

component

also:

My hands are dirty because I have been digging in

the garden. ( cause-effect relationship)

Conclusions

-ing: locates ET at (least at)/around RT

the English progressive is a process-denoter +

possible outcomes

the process progressive denotes a temporal part of

a larger event , which exists earlier than the part

denoted by the progressive, and potentially

endures beyond it.

Conclusions

other features associated with the progressive

(derived from ET at/around RT)

episodic //limited duration

dynamism

incompleteness

subjectivity

the context-dependent progressive: not a process

Conclusions

The contextual values:

< the lexical meaning of the verb constellation

+ -ING

+ the meaning contributed by the time adverbial (if

any)

+ preceding discourse

the progressive in english

Documents

progressive event

progressive flavour

english progressive

progressive choice

progressive predicat

progressive otto jespersen

progressive core value

time adverbial