Progressive Aspect Research Articles

A Variationist Analysis of Progressive Aspect Alternatives in Jordanian Arabic

A Variationist Analysis of Progressive Aspect Alternatives in Jordanian Arabic

Thewo Tibetan’s /ta33/ and /nə33/

Abstract This paper has three aims. First, in its form, this paper uses a narrative style to overtly highlight the iterative process used to identify the meaning of the two suffixes in question. Second, this paper seeks to describe the intricate workings of two verbal suffixes in Thewo Tibetan. Finally, this paper makes a defense of why these two suffixes belong to the category of evidentiality. Thewo Tibetan is spoken in China on the Gansu-Sichuan border. The suffixes /ta33/ and /nə33/ appear either directly after action verbs, or directly after the progressive aspect marker. /nə33/ is used to express that the speaker has sensory information of their claim at the time of the speech act. The temporal nature of the evidence, whether it is sensory information of the act itself or of the results of the act, is determined in part by the semantics of the verb (telic vs non-telic). In contrast, /ta33/ is used to express that at the time of the speech act, the speaker no longer has sensory evidence (but formerly did) of the stated action. Based upon these observations, this paper argues that temporal space and verbal semantics are key to understanding the cognition which underlies interpreting /nə33/ and /ta33/. As such, this paper makes the following three contributions: (1) In its form it provides an anecdote of failures and success along the path to identifying the function and meaning of two evidential suffixes; (2) It introduces two suffixes of the hitherto un-described Thewo Tibetan evidential system; and (3) It gives an in-depth analysis of these suffixes and offers evidence to support the claim that they are evidential suffixes.

Detecting angloversal tendencies in the outer circle: a pilot study on a Maltese English speaker

Abstract World Englishes constitute an ever-developing study field where keeping track of the real-time changes which occur in language usage is a challenging task. This chapter aims at broadening the application field of the research on angloversals, described in literature as particular features divergent from Standard English and shared by English varieties across the world regardless of their geographical proximity or cultural affiliation. The present qualitative study hypothesises the presence of angloversals in Maltese English and considers a blended methodological approach to verify the research hypothesis. The study was performed on selected oral excerpts taken from a random interview to a speaker of the Maltese English continuum. Both the interviewee and the interviewer are native Maltese speakers and communicated in English all throughout the interview with no instances of code mixing between the two languages. Syntactical structures containing the overuse of the progressive aspect, article omission and resumptive pronouns, as well as unmarked phonology traits have been included in the angloversal categories by previous research on the matter. Said features are particularly found in contexts where language contact has had an impact on both the substrate and superstrate languages. This is the case for the Maltese context, where explanations for the plausible presence of the above features are to be sought in the realms of transfer from Maltese to English, language universals and pragmatic principles.

On the development of tense-aspect markers in Lingala youth language: a microvariationist look at language change in the verb phrase

Abstract This paper examines language change in two Lingala youth languages from the DR Congo, Lingala ya Bayankee (sometimes referred to as Yanké) and Langila, focusing on processes of grammaticalization and replication. Speakers of Lingala ya Bayankee use a grammaticalized prefix ké- for the near/immediate future tense, derived from the verb kokende ‘to go’ and from a manipulated form of the same verb, namely the prefix dyé- from kodyé (with the same meaning). The emergence and development of this tense marker is traced and compared with the strategies used by Langila speakers. Moreover, the microvariationist lens through which changes in the tense-aspect system of Lingala’s youth registers are examined in this paper looks at different formation patterns of progressive aspect, with two dominant construction types in Lingala ya Bayankee; these are also compared to the strategies used by Langila speakers. While linguistic manipulations have long been the focus of sociolinguistic approaches to the study of adolescent language use, fine-grained differences in tense and aspect marking have received little attention. Here, this paper aims to take a first step, based on rich empirical data collected during various research stays in the urban environment of Kinshasa (DR Congo).

On the incompatibility of object fronting and progressive aspect in Yucatec Maya

In this paper, we present data from an elicitation study and a corpus study that support the observation that the Yucatec Maya progressive aspect auxiliary táan is replaced by the habitual auxiliary k in sentences with contrastively focused fronted objects. Focus has been extensively studied in Yucatec, yet the incompatibility of object fronting and progressive aspect in Yucatec Maya remains understudied. Both our experimental results and our corpus study point in the direction that this incompatibility may very well be categorical. Theoretically, we take a progressive reading to be derived from an imperfectivity operator in combination with a singular operator, and we propose that this singular operator implicates the negation of event plurality, leading to an exhaustive interpretation which ranks below corrective focus on a contrastive focus scale. This means that, in a sentence with object focus fronting, the use of the marked auxiliary táan (as opposed to the more general k) would trigger two contrastive foci, which would be an unlikely and probably dispreferred speech act.

Flavors of Progression in Urban Jordanian Arabic

This study investigates the syntactic and semantic properties of three grammaticalized aspectual markers in Urban Jordanian Arabic (UJA): the particle ʕam, the active participle ʕammal, and the active participle ʔaaʕid. While traditionally perceived as markers of progressive aspect with identical semantics, this study distinguishes itself by unveiling significant syntactic and semantic differences among the three markers. In particular, the study shows that ʕammal functions as an inceptive aspect marker, ʕam marks immediate aspect, and ʔaaʕid signals durative aspect. The study provides evidence for this categorization by showing that the markers can co-occur in the same sentence. Such co-occurrence highlights a hierarchical order among the three markers, with ʕammal merging at the highest position, ʔaaʕid merging at an intermediate position, and ʕam situated at the lowest position. To capture this hierarchy, a fine-grained aspectual system is proposed, where each marker heads its own aspectual projection. Evidence from word order and agreement is provided to support this view. The findings of this study align with Cinque's (2006) theory, illustrating diverse progressive aspectual heads that merge at different levels in the extended verbal projection.

Making some progress on the progressive aspect zài in Mandarin Chinese

ABSTRACT: Taking into account data hitherto neglected, this article examines the progressive aspect zài 在 in Mandarin Chinese and related issues. We argue in favour of the constituency [AspP zài 在 [V- zhe 着]] and demonstrate important syntactic and semantic differences between the progressive aspect zài 在 and the durative aspect - zhe 着 . Importantly, unlike ‘ zài 在 V’, ‘V- zhe 着’ is only acceptable as the sole predicate in a root sentence when interpretable as a (derived) state. Otherwise, the presence of the progressive aspect zài 在 is required: ‘ zài 在 V- zhe 着’. This crucial role of zài 在 is often obscured by its phonological fusion ( haplology ) with the preposition zài 在 ‘at’ heading an immediately following prepositional phrase: NP [AspP zài 在 [VP [PP zài 在 NP] [V- zhe 着 NP]]] => NP ZÀI 在 NP V- zhe 着 NP. The presence/absence of an underlying progressive aspect zài 在 (having fused with the preposition zài 在) is reflected in the choice of negation. Since the progressive aspect zài 在 must be negated by méi 没, not bù 不, it follows that no underlying aspectual zài 在 is present when it is bù 不 that negates a VP with a zài 在 PP adjunct: NP bù 不 [VP [PP zài 在 NP] VP]. By contrast, when there is an underlying aspectual zài 在, the negation méi 没 is required, resulting in the surface sequence ‘NP méi 没 ZÀI 在 NP VP’. Finally, given that a subset of auxiliaries, some stative verbs as well as state-denoting ‘V- zhe 着’ are negated by méi 没, negation of ‘ zài 在 VP’ by méi 没 is compatible with the status of ‘ zài 在 VP’ as a state, hence able to be true at a moment. 摘要: 本文探讨迄今为止在汉语进行体标记“在”及相关研究方面被忽略的问 题。我们 赞成 进行体 “ 在 ” 和持续体 “ 着 ” 共现的句法结构为 [AspP 在 [V-着]]，并认为其体现了二者之间重要的句法和语义区别。不 同于“在 V”，当“V-着”表示派生的同质性状态时，它只在根句作为 主要谓词才会被接受。否则，进行体“在”需要出现。“在”的这一关 键性作用常常由于引导介词短语的与它语音融合的介词“在”的出现而 被掩盖。深层结构的进行体“在”的隐现反映在否定词的选择上。由于 进行体“在”必须被“没”否定，而非“不”，所以当“不”否定包含 “在 PP”附加语的 VP 时，进行体“在”不出现。相反，当进行体“在” 出现时，句子被否定时要求“没”出现，从而出现表层结构的顺序为 “NP 没 [[在 NP] VP]”。

Система електронного судочинства: до питання комплексності компонентів

This article examines the complexity of the electronic justice system by determining its main components and their importance for the administration of justice. The author states that electronic justice is an advanced method of administering justice, based on the use of modern information technologies. Electronic justice is extremely relevant in the judicial reform paradigm, which is characterized by the use of advanced information technologies for optimization and modernization. The progressive aspect transforms the traditional judicial process, giving it new possibilities of efficiency, transparency and openness. It opens the way to the creation of a highly efficient and modern judicial system that meets the requirements of the modern legal environment and high standards of judicial practice. It is emphasized that electronic justice in the context of war plays an important role in ensuring justice and law and order. Key aspects in wartime include quick and effective access to justice, transparency and openness, preservation and analysis of evidence, security and privacy, and the ability to conduct trials in remote space. Thus, e-justice plays a key role in ensuring law and order and justice in the conditions of military conflict, providing effective and reliable tools to ensure the rights and interests of citizens. It is proven that its components include electronic court systems that automate judicial proceedings and optimize the processes of case consideration; electronic files that structure and provide access to court data and documents; electronic communication, which facilitates interaction between participants in the legal process through electronic channels; and electronic monitoring that analyzes and monitors aspects of judicial activity. Electronic justice and its components contribute to improving the efficiency and transparency of the judicial system, providing better access to information and facilitating the execution of court decisions. They are necessary tools for a modern legal system aimed at ensuring fairness, efficiency and openness.

The Meaning and Formation of the Japanese Compound Verb <i>～tomeru</i> (～留める)

This study discusses "Compound Verbs ~tomeru (～留める) in Japanese Sentences." The purpose of this study is to describe the structure and meaning of the compound verb tomeru as it appears in Japanese sentences. The data consists of a variety of sentences containing the compound verb ~tomeru that were taken from a Japanese news website. This study collects data through the use of library techniques. The structure and meaning of the compound verb tomeru were then analyzed using the apportion method (agih) in conjunction with the basic technique for direct elements. The data analysis indicates that the compound verb tomeru is most frequently associated with progressive verbs. Volitional verbs can also be attached to the compound verb ~tomeru. The compound verb ~tomeru has seven meanings which are divided into five meanings that express the progressive aspect and two meanings that express the perfective aspect.

Making some progress on the progressive aspect zài in Mandarin Chinese

Taking into account data hitherto neglected, this article examines the progressive aspect zài 在 in Mandarin Chinese and related issues. We argue in favour of the constituency [ AspP zài 在 [V-zhe 着]] and demonstrate important syntactic and semantic differences between the progressive aspect zài 在 and the durative aspect -zhe 着 . Importantly, unlike ‘zài 在 V’, ‘V-zhe 着’ is only acceptable as the sole predicate in a root sentence when interpretable as a (derived) state. Otherwise, the presence of the progressive aspect zài 在 is required: ‘zài 在 V-zhe 着’. This crucial role of zài 在 is often obscured by its phonological fusion (haplology) with the preposition zài 在 ‘at’ heading an immediately following prepositional phrase: NP [ AspP zài 在 [ VP [ PP zài 在 NP] [V-zhe 着 NP]]] => NP ZÀI 在 NP V-zhe 着 NP. The presence/absence of an underlying progressive aspect zài 在 (having fused with the preposition zài 在) is reflected in the choice of negation. Since the progressive aspect zài 在 must be negated by méi 没, not bù 不, it follows that no underlying aspectual zài 在 is present when it is bù 不 that negates a VP with a zài 在 PP adjunct NP bù 不 [ VP [ PP zài 在 NP] VP]. By contrast, when there is an underlying aspectual zài 在, the negation méi 没 is required, resulting in the surface sequence ‘NP méi 没 ZÀI 在 NP VP’. Finally, given that a subset of auxiliaries, some stative verbs as well as state-denoting ‘V-zhe 着’ are negated by méi 没, negation of ‘zài 在 VP’ by méi 没 is compatible with the status of ‘zài 在 VP’ as a state, hence able to be true at a moment.

Stative verbs and perceptions of intensity: The case of ‘believe’ in simple and progressive aspect

This study assessed the validity of descriptive findings from corpus linguistics research by analyzing human participants’ performance and perception data. While the stative verb believe usually occurs in the simple aspect, a corpus-based analysis has revealed that believe also occurs in the progressive form in communicative situations conveying a heightened degree of intensity and marked with specific linguistic features such as intensifying adjectives, adverbs of certainty, direct addresses, and others (Gracheva, in press). This study adopted an experimental approach to further assess the link between the progressive form in situations of use conducive to assertive stance and emotional involvement and its surrounding linguistic characteristics. Eighty-six native English speakers were presented with 24 naturally-occurring texts from corpora. Half of the texts involved linguistic features of intensity (progressive aspect condition), while half involved no such features (simple aspect condition). Participants read the texts and selected the form of believe (simple or progressive aspect) which they thought was appropriate in each text. Results showed that participants selected the progressive aspect 47% of the times for the texts featuring language of intensity, while their selection of that aspect was less than 3% in the simple condition texts. Follow-up interviews revealed that participants sensed the intensity conveyed by the texts (e.g., strong emotion, urgency, emphasis), leading to their choice of the progressive over the simple aspect.

English Past Progressive Aspect in Arabic Translation: Theoretical and Textual Considerations

This paper deals with the translation of the English past progressive into Arabic by examining both theoretical and textual considerations. First, it shows how the English aspect formally corresponds to the auxiliary verb كان ‘was’ plus the simple present (SP) form or the active particle (AP) form. Second, it is argued that the choice between the SP and the AP is subject to several grammatical and semantic constraints on Arabic verbs: [+/- transitive], [+/- telic], [+/- completed], and [+/- manner of motion]. Third, the textual data (70 examples) drawn from two existing translations indicates that many translation procedures are employed to render the English past progressive, mainly including the past simple (48.57%), present simple (22.85%), formal correspondence (18.57%), and lexicalizing (7.14%). Finally, the qualitative analysis reveals that the progressiveness, emphasis, and dramatization that the English past progressive aspect may communicate are seriously compromised in Arabic translation. While there may be cases where some mismatches between English and Arabic verbs exist in terms of progressiveness which may call for the use of past simple or lexicalizing, the formal correspondence procedure is claimed to be the most valid and appropriate for capturing the functions of the English past progressive.

The Tigrinya zɨ- prefix

Abstract Head-final languages are not expected to display verbal prefixes. However, in Tigrinya—a consistent SOV Ethio-Semitic language—the “relative marker” is a prefix that precedes the subordinate verb. Taking an antisymmetric and LCA approach to head-finality, I challenge the idea that what have been traditionally called prefixes in head-final languages have an intrinsic “prefixal morphological property”. Instead, I argue that prefixes are elements that are subject to specific syntactic constraints that result in them appearing in front of verbs. I therefore propose a new syntactic analysis of relative clauses in Tigrinya that explains not only the appearance of the prefix zɨ- on the left of the subordinate verb, but also its occurrence on both the verb and the auxiliary in periphrastic verbal forms expressing progressive aspect: I suggest that zɨ- is a marker of successive-cyclic movement.

According to NP: A Diachronic Perspective on a Skeptical Evidential

One of the problems challenging formal semantic studies of evidentiality is that reportative evidentials are not always representative of the speaker’s endorsement of the truth of the propositions they qualify. Accordingly, many of the functions of the reportative evidential according to NP in English are often ambiguous as to the speaker’s endorsement of the propositions over which they have scope. The present study, using three diachronic corpora, traces the evolution of evidential meanings in according to NP since Middle English times from its origins in a progressive aspect construction and its later shift from a manner adverbial function to a reportative evidential used to justify the speaker’s subjective beliefs. The article shows that the presence of comparative contexts, multiple information sources, or co-occurrence with adversative clauses contributes to the use of the reportative as a dubitative, marking the gradual objectification of the proposition qualified by according to and coinciding closely with the introduction of the complex preposition in accordance with in the late eighteenth century. I argue that the diachronic development of according to NP as an evidential marker represents a case of co-optation rather than grammaticalization.

Natalizumab Promotes Activation of Peripheral Monocytes in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis.

Natalizumab (NTZ), a monoclonal antibody against very late antigen-4 (VLA-4), is one of the most efficient therapies to prevent acute relapses in multiple sclerosis (MS). VLA-4 is the key adhesion molecule for peripheral immune cells, especially lymphocytes to enter the CNS. While its blockade thus virtually abrogates CNS infiltration of these cells, long-term exposure to natalizumab may also affect immune cell function. In this study, we report that in patients with MS, NTZ treatment is associated with an enhanced activation status of peripheral monocytes. Expression of 2 independent activation markers, CD69 and CD150, was significantly higher on blood monocytes from NTZ-treated patients when compared with those from matched untreated patients with MS, while other properties such as cytokine production remained unchanged. These findings consolidate the concept that peripheral immune cells remain fully competent on NTZ treatment, an excellent asset rare among MS treatments. However, they also suggest that NTZ may exert nondesirable effects on the progressive aspect of MS, where myeloid cells and their chronic activation are attributed a prominent pathophysiologic role.

The Mistranslation of 1 Corinthians 11.26 in Vietnamese

This paper is concerned with the mistranslation of the Greek word καταγγέλλετε katangellete “you proclaim” in 1 Cor 11.26 in the first major Protestant translation of the Bible into Vietnamese, a problem that has continued to be reproduced in subsequent translations. The paper identifies the problem and discusses the importance of context in distinguishing the Greek second-person plural present active indicative and imperative forms. A solution to this historical translation problem is also suggested, involving the use of a particle indicating progressive aspect.

The typology of progressive constructions in Arabic dialects

Abstract This paper describes and compares the strategies used in Arabic dialects to encode the progressive aspect, in order to show their similarities and what sets them apart from one another, as well as to situate them within cross-linguistic tendencies. Drawing on a wide variety of data, the paper shows the different ways the progressive aspect was (or is being) grammaticalized in Arabic dialects in light of the typologically common paths of grammaticalization. These paths involve for some dialects the reorganization of their aspectual categories, and thus provide an interesting perspective to look at the evolution of aspectual systems in Arabic varieties.

Linguistic and non-linguistic cues in motion event endpoint description: The selection between English to and towards

The current study aims to explore the factors that could affect people’s description of a motion event endpoint. The study conducted by Liao, Dijkstra, and Zwaan (2021, Language and Cognition, 13[2], 161–190) found that two non-linguistic factors (i.e., the actor’s goal and the interlocutor’s social status) affect people’s choice between two Dutch directional prepositions (i.e., naar and richting) during event description tasks. The current study aims to extend these findings by examining the choice between a similar pair of directional prepositions in English (i.e., to and towards). Moreover, we aim to study whether grammatical aspect (i.e., the English simple present and the English progressive aspect) affects the sensitivity to the two non-linguistic factors and consequently also affects how people describe a motion event endpoint. In Experiment 1, we used the English simple present for all sentence stimuli (e.g., he walks (?) the trash bin). We found a significant effect of Interlocutor (the interlocutor’s social status) on preposition choice, but no significant effect of Intention (the actor’s goal). In Experiment 2, we replaced the English simple present with the English progressive aspect (e.g., he is walking (?) the trash bin). We found significant main effects of both Interlocutor and Intention on preposition choice. These findings extend those reported in Liao et al. (2021) Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 35(4), 498–520 in that protagonist intention and interlocutor status were found to indeed affect motion event endpoint description. The current findings furthermore show that grammatical aspect affects people’s sensitivity to these factors, thus also affecting how a motion event endpoint is described.

A Diachronic Hypothesis about Imperfective unnu in Malayalam

Across languages, the imperfective is associated with three distinct readings－“event in progress”, “habitual or generic” and “continuous” with stative predicates. In Malayalam, the suffix unnu had been identified as the imperfective suffix in linguistic literature. However, it has been noted in subsequent studies that the “generic or habitual” reading with unnu is distinctly different from a typical generic reading and that such ‘typical generic’ readings are obtained by the modal um in Malayalam. This has also led to the claim that unnu is not an imperfective marker, but an iterative pluractional bundled with progressive aspect. This paper attempts to deal with this puzzle differently, arguing that unnu is a progressive marker in the process of becoming an imperfective in Malayalam. A description of the properties of unnu-sentences, contrasting them with sentences that use the progressive marker uka and sentences that use the modal/generic marker um, is attempted. The paper also explores the role of uND(ə), the existential copula, in obtaining habitual and episodic readings with unnu. This alternative account for unnu is shown to be supported by opinions of traditional grammarians in history as well as theories of grammaticalization in diachronic semantics. It is also hypothesized that this process is blocked or halted in Malayalam by a suffix devoted to generic constructions and previously unexplored in the literature.

Está abriendo, la abrió: Lexical knowledge, verb type, and grammatical aspect shape child heritage speakers’ direct object omission in Spanish

Objectives: This study investigates the influence of lexical knowledge, progressive aspect, and verb type on bilingual children’s direct object expression in Spanish. Methodology: Sixty-one child heritage speakers of Spanish, ages 3;3-8;8, and 10 Spanish-speaking adults in the United States completed a task designed to elicit Spanish transitive verbs and direct objects. The children’s comprehension of Spanish vocabulary was measured by a standardized test. Data and Analysis: The children produced 743 transitive verbs, which were coded for grammatical aspect, comparing progressive and non-progressive forms, and for whether the verbs were “mixed” (verbs that routinely occur with or without a direct object among adults) or “non-mixed” (verbs that generally occur with a direct object among adults). Findings: The adults rarely omitted directed objects, whereas the children frequently did. Mixed-effects logistic regression analyses demonstrate that the higher the children’s Spanish vocabulary score, the less they omitted. Furthermore, progressive verb forms and mixed verbs increased the likelihood of omission. The progressive effect is interpreted as a reflection of children’s tendency to associate atelicity with intransitivity. The mixed-verb effect is interpreted as reflecting a lack of understanding of the discourse conditions that render omission infelicitous with mixed verbs. These two verb-level effects dissipated with age, suggesting a loosening of the atelicity–intransitivity association and an increasing awareness of the discourse conditions that guide direct object expression. Originality: The study demonstrates that bilingual children’s omission patterns are guided by progressive aspect and verb type, thus revealing an intricate and nuanced developmental pathway. Implications: While previous research has shown that bilingual children omit more direct objects than monolingual children, this study reveals important systematicities in bilingual children’s omission patterns. Studying child heritage speakers’ grammars in their own right paves the way for a deeper understanding of the systematic nature of the developing heritage grammar.