LINGUIST List 15.1991

Tue Jul 6 2004

Books: Historical Linguistics: Pertejo

Editor for this issue: Neil Salmond <neillinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. lincom.europa, The Progressive in the History of English: Pertejo

Title: The Progressive in the History of English with Special
	Reference to the Early Modern English Period
Subtitle: A Corpus-Based Study
Series Title: LINCOM Studies in English Linguistics 06

Publication Year: 2004
Publisher:	Lincom GmbH
		http://www.lincom-europa.com
		http://lincom.at

Author: Paloma N��ez-Pertejo, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

Paperback: ISBN: 389586742X, Pages: 200, Price: Europe EURO 64
Paperback: ISBN: 389586742X, Pages: 200, Price: US $76.80 
Paperback: ISBN: 389586742X, Pages: 200, Price: GBP 42.88

			
Abstract:

The present study aims to provide a descriptive account of be + -ing
periphrases, as in he was reading a book, in the history of the
English language. The controversial origin of these periphrases as
well as their later evolution and development is discussed, and
special attention is devoted to their behaviour in the early Modern
English period, which turns out to be an outstanding stage in the
history of be + -ing. For this purpose, computerized data from The
Helsinki Corpus of English Texts: Diachronic and Dialectal are
retrieved and the evidence provided is further analysed and discussed.

The book opens with an introductory chapter which deals with some
basic questions, such as the problem of terminology, the formal
resemblance between the progressive and other related constructions
(e.g. adjectival participles), and also with the definition of the
category 'aspect'. The second chapter offers an overview of the
semantics of the progressive, which is a rather complicated issue of
English verb syntax.

Attention is devoted to the role played by temporal adverbials in
combination with be + ing, to so-called 'non-progressive verbs', and
also to the traditional dichotomy progressive vs. non-progressive
(simple) forms.

Throughout the subsequent chapters, the history of the English
progressive from Old English to early Modern English is traced on the
basis of different parameters, such as paradigm, frequency,
distribution and semantics, among others. Other issues included in
these chapters are the origin of Old English beon/wesan + -ende, the
origin of Middle English be + -ing, the change from Old English
-end(e) to Middle English -ing(e) and the development of the gerund in
Middle English. As indicated above, the chapter which focuses on the
use of the progressive in early Modern English offers data from the
Helsinki Corpus. All the examples are classified and studied according
to various factors, both linguistic and extralinguistic, including
chronology, frequency, paradigm and semantics, as well as their
distribution in terms of the type of clause selected and the text
type. Finally, the book includes a chapter which summarizes the main
conclusions reached.

Paloma N��ez-Pertejo lectures on English as a second language at the
Department of English, University of Santiago de Compostela
(Spain). Her research is mainly focused on diachronic syntax and
grammaticalization, especially in the early Modern English period.


Lingfield(s):	Historical Linguistics

Subject Language(s): English (Language Code: ENG)
		
Written In:	English (Language Code: ENG)


 See this book announcement on our website:
 http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=10733.