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Revisiting the aspectual BUSY in (South African) English
Abstract
This paper investigates the so-called South African English busy progressive (for example, I’m busy working ). Linguistic literature on South African English (SAfE) often states that this construction is a typical feature of this variety of English. The use and the frequency of this construction is mostly attributed to the influence of the Afrikaans [BUSY PROG X COMP V INF ] construction, as in Ek is besig om te werk (‘I am working’). The aim of this paper is twofold: Firstly, it critically evaluates some of the claims that have been made about the so-called “SAfE busy progressive” and, secondly, it uses a corpus- and usage-based approach that employs a greater assortment of available corpus data from SAfE and other English varieties, as well as available information on the Afrikaans and Dutch progressives, to explore the possibility of new insights into the use of busy in English aspectual constructions.
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This article investigates if grammatical change in South African English (SAfE) leads to convergence or divergence in the different varieties within SAfE. Contact between speakers of English and other languages potentially leads to divergence from varieties beyond SAfE, and to convergence within SAfE. Modal auxiliaries show convergence between White SAfE (WSAfE) and Afrikaans, but not between WSAfE and Black SAfE (BSAfE). No convergence is observed between the innovative use of the progressive in BSAfE and WSAfE, except for similar long‐term frequency increases. The omission of the complementiser that shows similar long‐term frequency changes between WSAfE, Afrikaans and BSAfE. The findings indicate that higher degrees of contact between speakers result in closer convergence, especially as far as constructional semantics are concerned, but convergent frequency changes seem to be possible without the same closeness of contact.
In this paper we demonstrate on the basis of diachronic and synchronic data from a variety of languages that progressives are particularly liable to be used for the expression of extravagance. We define extravagant language use as a signaling mechanism that consists in the exploitation of an unconventional construction in a given context as a way for speakers to indicate that there is something non-canonical about the situation that they are reporting. Novel constructions naturally lend themselves to such extravagant exploitation, since they are by definition to a certain extent unconventional. This is why, as we will demonstrate, the English, Dutch and French progressives were notably often recruited in extravagant contexts at the onset of their development. However, our synchronic data reveal that Present-day English, Dutch and French progressives continue to be used for extravagant purposes, which suggests that there is something inherent about progressive aspect that makes it liable to such expressive usage. This is confirmed by data from other, typologically diverse languages. We offer a cognitive-semantic analysis in terms of epistemic contingency in order to account for this intrinsic association of progressive aspect and extravagance across languages. Our analysis thus reveals that extravagance is not a transient property of emerging progressives, but that, instead, the semantics of these constructions makes them particularly liable to be recruited for extravagant purposes. It also demonstrates that in order to analyze the range of uses of progressive constructions in a unified fashion, we need to look beyond the temporal import of these constructions.
This chapter discusses non-standard grammatical features of regional varieties of English in relation to their Standard English functional equivalents. It pursues a crosslinguistic typological approach in the classification and interpretation of these features. This approach helps to reveal the often highly systematic relationship between standard and non-standard variants as well as the universals basis of the underlying cognitive principles. Illustration is drawn from reflexive marking, pronominal gender and case, tense and aspect, negation and negative concord, subject-verb agreement, and clause structure, which here includes ditransitive constructions, embedded inversion, and the formation of relative clauses.
Die Afrikaanse werkwoordstelsel onderskei tussen verlede, hede en toekoms (met ander woorde tussen verskillende tempusbetekenisse), maar is meerduidig met betrekking tot grammatikaal-aspektuele betekenis. Die Afrikaanse werkwoord spesifiseer nie op 'n verpligte wyse 'n onderskeid tussen perfektiewe, anterior- of imperfektiewe betekenis nie. Die ongemerkte stamvorm (in die hede) en die het ge-vorm (in die verlede) word gebruik om hierdie verskillende aspektuele betekenisse uit te druk. Afrikaans kan derhalwe geklassifiseer word as 'n nie-aspektuele taal (vergelyk Bylund 2013:932). Die aspektuele meerduidigheid van Afrikaans het 'n verreikende effek op die wyse waarop hierdie taal se grammatika in die Afrikaanse akademiese literatuur beskryf of verstaan word. Daar bestaan onder sommige skrywers die siening dat die werkwoordelike vorm van Afrikaans onvoldoende is om sekere aspektuele nuanses en betekenisse uit te druk (vergelyk Brink 1976:93; De Villiers 1962:250; Du Toit 1940:250; Meyer 2010; Paul 2010; Visser 2012; Wybenga 1983:1). Beskrywings soos "maklik", "vereenvoudig", "sonder 'n werklike sisteem" en "problematies" is al gebruik om die Afrikaanse grammatikale temporele uitdrukking te beskryf (vergelyk Anon 2010; Britz 2002; De Villiers 1962:59). Die aanname bestaan selfs by sommige skrywers dat Afrikaans "geen aspek het nie" (vergelyk Van der Merwe 1968a:281). 'n Moontlike rede vir hierdie sienings is die feit dat die uitdrukking van aspek in Afrikaans nog nie voldoende nagevors of beskryf is nie. Die enkele bestaande publikasies oor die onderwerp bied nie 'n goeie verduideliking van die begrip "aspek" nie, en dui nie voldoende die verskillende wyses waarop aspek in Afrikaans uitgedruk kan word, aan nie. Hierdie artikel probeer die tweeledige leemte vul deur eerstens 'n algemeen-teoretiese beskrywing van aspek aan te bied, en tweedens op 'n sistematiese wyse aan te toon watter linguistiese strategies in Afrikaans aangewend word om aspektuele betekenis uit te druk.
Aan die and besig in Afrikaans progressive construction : a corpus investigation (2)
Progressive aspect is a grammatical category which signifies that an event is continuing or taking place (Comrie 1976:33-36; Bybee et al. 1994:126). In two articles, this article and (Breed & Van Huyssteen 2014), we investigate the manner in which two periphrastic constructions, namely the VCOP besig om te V and the VCOP aan die V constructions, are used to express progressive meaning in Afrikaans. The discussions are based on a corpus investigation in which the three Afrikaans periphrastic progressive constructions (the two already mentioned) and the VPOS en V constructions are compared to each other (Breed 2012; Breed & Brisard 2015). Dutch has three similar constructions, and for this reason the constructions were also compared to the Dutch ones where relevant. Breed and Brisard (2015) explains how the VPOS en construction is used to express progressive meaning. In this article and in Breed and Van Huyssteen (2014) the focus is therefore on the specific manner in which the besig and aan die constructions are used as progressive markers.
In this study, we address the semantics of the present progressive constructions in French and English by looking into their present-day uses and their diachronic evolution. Corpus data show that both constructions are frequently used in contemporary English and French to stress the atypical nature of situations. This suggests that these constructions share an epistemic core meaning, which we define as ‘contingency in immediate reality’. However, in terms of concrete usage types which elaborate this meaning in context, the two progressive constructions differ significantly: the French progressive occurs in fewer types of context than its English counterpart and it is, overall, less frequently used and not obligatory (e.g., for referring to present-time events, as in English). We argue that these differences can be systematically related to the different diachronic evolutions that have shaped the present-tense paradigms – more specifically, the respective aspectual values of the simple present-tense markers – in both languages.
In this paper, we propose a unified account of the semantics of the English present progressive in the form of a semantic network, basing ourselves on the theoretical principles and analytical tools offered by the theory of Cognitive Grammar, as laid out by Langacker (1987, 1991). The core meaning of the English present progressive, we claim, is to indicate EPISTEMIC CONTINGENCY in the speaker’s immediate reality. It thus contrasts with the simple present, which is associated with situations that are construed as STRUCTURALLY belonging to reality. On the basis of a study of the Santa Barbara Corpus of spoken American English, an inventory has been made of the more specific uses of the present progressive, temporal as well as modal. It is shown that each of these uses can be derived from this basic meaning of contingency in immediate reality via a set of conceptual branching principles, in interaction with elements in the context.
This paper introduces an extension of distinctive-collocate analysis that takes into account grammatical structure and is specifically geared to investigating pairs of semantically similar grammatical constructions and the lexemes that occur in them. The method, referred to as `distinctive-collexeme analysis', identifies lexemes that exhibit a strong preference for one member of the pair as opposed to the other, and thus makes it possible to identify subtle distributional differences between the members of such a pair. The method can be applied in the context of what is sometimes referred to as `grammatical alternation' (e.g. the dative alternation), but it can also be applied to other choices provided by the grammar (such as the two future tense constructions in English). The method has two main applications. First, it can reveal subtle differences between seemingly synonymous constructions, many of which are difficult to identify on the basis of more traditional approaches. Second, it can be used to investigate the very notion of `alternation'; we show that many alternations are much more restricted than has hitherto been assumed, and thus confirm the claims of recent, non-derivational views of grammar.
IntroductionEvents, Processes, StatesMass, Count, and Plural in the Nominal SystemThe Algebra of Events and ProcessesSome Parallels and PuzzlesNotes
This paper introduces an extension of collocational analysis that takes into account grammatical structure and is specifically geared to investigating the interaction of lexemes and the grammatical constructions associated with them. The method is framed in a construction-based approach to language, i.e. it assumes that grammar consists of signs (form-meaning pairs) and is thus not fundamentally different from the lexicon. The method is applied to linguistic expressions at various levels of abstraction (words, semi-fixed phrases, argument structures, tense, aspect and mood). The method has two main applications: first, to increase the adequacy of grammatical description by providing an objective way of identifying the meaning of a grammatical construction and determining the degree to which particular slots in it prefer or are restricted to a particular set of lexemes; second, to provide data for linguistic theory-building.
Given the common ancestry of Dutch and Afrikaans, it is not surprising that they use similar periphrastic constructions to express progressive meaning: aan het (Dutch) and aan die/’t (Afrikaans) lit. ‘at the’; bezig met /( om ) te (Dutch) lit. ‘busy with/to’ and besig om te lit. ‘busy to’ (Afrikaans); and so-called cardinal posture verb constructions ( zitten/sit ‘sit’, staan ‘stand’, liggen/lê ‘lie’ and lopen/loop ‘walk’), CPV te (‘to’ Dutch) and CPV en (‘and’ Afrikaans). However, these cognate constructions have grammaticalized to different extents. To assess the exact nature of these differences, we analyzed the constructions with respect to overall frequency, collocational range, and transitivity (compatibility with transitive predicates and passivizability). We used two corpora that are equal in size (both about 57 million words) and contain roughly the same types of written text. It turns out that the use of periphrastic progressives is generally more widespread in Afrikaans than in Dutch. As far as grammaticalization is concerned, we found that the Afrikaans aan die - and CPV-constructions, as well as the Dutch bezig - and CPV-constructions, are semantically restricted. In addition, only the Afrikaans besig - and CPV en -constructions allow passivization, which is remarkable for such periphrastic expressions. *
Conflicting findings are reported for New Englishes and Learner Englishes: similarities are identified mainly on psycholinguistic grounds and differences on sociolinguistic grounds. This article offers an analysis of the progressive form in Black South African English, in which the interaction between gradual increases in proficiency and normative interventions by explicit feedback and editing of published texts is examined to establish the route towards conventionalisation of innovative features. The results indicate that one innovative feature, the extension of the progressive to longer time spans, becomes established as a feature of the variety, but other potential innovations gradually disappear under normative influence and with increased proficiency. Innovations are likely to be accepted if they are insufficiently salient to be targeted for normative correction and sufficiently present in the written and spoken input to become entrenched in the grammatical representations of learners as they turn into advanced users of the New English.
Both Dutch and Afrikaans display three periphrastic progressive constructions, which indicate that an action is going on at a particular moment of time: (i) a prepositional construction with aan het/ die + zijn/wees, (ii) a construction with posture verbs (zitten/staan/liggen) with a to-infinitive (Dutch) or a coordinating verb (Afrikaans) and (Hi) a construction with bezig/besigyo/Zowec/ by a to-infinitive (see, among others, Bertinetto, Ebert & De Groot 2000; Breed 2012; Donaldson 1993). This paper focuses on the latter of these constructions, which until now has only received little attention in the grammatical literature. In the instances in (1) below, the bezig/besig-construction is used to express that a volitional action is/was going on for a certain amount of time. (1a) Sowat elf brandweerwaens was tot in die vroeë oggendure nog besig om die brand te blus. (Die Burger, 12/01/1998) lit. "About eleven fire engines were busy extinguishing the fire until long into the night. " (1b) Brandweerlieden zijn druk bezig een man te bevrijden uit defel gehavende personen- wagen. (Gazet van Antwerpen, gva2) lit. "The firemen are busy rescuing a man from the heavily damaged car. " However, progressive besig can also be used to express ongoing processes which do not involve a volitional agent - as shown in (b), Dutch bezig is hardly an option in such contexts. (2a) 'n Groot chaos is besig om onder sy neus te ontwikkel. (Die Burger, 06/02/1998) (2b) ??Een grote chaos is bezig om zich voor zijn neus te ontwikkelen. lit. "A great chaos is busy developing right under his very nose. " (3a) Haar nuutste album is besig om goed te verkoop. (Die Burger, 06/02/1998) (3b) ??Haar nieuwste album is bezig om goed te verkopen. lit. "Her newest album is busy selling well. " The aim of this paper is to examine the use of this construction in detail from the perspective of the grammaticalization theory, based on corpus data from six Dutch and two Afrikaans newspapers. Firstly, we show that besig in Afrikaans is used more often in a progressive construction than Dutch bezig. As is well-known, grammaticalization goes hand in hand with an increasing frequency (see, among others, Bybee 2003). Secondly, we show that the besig-progressive is more broadly applicable semantically than bezig in Dutch (host-class expansion, Himmelmann 2004). A semantic categorization of the types of verbs and subjects that are used with the construction indicates that the besig-progressive is used more frequently with verbs and subjects which seem incompatible with the basic "busy, acting"-semantics of the adjective besig; process verbs and inanimate subjects. It appears that besig has bleached from its etymological, "busy activity " meaning and is used as an aspectual marker denoting that something is going on, without focusing on the (complexity of the) activity, while Dutch bezig has to a large extent retained its "activity " semantics.
This article provides a linguistic overview of the history and current status of South African English (SAfE). With respect to the history of this variety it deals with its colonial origins, subsequent development as well as diversifi cation into a number of sub-varieties, both L1 and L2 in nature. Next, the article provides a brief synchronic overview of the dialect-specifi c features of this variety, focusing mainly on phonetics and phonology, but also dealing with morphology, lexis and grammar where pertinent. The last section of the article focuses on recent developments, both in terms of the variety itself and research in the field.
The extension of the progressive form to stative verbs is a widely discussed feature of Outer Circle varieties of English. This paper examines the semantics of the stative progressive in three corpora, representing spoken and written Indian (IndE), Kenyan (KenE) and Black South African English (BSAfE). The results reveal that the progressive form is used more frequently in spoken than written data, and most frequently in BSAfE, followed by KenE, and then IndE. All three Outer Circle varieties use the progressive form proportionally more often with stative verbs than British English. The main use of the progressive form is to convey a sense of extended duration. This Outer Circle prototype is termed an on-going state, and clearly differs from the sense of a temporary state, which is prototypical for Inner Circle varieties. There are nevertheless a substantial minority of limited duration (temporary state) uses, especially in the written data, but at the same time, a number of examples where the progressive conveys the sense of states with unlimited duration, especially in BSAfE and the spoken data. The main conclusion is that the progressive is not simply extended to stative verbs, as is argued by many previous researchers, but rather that of a different prototype, of extended duration, sanctions a wider range of uses of the progressive form with dynamic verbs and stative verbs alike.
This study explores the system of progressive aspect marking in educated adult speakers of Nigerian English (NigE), which has been claimed to differ distinctly from that of other varieties of English. A total of 4,813 progressive constructions drawn from the International Corpus of English (ICE)–Nigeria were analyzed and compared with data from the ICE–Great Britain and previous studies. In addition, the acceptability of progressive constructions was tested in a questionnaire study. The results show both distinct stylistic variation in the use of progressives in NigE and some systematic differences from their use in British English. The corpus-based study further reveals some extended use of the progressive in NigE such as in connection with verbs referring to habitual nonbounded durative activities or stative verbs. Many of these patterns of extended use might be explained by referring to the interplay between aspects of first and second language usage (such as that of Igbo and English). Results from the questionnaire survey suggest that only a subgroup of these extended progressives is considered acceptable by NigE speakers.
This study investigates crosslinguistic variation in the semantic domain of ac-tionality. It argues that the observed distribution of aspectual grams is best accounted for if one assumes that actionality is a parameter that allows for different settings in different languages. Entities such as "stative", "telic", "punctual" are crosslinguistic actional types in the same way as "progres-sive", "perfective", or "past" are crosslinguistic gram types. After an outline of the design of a crosslinguistic study of actionality and an initial charac-terization of basic actional meanings and their relations to the meanings of aspectual grams, in-depth case studies are presented of actionality and the as-pect/actionality interface in four genetically unrelated languages.
The extension of the progressive aspect to stative verbs has been identified as a characteristic feature of New Varieties of English across the world, including the English of black South Africans (BSAfE). This paper examines the use of the progressive aspect in BSAfE, by doing a comparative analysis of three corpora of argumentative student writing representing BSAfE (an outer circle variety), inner circle English and German Learner English as an example of expanding circle English. A comprehensive discussion of the meaning of the progressive aspect in English leads to the definition of a prototype, alongside various extensions and elaborations of the meaning of the construction. Nine attributes of the progressive are identified, which are used to analyse the data. On the basis of the co-occurrence of the attributes, 17 uses of the progressive construction are identified, most of which are consistent with grammatical descriptions of standardised inner circle varieties, but some not. When the three corpora are compared, the BSAfE data show very different ways of using the progressive construction that are not related to the core senses of the progressive aspect, but instead display a kind of continuous aspect without temporal immediacy. It is suggested that the progressive construction is used in a way consistent with the persistitive aspect of the Bantu languages, a type of imperfective that emphasises mainly the long duration and incompleteness of a stative or durative verb. The expanding circle data, on the other hand, appear very similar to the inner circle data, except for a tendency to put the progressive construction to a slightly more limited range of uses.
‘I'm busy going crazy’- [harassed graduate student of Linguistics, University of Cape Town]In an important paper Lass and Wright [Lass, R., Wright, S., 1986. Endogeny versus contact: Afrikaans influence in South African English. English World Wide 7 (2), 201–223] argued that busy in South African English was, contrary to prevailing scholarly intuitions, not really attributable to Afrikaans influence, except for a lifting of the semantic restriction that the verb being modified refer to work activities. The structure itself, they argued, was an endogenous development, i.e. reliant on already existing options within internal English structure, rather than a feature of language contact. This article aims to test the authors' conclusions in the light of further data since 1986, and the rise of corpus linguistics. It concludes that Lass and Wright were essentially correct in their views, with two important (related) modifications. The first is whether any appeal to Afrikaans pragmatics is necessary; the second is how South African the construction is in the first place.
Covarying Collexemes in the Into-Causative
- Gries
Standards, Codification, and Sociolinguistic Realism: The English Language in the Outer Circle
- Kachru
Aan die en besig in Afrikaanse progressiwiteitskonstruksies
- Breed