The subjective use of postural verb in Afrikaans (I): evolution from progressive to modal
A general linguistic use of progressive aspect is to express some kind of subjective meaning. In other words, this aspectual construction is applied to postulate the speaker’s attitude towards or emotional involvement with a particular situation. Although this practice occurs in all three Afrikaans...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Afrikaans |
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Stellenbosch University
2017-12-01
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| Series: | Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus |
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| Online Access: | https://spilplus.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/699 |
| _version_ | 1828481938630901760 |
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| author | Breed, Adri |
| author_facet | Breed, Adri |
| author_sort | Breed, Adri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A general linguistic use of progressive aspect is to express some kind of subjective meaning. In other words, this aspectual construction is applied to postulate the speaker’s attitude towards or emotional involvement with a particular situation. Although this practice occurs in all three Afrikaans progressive constructions, it is clear that the postural progressive in Afrikaans in particular became specialised with respect to subjective expression. The CPV [1] en construction is even used in constructions that cannot be interpreted as progressive situations (for example, stative or anterior situation types), and furthermore this construction collocates significantly strongly with negative communication verbs (verbs like skinder 'gossip', kla 'complain' and pla 'bother'). The subjective use of progressive constructions in Afrikaans has not received much attention to date. In two complementary articles (this article and The subjective use of postural verbs in Afrikaans (II): a corpus analysis of CPV en in Zefrikaans) the development and use of the CPV en as a subjective or interpretative construction, are investigated. Based on a relevant literature review, the purpose of this article is to propose a development route for the evolution of the subjective CPV en construction; and also to highlight some typical characteristics of the subjective CPV en construction, on the basis of a pilot corpus study. The modal CPV en construction develops in five phases. During the first two phases, the postural verb is used to express the physical or spatial orientation of the subject. During the third and fourth phases, the postural verb develops into an aspectual auxiliary verb. It is only in the fourth phase that the progressive construction is used in modal contexts. In the last, fifth phase, the progressive meaning of the CPV en construction fades completely and it evolves into a pure modal construction. The subjective CPV en construction is characterised by two typical characteristics: firstly, the construction is mostly used in negative contexts (such as insult, blame, self-reproach or judgment) and secondly, it is mainly used in informal or spoken language. It does not appear frequently in a corpus of written Standard Afrikaans. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T08:04:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-efb3445059c44ea59e2930915eb832be |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1726-541X 2224-3380 |
| language | Afrikaans |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T08:04:43Z |
| publishDate | 2017-12-01 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus |
| spelling | doaj.art-efb3445059c44ea59e2930915eb832be2022-12-22T01:15:01ZafrStellenbosch UniversityStellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus1726-541X2224-33802017-12-0152012110.5774/52-0-699The subjective use of postural verb in Afrikaans (I): evolution from progressive to modalBreed, Adri 0North-West-University, South AfricaA general linguistic use of progressive aspect is to express some kind of subjective meaning. In other words, this aspectual construction is applied to postulate the speaker’s attitude towards or emotional involvement with a particular situation. Although this practice occurs in all three Afrikaans progressive constructions, it is clear that the postural progressive in Afrikaans in particular became specialised with respect to subjective expression. The CPV [1] en construction is even used in constructions that cannot be interpreted as progressive situations (for example, stative or anterior situation types), and furthermore this construction collocates significantly strongly with negative communication verbs (verbs like skinder 'gossip', kla 'complain' and pla 'bother'). The subjective use of progressive constructions in Afrikaans has not received much attention to date. In two complementary articles (this article and The subjective use of postural verbs in Afrikaans (II): a corpus analysis of CPV en in Zefrikaans) the development and use of the CPV en as a subjective or interpretative construction, are investigated. Based on a relevant literature review, the purpose of this article is to propose a development route for the evolution of the subjective CPV en construction; and also to highlight some typical characteristics of the subjective CPV en construction, on the basis of a pilot corpus study. The modal CPV en construction develops in five phases. During the first two phases, the postural verb is used to express the physical or spatial orientation of the subject. During the third and fourth phases, the postural verb develops into an aspectual auxiliary verb. It is only in the fourth phase that the progressive construction is used in modal contexts. In the last, fifth phase, the progressive meaning of the CPV en construction fades completely and it evolves into a pure modal construction. The subjective CPV en construction is characterised by two typical characteristics: firstly, the construction is mostly used in negative contexts (such as insult, blame, self-reproach or judgment) and secondly, it is mainly used in informal or spoken language. It does not appear frequently in a corpus of written Standard Afrikaans.https://spilplus.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/699cardinal postural verbcpvposturalprogressivemodal usesubjective |
| spellingShingle | Breed, Adri The subjective use of postural verb in Afrikaans (I): evolution from progressive to modal Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus cardinal postural verb cpv postural progressive modal use subjective |
| title | The subjective use of postural verb in Afrikaans (I): evolution from progressive to modal |
| title_full | The subjective use of postural verb in Afrikaans (I): evolution from progressive to modal |
| title_fullStr | The subjective use of postural verb in Afrikaans (I): evolution from progressive to modal |
| title_full_unstemmed | The subjective use of postural verb in Afrikaans (I): evolution from progressive to modal |
| title_short | The subjective use of postural verb in Afrikaans (I): evolution from progressive to modal |
| title_sort | subjective use of postural verb in afrikaans i evolution from progressive to modal |
| topic | cardinal postural verb cpv postural progressive modal use subjective |
| url | https://spilplus.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/699 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT breedadri thesubjectiveuseofposturalverbinafrikaansievolutionfromprogressivetomodal AT breedadri subjectiveuseofposturalverbinafrikaansievolutionfromprogressivetomodal |