Stative Verbs with the Progressive

57 Pages·2010·0.41 MB·English

Masaryk University
Faculty of Arts

Department of English
and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Barbora Hermanová

Stative Verbs with the Progressive
Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: PhDr. Naděžda Kudrnáčová, CSc.

2010
I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently,
using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

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Author’s signature
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Acknowledgement
I would like to thank to PhDr. Naděžda Kudrnáčová, CSc. for her helpful insights and her inexhaustible
patience. I am also extremely grateful to Ing. Pavla Hermanová for proofreading of the thesis.
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Table of Contents

1. Introduction…………………………………………………7
2. Aspect…………………………………………………………8
a) Aspect Markers………………………………………9
3. The Progressive……………………………………………9
a) Usage of Progressive…………………………….10
4. Stative Verbs and States……………………………..12
a) Stative Verbs as Such……………………………14
b) Private Verbs……………………………………….14
c) Verbs of Physical Perception………………….14
5. Theories……………………………………………….……15
a) Change of Meaning………………..…………….15
b) Coercion……………………………………………..17
c) Aspect as a Matter of Choice……..………….18
6. Corpus Findings…………………………………………19
a) Verbs of State……………………………………..21
i. Seem……………………………………………..21
ii. Concern…………………………………………21
iii. Contain, Consist of…………………………22
iv. Belong…………………………………………..23
v. Depend………………………………………….23
vi. Matter………………………………………..…24
vii. Promise, Declare…………………………..24
viii. Discussion of the Findings—Verbs of
State……………………………………………26
b) Private Verbs……………………………………….28
i. Suppose, Presuppose……………………….28
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ii. Imagine ………………………………….…….29
iii. Need, Require……………………….……….30
iv. Realise, Understand……………………….32
v. Prefer, Favour…………………………………34
vi. Mind, Object………………………………….35
vii. Hate, Detest………………………………….36
viii. Like, Love…………………………………….37
ix. Know…………………………………………….39
x. Remember, Recall…………………………..39
xi. Discussion of the Findings—Private
Verbs……………………………………………42
c) Verbs of Physical Perception………………….44
i. Smell……………………………………………...44
ii. Taste……………………………………………..45
iii. Discussion of the Findings—Verbs of
Physical Perception………………………..46
7. Discussion of the Findings…………………………..46
8. Conclusion…………………………………………………48
9. Works Cited……………………………………………….53
10. Resume……………………………………………………56
11. Czech Resume/ České resumé……………….....57
12. Appendix………………………………...................CD

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Table of Graphs and Tables

1. Concern, BNC Distribution………………………..22
2. Promise, BNC Distribution………………………...25
3. Declare, BNC Distribution………………………….26
4. Verbs of State, Distribution Overview…………27
5. Imagine, BNC Distribution…………………………30
6. Need, BNC Distribution……………………………..32
7. Realise, BNC Distribution………………….…….…33
8. Love, BNC Distribution………………………………38
9. Remember, BNC Distribution……………………..40
10. Recall, Changes of Meanings………………….41
11. Private Verbs, Distribution Overview……….42
12. Private Verbs, Changes of Meanings
Overview………………………………………………43
13. Smell, BNC Distribution………………………….45
14. Verbs of Physical Perception, Distribution
Overview………………………………………………46
15. Distribution of Stative Verbs with the
Progressive according to Reasons for their
Usage…………………………………………………..48

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1. Introduction

In this thesis questions concerning stative verbs which occur with progressive
will be discussed. Stative verbs occur with the progressive even though, according to
prescriptivist grammars (for example Givón 1993), the usage of such form is
senseless. The aim of this thesis is to test different hypotheses dealing with stative
progressive in order to find out to what extent they are applicable in reality as well
as to search for features shared by stative progressives.
These aims are pursued by searching in the British National Corpus for
instances of stative verbs used in progressive, analysing the findings and comparing
them with existing theories covering this area as well as with each other.
In the thesis it will be suggested that not all the tested theories on stative
progressives prove correct or useful when confronted with corpus findings.
At the same time, it will be argued that characteristics of the occurrences of
stative progressives are not linked to the group in which they belong. Also, it will be
demonstrated that there is no connection between the numbers of occurrences of a
verb with the progressive and the lemma of the verb. Moreover, it will be argued
that patterns of occurrence are not shared by the verbs which occur with the
progressive.
However, before I start analysing the corpus findings, basic theories
concerning this topic will be reviewed. Namely, how stative verbs are defined, what
aspect is in general and what the progressive aspect is. Lastly, existing theories on
stative progressives and their main arguments will be discussed.

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2. Aspect
What is aspect? According to Yishai Tobin, who in his book Aspect in the
English Verb summarises approaches to aspect, traditionally there were two basic
approaches.
First of these approaches is "temporal" approach. It is based on placing a
process in time, that is distinguishing between processes which take place and
processes which are placed in time (1993: 5).
The other approach is "non-temporal". It is based on the speaker's view on
the situation, distinguishing between complete or incomplete situations (5-6). The
non-temporal view is taken by, for example, Biber at al.: "(…) aspect relates to
considerations such as the completion or lack of completion of events or states
described by a verb" (1999: 460; omission mine), or by Huddleston and Pullum: "The
term aspect applies to a system where the basic meanings have to do with the
internal temporal constituency of the situation. (…) The difference is a matter of how
the speaker views the situation" (2002: 117; omission mine). Also Quirk et al. write:
"The term aspect refers to a grammatical category which reflects the way in which
the verb action is regarded or experienced" (1985: 188).
Tobin adds to these two approaches that, in his opinion, the best way to look
at aspect in English is to distinguish between process and result. "In particular we
propose that language may reflect two fundamental ways of viewing actions, states
or events; either as focusing on the (ongoing) process involved in the action, state or
event, or, alternatively, from the point of view of the result (outcome, endpoint,
consequence, completion, destination, or telic or teleological goal)" (1993: 15).
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I have chosen to follow the non-temporal approach which stresses the
importance of the speaker's view of the situation. I have done so for two reasons.
The first reason is that the speaker determines the used structure and therefore the
reason for choosing the given structure can be found, more probably than anywhere
else, in his utterance. The second reason is that the speaker's utterance is in many
cases the only source of information for the linguist. I am, however, also aware of
the disadvantage of this approach. Namely, that in some cases it may be very
difficult to define what the speaker's motivation and intentions are.

a) Aspect Markers
English does not have a single aspect marker (Tobin 1993: 4). Tobin in the
above mentioned book names several of the different markers. "Among the various
strategies employed in English for expressing aspectuality we have the use of tenses,
adverbial phrases, noun phrases, verb classes and types, verb construction, phrasal
verbs, verbal aspectualizers, complement structures, etc." (4).
This thesis will be focused on the use of tenses or verb constructions, more
precisely, stative verbs occurring in present progressive, past progressive, etc.

3. The Progressive
Based on the previous theories on aspect, two categories of aspect can be
defined. The processes placed in time in the temporal approach, the complete
actions in non-temporal approach and the results in the last approach can be
grouped under the heading of perfective aspect. The processes taking place in time,
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the non-complete actions and the processes can be grouped under the heading of
progressive aspect.
As authors differ in defining aspect, they logically also differ in defining the
progressive and its functions. Since I have decided to focus on the speaker centred
approach to aspect, I will also present a speaker centred view on the progressive.
This view corresponds with, for example, Huddleston and Pullum's definition of
the progressive: "The progressive takes an internal view, looking at it (i.e. situation)
from the inside, as it were, as something ongoing, in progress" (2002: 117). Or with
the view of Quirk et al.: "As its name suggests, the progressive aspect (also
sometimes called the durative or continuous aspect) indicates a happening in
progress at a given time" (1985: 197). Similar definition can be found, for example,
in Carter and McCarthy (2007).

a) Usage of the Progressive
The uses of the progressive are determined to a great extent by the
definition of the progressive. Biber et al. hold: "The progressive aspect is used to
describe events that are currently in progress at a particular time, usually for limited
duration" (1999: 470). Similarly, Long argues that:

Progressive aspect forms are normal where predications tell of action,
events, or states of affairs that are in process at the time of writing or
speaking and are thought of as begun but not ended, with beginnings and/or
ends felt as relatively close to the time of writing or speaking. (1993: 125)

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