Stative Verbs MA - Thesis

Masaryk University Faculty of Arts
Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature
Bc. Jana Drkov
Stative Verbs with the Progressive

Masters Diploma Thesis
Supervisor: PhDr. Nadda Kudrnov, CSc.
2011
I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. ..
Acknowledgement I would like to thank PhDr. Nadda Kudrnov, CSc. for her kind help, patience, and valuable remarks that she provided me as my supervisor.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 6 1. THEORETICAL PART ................................................................................................ 7 1.1. Aspect .................................................................................................................... 7 1.1.1. Progressive Aspect .......................................................................................... 8 1.2. Verbs .................................................................................................................... 12 1.2.1. Stative Verbs ................................................................................................. 14 1.3. Theories on Stative Verbs with the Progressive .................................................. 18 1.4. Corpus Linguistics ............................................................................................... 23 1.4.1. Corpus ........................................................................................................... 23 2. PRACTICAL PART ................................................................................................... 25 2.1. Analysis of the Individual Verbs ......................................................................... 26 2.1.1. Love .............................................................................................................. 27 2.1.2. Like ............................................................................................................... 32 2.1.3. Fear ............................................................................................................... 37 2.1.4. Want .............................................................................................................. 41 2.1.5. Wish .............................................................................................................. 47 2.1.6. Know ............................................................................................................. 52 2.1.7. Understand .................................................................................................... 56 2.1.8. Believe .......................................................................................................... 60 2.1.9. Realise ........................................................................................................... 66 2.1.10. Suppose ....................................................................................................... 71 2.2. Comparison of the Verbs ..................................................................................... 77 2.3. Questionnaire ....................................................................................................... 85 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................... 89 4
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 93 RSUM ........................................................................................................................ 95 CZECH RSUM / ESK RESUM ......................................................................... 96 APPENDICES...............................................................................................................CD
INTRODUCTION In the thesis, I analyze the use of stative verbs, particularly the verbs of cognition, emotion, and attitude, with the progressive aspect. Though statives generally avoid the progressive, they are employed in this form under certain circumstances. The aim of the thesis is to examine and compare the selected verbs of cognition, emotion, and attitude, as regards their use with the progressive, and to find out if they are or are not similar in this respect as a group, and if the theories on stative progressives correspond to the actual usage of these verbs. The purpose of the thesis is also to reveal the degree of subjectivity in the use of stative verbs in this form. I divided the thesis into theoretical and practical part. In the theoretical part, the grammatical category of aspect and also, more specifically, the progressive aspect and its uses are characterized. I provide general features and classification of verbs as well. I also focus on the class of statives, for I analyze this group of verbs in the thesis. Furthermore, I attempt to give account of the theories on stative verbs with the progressive. The last chapter of the theoretical part deals with corpus linguistics and corpora as such, for the analysis is mainly based on the British National Corpus (BNC). The practical part of the thesis is based on the actual analysis of the selected verbs. First, I examine the verbs individually and then I compare them with each other. As has already been stated, the analysis is based on the corpus findings and the theories on stative verbs with the progressive. I focus on the occurrence of the verbs with the progressive in various registers as well as the circumstances under which they are employed in this form. The practical part also contains the analysis of the answers of a questionnaire that has been created in order to demonstrate the degree of subjectivity in the use of stative progressives. I conclude the thesis by interpretation of the results of the analysis.
1. THEORETICAL PART
1.1. Aspect A relatively high number of definitions and conceptions of aspect exist in the linguistic literature. Comrie defines aspects as different ways of viewing the internal temporal constituency of a situation (as cited in Tobin, 1993: 5). Quirk et al. (1985: 188) regard it as a grammatical category which reflects the way in which the verb action is regarded or experienced with respect to time. Similarly, Greenbaum (1996: 253) suggests that aspect refers to the way that the time of the situation is regarded rather than its location in time in absolute terms. According to Biber et al. (1999: 460), it relates to considerations such as the completion or lack of completion of events or states described by a verb. Gordon and Krylova (1974: 10) elaborate on this by stating that aspect is the form of the verb which serves to express the manner in which the action is performed: it shows whether it is a single accomplished action (a point action), a recurrent action or a continuous process. Though the number of conceptions of aspect is fairly high, generally, there have been two fundamental approaches to aspect - temporal approach and non-temporal approach (Tobin 1993: 5). The above mentioned definition of Biber et al., for instance, comes under the non-temporal theory. This approach is also based on Brintons notion of aspect as a speakers viewpoint or perspective on a situation (as cited in Tobin, 1993: 6). The temporal view is represented, for example, by the foregoing conception of Comrie. In the analysis of the employment of stative verbs with the progressive, I consider the speakers or readers views of a situation to a great extent. Nevertheless, I am not inclined solely to this non-temporal approach to aspect. I believe both of the views should always be taken into account, for I agree with Tobin (1993: 5) in
claiming that these two perspectives of actions, states and events often overlap. As to the ways of expressing aspectuality in English, Tobin (1993: 4) proposes the use of tenses, adverbial phrases, noun phrases, verb classes and types, verb constructions, phrasal verbs, verbal aspectualizers, complement structures, etc.. In the thesis, I analyze the use of progressive forms of stative verbs. Therefore, I focus primarily on the use of tenses, verb classes and types, and verb constructions. Two aspects exist in the English language - the perfect aspect and the progressive aspect (Biber et al. 1999: 460). The perfect aspect designates events or states taking place during a period leading up to the specified time (Biber et al. 1999: 460). According to Greenbaum (1996: 253-4), it is primarily used to place the time of one situation relative to the time of another situation. Since the aim of the thesis is to analyze the use of stative verbs with the progressive, I deal with this particular aspect in more detail in the following subchapter.
1.1.1. Progressive Aspect As there are many views on aspect as such, there is also a fairly high number of perspectives on the progressive aspect. Huddleston (1984: 153) argues that the progressive presents the situation as being in progress. This implies that the situation is conceived of as taking place, not simply obtaining - i.e. it is conceived of as having a more or less dynamic character, as opposed to being wholly static. According to Givn (1993: 151), the progressive converts a temporally compact, bounded, terminated event, one that has sharp temporal boundaries, into a temporally difuse, unbounded, ongoing process. He adds that the use of progressive does not imply that the event per se was unbounded or diffuse, but rather that from the perspective of the speaker, the event is described in the middle of happening, with its boundaries disregarded and its
temporal span accentuated (Givn 1993: 153). Furthermore, Charleston (1941: 116; omissions mine) claims that the progressive is used to denote that at a certain point of time chosen by the speaker () the action is already begun but is not yet finished. Whatever part of the action is involved, it may embrace neither its commencement nor its end. The meaning of the progressive can be separated into three components, not all of which need be present in a given instance (Quirk et al. 1985: 198). These are:
1. the happening has duration 2. the happening has limited duration 3. the happening is not necessarily complete (Quirk et al. 1985: 198)
As Quirk et al. (1985: 198) point out, the first two components add up to the concept of temporariness. They also propose a fourth component - the event described has an interrelationship or identity with another simultaneous event (Quirk et al. 1985: 198) As far as the use and functions of the progressive are concerned, Huddleston et al. (2002: 162) state that it has as its basic use the expression of progressive aspectuality. They further add that there are also some specialised uses which cannot be subsumed under this meaning, and this is why we are distinguishing between progressive aspect, a category of syntactic form, and progressive aspectuality, a category of meaning (Huddleston et al. 2002: 162-3). They argue that progressive aspectuality involves the following features:
1. the situation is presented as in progress, ongoing, at or throughout the time referred to 2. the situation is viewed imperfectively
3. the time referred to is a mid-interval within the time of situation 4. the situation is presented as durative 5. the situation is presented as dynamic 6. the situation is presented as having limited duration (Huddleston et al. 2002: 163)
The most significant use of the progressive aspect is that it denotes that an activity or process is (or was or will be) in progress at a given point of time and that it is (or was or will be) of limited duration (Roey 1982: 33). In a similar way, Long maintains that:
Progressive-aspect forms are normal where predications tell of actions, 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. (Long 1961: 125)
The progressive also expresses increasing or decreasing activity (Palmer 1974; Spasov 1972). Furthermore, it denotes repetition of the activity (Roey 1982: 33). This function of the progressive is also suggested in, for example, Spasov (1972) and Quirk et al. (1985). Expressing repetition tends to be associated with conveying a sort of disapproval of an action which (in the speakers opinion) happens too often (Millington Ward 1966: 9). This emotive component is also mentioned in, for example, Huddleston (1984) and Roey (1982). According to Greenbaum (1996: 277), another secondary use is as a more polite or more tentative alternative to the simple present or the simple past. This function of the progressive is also proposed in Quirk et al. (1985). Furthermore, in combination with a present tense form the progressive may give
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greater immediacy to the activity in a more or less generic statement, thus inviting one to imagine it actually taking place (Spasov 1972: 10). Roey (1982: 33) stresses that some of the secondary functions of the progressive apply only to certain tenses. The present progressive refers to future time in cases where the future event or activity has been planned or arranged (Roey 1982: 41). As for the future progressive, Quirk et al. (1985: 210) argue that it may be used with the special implication that the action will take place as a matter of course in the future. In such instances, any idea of will or intention is avoided (Huddleston et al. 2002; Roey 1982).
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1.2. Verbs All verbs occurring in the structure of the language, no matter what their structural justification in the sentence may be, indicate an activity (Spasov 1972: 28). Similarly, according to Frawley (1992: 140), a verb is traditionally defined as the grammatical category that represents the action in a sentence. However, he further adds that there are many verbs that do not represent actions, at least not in an intuitive sense of action as some kind of process carried out relatively deliberately, but are still verbs (Frawley 1992: 140-1). Therefore, he points out that verbs encode events: a cover term for states or conditions of existence, processes or unfoldings, and actions or executed processes (Frawley 1992: 141). Spasov states that the specific character of a verb is:
the ability (or inability) of a verb to convey the character or nature of the activity for which it is a linguistic symbol. This peculiar quality of the verb has been called by some writers the lexical character of the verb, and by others the aspectual character of the verb. (Spasov 1972: 29)
Furthermore, Huddleston (1984: 124) argues that most verbs have the following two properties - inflection and functional potential. By inflection,Huddleston (1984: 124) means that they are tensed: they have one or other of the inflectional properties past tense and present tense. Functional potential is the function of verbs as the ultimate head of the clause (Huddleston 1984: 124). As far as the classification of verbs is concerned, Biber et al. (1999: 361-4) propose the following semantic domains - activity verbs (e.g. to run), communication verbs (e.g. to speak), mental verbs (e.g. to know), verbs of facilitation or causation (e.g. to enable), verbs of simple occurrence (e.g. to happen), verbs of existence or
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relationship (e.g. to seem), and aspectual verbs (e.g. to begin). However, they state that it is important to note that many verbs have multiple meanings from different semantic domains (Biber et al. 1999: 361). According to Frawley (1992: 145), events denoted by verbs fall into four classes - acts, states, causes, and motion. Furthermore, Biber et al. (1999: 452) claim that verb phrases vary with respect to six major structural distinctions - tense, aspect, voice, modality, negation, and clause structure type. They suggest that these structural distinctions correspond to a number of semantic distinctions (Biber et al. 1999: 452). Nevertheless, they also emphasize that there is no one-to-one correspondence between form and meaning in the verb phrase. Rather, a single structural variant can represent quite different meanings; and similar meanings can be expressed by different structural variants (Biber et al. 1999: 452). As Huddleston et al. (2002: 118) maintain, the interpretation and use of tense, aspect, and (to a lesser extent) mood depends on the kind of situation expressed in the clause. They propose four kinds of situations - states, activities, accomplishments, and achievements (Huddleston et al. 2002: 118). Quirk et al. (1985: 200-9) present eleven situation types - qualities (e.g. to be tall), states (e.g. to love), stance (e.g. to stand), goings-on (e.g. to snow), activities (e.g. to drink), processes (e.g. to ripen), accomplishments (e.g. to discover), momentary events (e.g. to sneeze), momentary acts (e.g. to nod), transitional events (e.g. to catch), and transitional acts (e.g. to begin). Qualities, states, and stance are stative types, whereas the rest of the situations are dynamic types (Quirk et al. 1985: 201). They emphasize that:
we draw a broad distinction between dynamic (count) meanings and stative (noncount) meanings of verbs. It should be noted, though, that we talk of dynamic and stative meanings, rather than dynamic and stative verbs. This is
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because one verb may shift, in meaning, from one category to another. (Quirk et al. 1985: 178)
They further add that the dynamic/stative distinction is not clear-cut. () There are some verbs whose meanings cannot be adequately described in terms of this dichotomy (Quirk et al. 1985: 178; omissions mine). Similarly, Huddleston et al. (2002: 168) point out that the distinction between states and occurrences is not sharply drawn in objective reality: there is scope for differences in the way a situation is conceptualised and in the properties lexicalised in particular verbs. Since I analyze statives with the progressive in the thesis, I focus on this particular type of verbs in detail in the following subchapter.
1.2.1. Stative Verbs There is not a uniform terminology for this type of verbs in the linguistic literature. The term stative verbs occurs fairly frequently, for example in Quirk et al. (1985), Roey (1982), and Givn (1993). On the other hand, Spasov (1972) and Palmer (1974), for instance, call this type of verbs non-progressive verbs. Joos (1964) uses the expression status verbs. Furthermore, I have also fairly often encountered the term states. The relation between states and stative verbs is that states are a type of situations that are characterized by stative verbs. Huddleston et al. (2002: 119) define states by comparing them with occurrences when they claim that states exist or obtain, while occurrences happen, take place. Occurrences involve change, while states do not. States have no internal temporal structure: they are the same throughout their duration, having no distinguishable phases. In a similar way, Frawley (1992: 146) points out that stative events are
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internally uniform, in marked contrast to actives, which appear to be heterogeneous and internally structured. As he further adds, this difference in uniformity between actives and statives is a difference in scope. For statives, the scope of the event is the event as a totality; for actives, the scope of the event is its components (Frawley 1992: 147). Furthermore, states saturate () the time interval in which they occur all the way down through the moments. By this claim, we mean that if states are true at an interval, then they are also true at every moment comprising the interval (Frawley 1992: 188; omissions mine). In other words, all phases of a stative situation are identical (Comrie 1976: 49). Stative verbs are relatively frequently discussed in terms of their avoidance of the progressive aspect. As Quirk et al. (1985: 198) argue, in many cases the progressive is unacceptable with stative verbs. According to Palmer (1974: 70), nonprogressive verbs are commonly not used in the progressive form at all, even where they seem to indicate duration. These verbs differ from the other verbs of English in that they usually, even in the present tense, occur with the non-progressive. Similarly, Roey maintains that:
The verbs which can be used in the progressive form are often called dynamic verbs: they denote an event, an activity or a process which is compatible with the notions in progress and of limited duration. Other verbs, often called stative, express a state or a condition, which exists or does not exist but is not compatible with these notions. (Roey 1982: 34)
Similar definitions can be found in Givn (1993), Spasov (1972), Joos (1964), and Huddleston et al. (2002).
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Quirk et al. (1985: 198) explain the incompatibility of stative verbs with the progressive by pointing out that stative verb meanings are inimical to the idea that some phenomenon is in progress. States are like-parted in that every segment of a state has the same character as any other segment: no progress is made. According to Givn (1993: 151), the progressive converts a compact event into a state. But stative verbs already signal a state through their inherent lexical meaning. It thus makes no sense to convert them into what they already are. Nevertheless, one must note that it is not the progressive form of the verb that exhibits the restriction, but rather the particular sense associated with that form (Givn 1993: 151). As to the classification of stative verbs, the authors differ from each other to a certain extent. Palmer divides stative verbs into two categories:
1. private verbs - refer to states or activities that the speaker alone is aware of; these are those that refer to mental activities (e.g. to believe, to think) and those that refer to sensations (e.g. to see, to hear) 2. verbs of state - refer not to an activity but to a state or condition (e.g. to contain, to depend) (Palmer 1974: 71-3)
Joos (1964: 118) proposes similar classification in which the verbs of state are called relations (e.g. relation of depending), and the group of mental activities is enlarged by verbs referring to emotional attitudes (e.g. to like). Quirk et al. (1985: 202-5) also present such categorization, however, they provide a more detailed classification of private verbs. They divide this group into four categories - intellectual states, states of emotion or attitude, states of perception, and states of bodily sensation (Quirk et al. 1985: 203). All these classifications are based on two main groups - private verbs and
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verbs of state. However, there are also authors (Gordon and Krylova 1974; Roey 1982; Spasov 1972) who omit the division into these two classes completely. For the analysis, I have chosen a specific subclass of private verbs. It is the group of verbs of cognition, emotion, and attitude that is presented by Huddleston et al. (2002: 170). Examples of such verbs are: agree, believe, fear, forget, hope, intend, know, like, love, etc. (Huddleston et al. 2002: 170). I have selected this group for a number of reasons. First, it is considered a large and important class of stative verbs (Huddleston et al. 2002: 170). Also, it is argued that none of these verbs completely excludes the progressive, however, though they differ with respect to how easily they take it (Huddleston et al. 2002: 170). It will be therefore a challenge to reveal to what extent they actually differ in this respect. Last but not least, since this class consists of both cognitive states and states rather associated with emotional attitudes, I will be also able to analyze the differences between these two groups, as far as their employment in the progressive form is concerned.
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1.3. Theories on Stative Verbs with the Progressive As has already been mentioned, stative verbs do not normally combine with the progressive aspect. Nevertheless, a relatively high number of circumstances under which these verbs are employed in this manner are proposed in the linguistic literature. I divided these theories into twelve groups. In certain cases, the reasons for using stative verbs in the progressive form are only stated and not discussed or elaborated on under the theory on stative progressives. Therefore, in attempt to interpret and explain these circumstances to some extent, I will sometimes use the theories on the progressive aspect as such, where the explanations of the usages are sufficient and, of course, fully correspond to the usages dealt with under the theory of stative progressives. The first theory seems to be based on the use of stative verbs with the progressive in order to express politeness and tentativeness, to hedge or soften certain statements and propositions and their effect. As Quirk et al. (1985: 203) claim, stative verbs occur with the progressive when tentativeness is being emphasized. The progressive avoids any danger of apparent brusqueness (Huddleston et al. 2002: 170). In a similar way, Leech (1971: 24) maintains that the progressive is a more tentative, and hence more polite method of expressing a mental attitude. The following example demonstrates this theory: I was hoping you would give me some advice (Quirk et al. 1985: 203). Another reason for the employment of stative verbs in the progressive form is to express intensity of emotion, and to put emphasis on the verb and the situation it describes. According to Gordon and Krylova (1974: 18), the progressive gives emotional colouring to stative verbs. Such usage is an indication of intensity of sensation or feeling (Spasov 1972: 120). Similarly, Millington Ward (1966: 14) points out that sometimes (though rarely), some of these verbs (i.e. stative verbs) are used to
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express enjoyment or lack of enjoyment. In these cases, they have the usual continuous forms. An example of this use is: Oh, please, not yet. I am loving this Turkish music. Arent you? (Millington Ward 1966: 14). Stative verbs are also used in the progressive form due to the change of their meanings. Quirk et al. (1985: 200) argue that if stative verbs are used with the progressive, it is a sign that they have been in some sense reinterpreted as containing a dynamic predication. They further add that this change of interpretation can usually be explained as a transfer, or reclassification of the verb as dynamic (Quirk et al. 1985: 202). According to Spasov (1972: 119), the use of stative progressives is possible due to slight modification of the semantic meaning of the verb. This theory is also proposed by Roey (1982), Leech (1971), Gordon and Krylova (1974) and Huddleston et al. (2002). The following sentence demonstrates such usage: Hes minding the baby while his wife is at the cinema (Spasov 1972: 119). The following theory is based on the use of stative progressives in order to emphasize immediate present or the moment of speaking. As Rot (1988: 49) states, sometimes stative progressives are only possible if one particularly wishes to stress the present focus. Similarly, Joos (1964: 115) suggests that stative verbs are only found in the continuous form when we wish to give special emphasis to their particular application to this very moment. In other words, when such usage occurs, the attention is centered on the condition at the time of speaking (Spasov 1972: 120). An example of this employment is: The programmes you are hearing are coming to you from the BBC, London (Spasov 1972: 120). Another reason for the use of stative verbs with the progressive is to stress temporariness, the present period of time, and also limited duration. According to Biber et al. (1999: 471), the progressive can be used with verbs that describe a static
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situation. In this case, the progressive expresses the meaning of a temporary state that exist for a period of time. Stative progressives imply temporariness rather than permanence (Quirk et al. 1985: 198). A similar opinion is held by Palmer (1974: 74), who claims that stative verbs are used with progressive forms where there is reference to limited duration. This theory is also presented by Huddleston et al. (2002) and Leech (1971). The following sentence indicates such usage: My knee is hurting (Leech 1971: 22). Stative verbs are also employed with the progressive to indicate that the activity expressed by a verb is increasing or decreasing. As Spasov (1972: 121) points out, the progressive aspect is used to indicate increasing or decreasing activity of a nonprogressive verb. In a similar way, Rot (1988: 48) maintains that stative verbs in the progressive form indicate a gradual change in state for better or for worse. Such employment expresses a change in the degree of the activity indicated by a verb (Comrie 1976: 37). It is usually signalled by an accompanying comparative such as more, better, less, etc. (Rot 1988: 48). This theory is also dealt with in Leech (1971), Palmer (1974) and Huddleston et al. (2002). The following example demonstrates this concept: Its mattering less and less now (Spasov 1972: 121). The next theory is based on the use of stative progressives in order to express near future and something that is planned or arranged. As Joos (1964: 115) argues, stative verbs can be found in the progressive form to indicate an immediate future and this occurs only rarely. Quirk et al. (1985: 215) state that the present progressive can refer to a future happening anticipated in the present. Its basic meaning is: future arising from present arrangement, plan, or programme. An example of such usage is: Im seeing him tomorrow (Joos 1964: 115). Another reason for employing stative verbs in the progressive form is to
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emphasize repetition. According to Spasov (1972: 121), stative verbs are used with the progressive to indicate habitually or sporadically repeated activities performed over longer or shorter periods. In a similar way, Palmer (1974: 74) claims that stative progressives commonly express habitual activity over a limited period and are also used for sporadic repetition. This sentence demonstrates the theory: Youre always doubting my words (Spasov 1972: 121). Furthermore, stative progressives tend to be employed in order to emphasize that a state or activity expressed by a verb lasts for a certain period of time and, thus, has duration. According to Palmer (1974: 73), the private verbs are used with the progressive where there is simply emphasis upon the duration. However, he restricts this theory only to the private verbs, for he stresses that with the verbs of state the position is a little different. With them there is never emphasis on the duration (Palmer 1974: 74). An example of this conception is: Shes hoping all the time that hell come back (Palmer 1974: 74). Proponents of the following theory hold that stative verbs have an explanatory function when they are employed in the progressive form. According to Huddleston et al. (2002: 170), when stative verbs are used with the progressive, the authors of the utterances are concerned with explaining, interpreting, commenting on something they or other people have just said. It is also pointed out that the progressive is not required here but is more usual than the non-progressive; the internal (imperfective) view is appropriate to the explanatory function of the clause (Huddleston et al. 2002: 165). An example of this theory is: Youre forgetting you said youd help (Huddleston et al. 2002: 170). The following theory is based on the use of stative verbs in the progressive form in order to indicate that the state or activity expressed by a verb occurred only recently.
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As Rot (1988: 50) maintains, when stative verbs are employed with the present perfect progressive, there is a notion of recent occurrence. In a similar manner, Spasov (1972: 121) points out that stative progressives indicate an activity immediately preceding the present moment. The following sentence demonstrates this theory: Im glad you feel like that, but the fact is your positions queer, Hubert, Ive just been hearing. (J. Galsworthy) (as cited in Spasov, 1972: 121). Last but not least, stative verbs tend to be used in the progressive form to indicate a natural course of events without expressing any intention or volition. As Gordon and Krylova (1974: 48) suggest, the future continuous is used to express an action which the speaker expects to take place in the future in the normal, natural course of events. Similarly, Quirk et al. (1985: 216) argue that this construction denotes future as a matter of course. The use of this combination avoids the interpretation (to which will, shall, and be going to are liable) of volition, intention, promise, etc.. Moreover, Huddleston et al. (2002: 172) point out that in questions, this construction is used to avoid the interpretation of request. It is also stressed that the matter-of-course implication of will (or shall) with the progressive is also found with other modal auxiliaries (Quirk et al. 1985: 210). An example of this usage is: Harris said, We shall be wanting to start in less than twelve hours time. (Gordon and Krylova 1974: 49).
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1.4. Corpus Linguistics Corpus linguistics is the study of language on the basis of text corpora (Aijmer and Altenberg 1991: 1). Biber et al. (1998: 1) argue that it investigates how speakers and writers exploit the resources of their language. It is an empirical approach that involves studying examples of what people have actually said, rather than hypothesizing about what they might or should say (Bowker and Pearson 2002: 9). Biber et al. (1998: 5) point out that the goal of corpus linguistics is not simply to report quantitative findings, but to explore the importance of these findings for learning about the patterns of language use. As Bowker and Pearson (2002: 11) claim, corpus linguistics has applications in a wide range of disciplines, such as the discipline of lexicography, the field of language learning, sociolinguistic studies, historical linguistics, linguistics proper, terminology, translation and technical writing.
1.4.1. Corpus Sinclair (1991: 14) defines a corpus as a sample of the living language. According to McEnery et al. (2006: 4), it is a collection of sampled texts, written or spoken, in machine-readable form which may be annotated with various forms of linguistic information. Bowker and Pearson (2002: 10) argue that the texts in a corpus are selected according to explicit criteria in order to be used as a representative sample of a particular language or subset of that language. A corpus provides data about the frequency of words in the entire corpus as well as in various registers. Moreover, it displays collocations of words. As for the application of corpora, Sinclair (1991: 17) points out that one of the principal uses of a corpus is to identify what is central and typical in the language. He proposes two kinds of corpora:
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1. sample corpus - a finite collection of texts, often chosen with great care and studied in detail; once a sample corpus is established, it is not added to or changed in any way 2. monitor corpus - a corpus which re-uses language text that has been prepared in machine-readable form for other purposes - for typesetters of newspapers, magazines, books, word-processors, and for legal or bureaucratic reasons (Sinclair 1991: 171-2)
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2. PRACTICAL PART The practical part of the thesis deals with the analysis of the selected verbs of cognition, emotion, and attitude in terms of their occurrence in the progressive form. The verbs are not only examined individually, but also compared with each other. The analysis is based on the corpus findings and the theories on stative verbs with the progressive. It demonstrates in which style of language each of the verbs tends to occur in the progressive form and what the motives are for such usage. It also shows to what extent the theories on statives with the progressive correspond to the actual employment of the verbs. Moreover, the analysis indicates if the verbs are similar as a group or if they differ in their occurrence with the progressive. In addition to that, by means of a questionnaire, I demonstrate the degree of subjectivity in the use of stative verbs in this particular form. Prior to the actual analysis, it is important to state the tools and methods I have employed. As has already been mentioned, the BNC was used to generate the occurrences of the selected verbs in the progressive form. I searched for these instances by entering the given verb in the present participle into the query field, and entering the lemma of the verb be into the context field, which was formatted to search in up to five tokens to the left. Out of thus generated collocates, only those which corresponded to stative verbs with the progressive were selected. As for the words chosen for the analysis, I have selected ten verbs from the group of verbs of cognition, emotion, and attitude in a manner that they are representative examples not only according to Huddleston et al. (2002: 170), but also in other grammar books (Biber et al. 1999: 363; Quirk et al. 1985: 203). The selected verbs are love, like, fear, want, wish, know, understand, believe, realise, and suppose. Furthermore, I have chosen these verbs in a
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way that half of them express cognitive states (know, understand, believe, realise, and suppose), while the other half rather represent emotions (love, like, fear, want, wish). This was done in order to see if the semantic difference between these two groups of verbs will be reflected in their use in the progressive form. Although the verbs hope, think, and wonder can be considered representative examples as well, they were not selected for the analysis, for they are regarded as frequently occurring with the progressive aspect (more than ten times per million words) (Biber et al. 1999: 472). It is suggested that they rather fall into the group of progressive mental verbs (Biber et al. 1999: 474). Therefore, due to the fact that they are not treated in the same way as the rest of the verbs in the group, I do not include them in the analysis.
2.1. Analysis of the Individual Verbs In this part of the thesis, by means of the BNC, I analyze each of the selected verbs of cognition, emotion, and attitude, as far as its occurrence with the progressive is concerned. I focus not only on their general occurrence in the corpus, but also on their occurrence in different styles of language. Furthermore, I am interested in determining the circumstances under which they are used with the progressive. This part of the analysis demonstrates in which register each of the verbs is or is not frequently found in this particular form. It also indicates the reasons for such usage. As to the registers, I focus on spoken language, fiction, newspaper, academic texts, and miscellaneous. I do not regard magazines and non-academic texts to be as significant as to be analyzed independently. Therefore, I incorporate them into miscellaneous. As far as the motives for using the given verbs with the progressive are concerned, I take several aspects into account while analyzing the verbs. I focus on the context, tenses, register, and also particular words used in the given context. In quite a
26
lot of cases, the context plays a significant role in the analysis of the use of the given verbs with the progressive. Therefore, I will sometimes provide examples with extended contexts, so that the reason for such usage can be recognized. In all the tables representing the reasons for employing the selected verbs with the progressive, I provide all motives that have been discussed in the chapter dealing with the theories on stative verbs with the progressive, even though not all of them are detected in the corpus for each of the verbs. This is done in order to display to what extent the theories correspond to the actual usage of each of the selected verbs. These motives are located above the bold line in the tables. Other reasons can be found under the bold line. All the following examples of the usage of the given verbs in the progressive form are taken from the BNC.
2.1.1. Love The verb love occurs in the progressive form thirty-one times in the corpus. The following table indicates the occurrence of the verb across various registers. The column TOKENS signifies the raw number of instances in the given registers, whereas PER MIL represents the frequency per million words.
27
Table 1 Distribution of Love LOVE TOKENS all registers (96,263,399 words) spoken (9,963,663 words) fiction (15,909,312 words) newspaper (10,466,422 words) academic (15,331,668 words) miscellaneous (44,592,334 words) 31 2 6 12 2 9 PER MIL 0.32 0.2 0.38 1.15 0.13 0.2
REGISTER
It can be seen from the table that the progressive form of love occurs more frequently in written language than in the spoken mode. As far as the given registers are concerned, it is found in all of them. However, it occurs most significantly in the newspaper style. Furthermore, love was quite often detected in fiction, but less frequently in spoken language and miscellaneous. It does not occur in the academic style very much. The following table demonstrates the reasons for using the verb love with the progressive and their frequency in the entire corpus as well as in different registers. The letter T stands for tokens and the letters PM indicate the frequency per million words.
28
Table 2 Distribution of Reasons for Using Love with the Progressive miscellaneous 8 0.18 1 0.02 1 0.02 3 0.07 1 0.02 all registers
newspaper 10 0.96 1 0.1 2 0.19 7 0.67
LOVE
politeness, tentativeness emotional colouring change of the meaning the moment of speaking temporariness
T PM T PM T PM T PM T PM
22 0.22 5 0.05 4 0.04 2 0.02 2 0.02 15 0.15 1 0.01 1 0.01
1 0.1 1 0.1 2 0.2
1 0.06 4 0.25 2 0.13 3 0.19 1 0.06
0.13 1 0.07
T increasing, decreasing activity PM immediate future habitual, sporadic repetition duration interpretive, explanatory use recent occurrence a matter of course immediacy in a generic statement T PM T PM T PM T PM T PM T PM T PM
As the table above demonstrates, the progressive form of love is used in order to express emotiveness, temporariness, duration, repetition, the moment of speaking, and 29
academic 2
spoken
fiction
also to present a situation as a matter of course, and to give immediacy to a generic statement. Moreover, it is employed due to the change of its meaning. According to the table, love is employed with the progressive to emphasize the intensity of emotion much more often than for any other reason. The following lines demonstrate this particular usage: The 28-year-old has made his first shift from children's telly with the Friday evening showbiz slot "Entertainment Express" where he works alongside Selina Scott -and he is loving it (BNC: K5D). The expression loving every minute occurred three times and loving every bit twice in the corpus and they clearly show emotiveness. The motive of emotional colouring was detected predominantly in the style of neswpaper. Another reason that occurred quite substantially is the stress on duration, as in Bob Mays had to confront the fact that for years he had been loving someone else's daughter (BNC: CBE). Four out of fifteen such occurrences contain the verb love in the past perfect or present perfect tense. This motive can be found mainly in the newspaper style as well. As regards the other motives, love is used five times with the progressive due to the change of its meaning. It shifts to to make love three times in the BNC, as in She clung to him, passionately rained kisses down his face, easing the anguish, catering her hands down his back as he moved restlessly against her. Minutes later he was loving her completely, his thrusts deep inside her (BNC: JY4). The shift to to embrace was detected twice: But Fatima was laughing and loving herself with crossed arms (BNC: G06). The motive of the meaning change occurred primarily in fiction. As for the emphasis on immediate present, four instances were detected in the BNC, as in "Jay, what are you doing?" murmured Lucy, the words broken by hauling breaths inside her. "I'm loving you," said Jay (BNC: A0L). The progressive form of love is used in this way primarily in fiction. Furthermore, the stress on the present period of time was also detected as a reason for employing love with the progressive: We had difficulty
30
persuading our kids out of the creche and into their different groups, they liked the wee ones so much! However we are loving being back in the service now (BNC: CC9). The stress on repetition also marginally occurs in the BNC: "Football is a game of chance and I am loving every minute of it. I can see signs of improvement throughout the club" (BNC: K52). Last but not least, the progressive form of love is also once employed in order to give immediacy to a generic statement and to present a situation as a matter of course. Providing immediacy to a more or less generic statement is not mentioned in the theory on stative verbs with the progressive. However, it is stated in the theory on progressive aspect as such (Spasov 1972: 104). As has already been mentioned, Spasov (1972: 104) argues that in combination with a present tense form the progressive may give greater immediacy to the activity in a more or less generic statement, thus inviting one to imagine it actually taking place. There were also instances in the corpus where the progressive form simply adds immediacy to a rather general statement and thus makes a depiction more vivid and involves the listeners or readers into the action. The motive of providing immediacy comprises both of these types of usage. It is essential to point out that it is not always just one reason that makes people employ the given verb with the progressive. It seems that it is sometimes rather a combination of two or even more motives that lead to such usage. The occurrence of each motive in combination with other reasons is already included in the overall number of instances of that motive. It is only their combining that will now be specified. As for love, twenty-one out of thirty-one occurrences contained more than one motive for using this verb with the progressive. The combination of emotiveness with the stress on duration was detected nine times in the BNC: Davies, who will be 33 next month, enthused: "I'm still loving the game" (BNC: A8N). Emphasizing duration also occurred with the change of meaning, as in his tiny presence seemed to make all the
31
suffering and pain his birth had caused worthwhile. Except that while she was loving him, gazing wonderingly at his blind eyes, Dr Neil said suddenly and hoarsely (BNC: HGE). This usage was detected three times in the BNC. Another grouping comprises emotional colouring and the stress on immediate present, as in the man who seeks suffering and finds it (and so finds satisfaction too) at the bottom of his vodka jug, who screams "I'm loving this!" when his wife pulls him across the room by his hair (BNC: A18). The rest of the combinations are the following: emotiveness together with the stress on repetition, the change of meaning with the emphasis on immediate present, emotiveness with the stress on temporariness and, not less importantly, giving immediacy to a generic statement together with emotional colouring. To sum up, the verb love in the progressive form can be found predominantly in written language, particularly in the neswpaper style. It occurs only rarely in academic language. The most frequent reason for employing love with the progressive is to express intensity of a feeling. It is also often used in order to stress duration. What is more, these two motives were detected many times together in the occurrences of love. For complete list of occurrences see Appendix 1.1.
2.1.2. Like The verb like was found in the progressive form sixteen times in the BNC. The first table shows how frequently this verb is used in the given styles of language.
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Table 3 Distribution of Like LIKE TOKENS all registers (96,263,399 words) spoken (9,963,663 words) fiction (15,909,312 words) newspaper (10,466,422 words) academic (15,331,668 words) miscellaneous (44,592,334 words) 16 5 8 3 PER MIL 0.17 0.5 0.5 0.07
REGISTER
The table reveals that like is used with the progressive mainly in spoken language. Its occurrence in the written mode is less frequent. As to the individual registers, it is often employed in spoken language and fiction. Furthermore, it can be found marginally in miscellaneous. On the other hand, it does not occur in newspaper and the academic style at all. The non-occurrence of like in academic texts shows that it is probably regarded as improper and informal in this form. The second table represents the motives for employing like in the progressive form and their occurrence across various registers.
33
Table 4 Distribution of Reasons for Using Like with the Progressive miscellaneous 1 0.02 1 0.02 1 0.02 2 0.04 all registers
newspaper
LIKE
3 0.03 5 0.05 4 0.04 9 0.09 1 0.01 1 0.01
1 0.1 2 0.2 1 0.1 3 0.3 1 0.1
1 0.06 2 0.13 2 0.13 4 0.25 1 0.06
T increasing, decreasing activity PM immediate future habitual, sporadic repetition duration interpretive, explanatory use recent occurrence a matter of course T PM T PM T PM T PM T PM T PM
The table clearly shows that the progressive form of like tends to be employed in order to emphasize temporariness, increasing activity, the moment of speaking, intensity of emotion, and also in order to express politeness. Moreover, it is used to 34
academic
spoken
fiction
present a situation as a matter of course. The rest of the reasons proposed in various grammar books or any other motives were not detected in the occurrences of this verb with the progressive. It can be seen from the table above that like is used most frequently to stress temporariness, as in I'm looking for the old voice I don't like me voice, I'm not liking it at all and I think that's what putting me off on taping it and listening to (BNC: KCF). This particular usage was detected primarily in spoken language and fiction. As to the other motives, like is employed five times in order to express emotiveness, as in We are liking a smashing good time like estate agents and Neighbours, also Brookside for we are allowed four Channels (BNC: FAS). According to the frequency per million words, emotional colouring is most often found in spoken language. Another reason for using like with the progressive is to stress the moment of speaking. It occurred four times in the corpus and the following lines demonstrate this particular use: She found herself watching him as he carried their drinks back to the table, the easy way he moved, his casual dress, his ready smile, and in spite of her previous reservations she realised she was liking what she saw (BNC: JXY). This motive was detected mainly in fiction and also quite often in the spoken register. As for conveying politeness and tentativeness, three instances of the progressive form of like were found in the BNC: Even the Bishop of Durham, I've just recently bought on of his books and I rather wish I hadn't, I'm not liking it much erm he's still much too ortodox really (BNC: KC0). Here the speaker probably does not want to state anything directly and solves the situation by employing the progressive form of like. As for the marginally occurring reasons, expressing increasing activity of a verb was detected once in the BNC: Ooh! Probably share the same actually. Ooh I co, ooh I'm liking the idea of this more and more! Yes! (BNC: KSV). Not less importantly, portraying a situation as a matter of course was detected once as well, as the following example shows:
35
"Everybody seems to be going off to the wedding-breakfast. Shouldn't you?" He gave her the gleaming smile she detested. "Are you dismissing me, Miss Adeane?" "They won't be liking it if you're late" (BNC: H7P). No volition is indicated here. It is presented as a natural course of events. As to the way the motives occurred together in a single occurrence, there are six instances in which more than one reason plays a role in using the progressive form of like. There is one group of three motives that were detected together in a single instance. These are the following: the emphasis on temporariness together with expressing emotiveness and increasing activity of a verb. The following example of this grouping has already been dealt with in the preceding lines: Ooh! Probably share the same actually. Ooh I co, ooh I'm liking the idea of this more and more! Yes! (BNC: KSV). As for the combinations of two reasons, emotional colouring was found twice together with the stress on immediate present, as in No nothing no. Nothing up there? No, and a wee bit there. I'm liking this, I'm liking this (BNC: FXH). Furthermore, emotiveness also occurred together with the stress on temporariness: We're liking everything today! (they giggle, theatrically, like the Philadelphia cheese girls) (BNC: CAD). The rest of the combinations are as follows: expressing politeness together with the emphasis on temporariness, and presenting a situation as a matter of course together with conveying politeness. It can be seen that the verb like is not used very often with the progressive. Nevertheless, when it occurs in this form, it can be found mainly in spoken language. It was not detected in academic style and newspaper at all. The most common reason for employing the progressive form of like is to emphasize temporariness. It is also frequently used in order to express emotiveness. For complete list of occurrences see Appendix 1.2.
36
2.1.3. Fear The verb fear was found with the progressive fourteen times in the corpus. The following table demonstrates the occurrence of this verb in different styles of language.
Table 5 Distribution of Fear FEAR TOKENS all registers (96,263,399 words) spoken (9,963,663 words) fiction (15,909,312 words) newspaper (10,466,422 words) academic (15,331,668 words) miscellaneous (44,592,334 words) 14 5 6 3 PER MIL 0.15 0.31 0.57 0.07
REGISTER
As the table reveals, the verb fear occurs in the progressive form only in written language. No instances of this verb were found in the spoken mode. As for the written style of language, the verb fear can be found most frequently in newspaper. Furthermore, it is also substantially employed in fiction, but not very significantly in miscellaneous. Academic language is the only written register in which the verb fear is not used with the progressive at all. Again, this indicates that the progressive form of fear is probably considered informal and improper language use.
37
The table below indicates the reasons for using the verb fear with the progressive and their frequency in the corpus.
Table 6 Distribution of Reasons for Using Fear with the Progressive miscellaneous 1 0.02 1 0.02 1 0.02 1 0.02 all registers
newspaper 5 0.48 3 0.29 3 0.29
FEAR
1 0.01 10 0.1 1 0.01 4 0.04 8 0.08
4 0.25 1 0.06 4 0.25
38
academic
spoken
fiction
It can be seen from the table that people employ the verb fear with the progressive in order to stress duration, temporariness, intensity of emotion, the moment of speaking, and also in order to be polite. Neither other theories discussed in the grammar books nor any other motives were detected in the instances of this verb in the progressive form. It is evident that fear is used most frequently to emphasize intensity of emotion, as in Her grandfather Christopher Grenside was last night fearing the worst (BNC: CBF). The expression fearing the worst was found six times in the generated occurrences and it expresses great emotiveness. As for the particular registers, stressing intensity of a feeling was detected mainly in fiction and newspaper, where it may be used to attract readers attention. Furthermore, fear often occurs with the progressive to emphasize duration, as in What kind of incident she'd been fearing she hardly liked to admit, even to herself (BNC: GUE). Six out of eight instances of this particular usage contain fear in the past perfect tense. As far as the individual registers are concerned, stressing duration was found primarily in newspaper and fiction. The table further shows that expressing the present period of time is also a reason for employing the verb fear in the progressive form, as can be seen in the example and maybe I'm just fearing the worst. Frankly, having spent two days looking at how different it is for Nirvana right now -- or rather, how it was six weeks ago -- I found it difficult not to (BNC: CHB). The stress on the present period of time occurs predominantly in neswpaper. This may be caused by the fact that the press focuses quite often on current events. Fear also appeared once with the progressive in order to indicate immediate present, as the following lines show: In silent single file they walked down the narrow corridor, Lissa staring at his back through eyes that were barely focused. With all her heart she was fearing that she might regret this decision (BNC: H97). It can be noticed here that the context is sometimes very important for analyzing
39
the motives for a given usage. Furthermore, the progressive form of fear was also found once in the corpus to convey politeness: I may fear that you too may be contemplating defection. I will probably be anxious to get my defection in first. Especially since I may fear that you are fearing that I (BNC: ARR). Here the verb fear is used in the present simple tense when it is referred to the person speaking. However, when another person is addressed, the verb fear is employed in the progressive form so that the directness is avoided. As far as the combinations of the motives are concerned, the verb fear is used in order to emphasize emotiveness and at the same time duration, as in Gloucestershire county councillors had been fearing the worst since February when they approved a budget almost ten million pounds more than the Government target (BNC: K1M). This combination was detected in five out of fourteen occurrences. Furthermore, emotive colouring was also found together with emphasis on the present period of time, as can be seen in the example With local elections looming in the near future, Communist leaders in Warsaw are already fearing another serious loss (BNC: A28). This particular combination occurred four times in the corpus. Last but not least, there is also one instance of using fear with the progressive in order to express intensity of a feeling and immediate present. These lines have already been dealt with: In silent single file they walked down the narrow corridor, Lissa staring at his back through eyes that were barely focused. With all her heart she was fearing that she might regret this decision (BNC: H97). To sum up, the verb fear does not occur very often with the progressive. It was detected in this form only in written language, predominantly in the newspaper style. It was not found in the academic style at all. The most frequent motive for using this verb with the progressive is to stress intensity of emotion. This reason often occurs together
40
with the motive of duration. For complete list of occurrences see Appendix 1.3.
2.1.4. Want The verb want occurs in the progressive form three hundred and sixty-nine times in the BNC. The first table represents how frequently the verb is employed with the progressive in different registers.
Table 7 Distribution of Want WANT TOKENS 369 153 135 22 4 55 PER MIL 3.83 15.36 8.49 2.1 0.26 1.23
REGISTER all registers (96,263,399 words) spoken (9,963,663 words) fiction (15,909,312 words) newspaper (10,466,422 words) academic (15,331,668 words) miscellaneous (44,592,334 words)
The figures show that want is employed with the progressive much more often in the spoken mode than in written language. As far as the particular registers are concerned, want occurs in all of them. It can be found predominantly in the spoken style and also quite substantially in fiction. On the other hand, it is rarely used in academic language.
41
The second table reveals the motives for employing the verb want in the progressive form and their occurrence across the given styles of language.
42
Table 8 Distribution of Reasons for Using Want with the Progressive miscellaneous 14 0.31 16 0.36 4 0.09 19 0.43 3 0.07 4 0.09 15 0.34 1 0.02 11 0.25 1 0.02 4 0.09 all registers
newspaper 2 0.19 5 0.48 1 0.1 7 0.67 2 0.19 8 0.76 7 0.67
WANT
84 0.84 71 0.71 34 0.34 114 1.14 5 0.05 13 0.13 107 1.07 1 0.01 95 0.95 1 0.01 16 0.16
33 3.3 13 1.3 15 1.5 69 6.9 3 0.3 35 3.5 27 2.7 9 0.9
35 2.2 36 2.26 14 0.88 18 1.13 6 0.38 48 3.02 50 3.14 1 0.06
0.07 1 0.07 1 0.07 2 0.13
stylistic, rhetorical T reasons PM immediacy in a generic statement T PM
43
academic 1
spoken
fiction
It can be seen from the table that want is employed with the progressive in order to emphasize temporariness, emotiveness, repetition, duration, immediate present, and increasing activity of a verb. Moreover, it is used for stylistic reasons, to be polite, to give immediacy to a generic statement, to present a state as a matter of course, and it also has the interpretive, explanatory function. The figures in the table indicate that want is used most frequently to stress temporariness, as for example in No she's been quite very ill. She's been very ill. Er, but she's recovered. But now she is wanting to be home (BNC: KB8). This usage can be found primarily in spoken language and also fairly often in fiction. The employment of the progressive form of want in order to emphasize duration is also very frequent. The following lines demonstrate this motive: Martin sat down; he had been wanting to get to know Sarah better for some time and this seemed like a good opportunity (BNC: H85). A relatively high number of indications of duration, such as for years, for ages, for hours, were found in these occurrences. The motive of duration occurs principally in the spoken register and fiction. The progressive form of want was also often detected to present a situation as a matter of course, as for example in For many members of the team this may be their one and only opportunity of playing in a major fixture at Twickenham and they will certainly be wanting to make the most of it (BNC: AL3). This reason occurred ninetyfive times in the corpus and it was found predominantly in fiction and the spoken mode. As for conveying politeness and tentativeness, want was detected eighty-four times in the BNC, as in "I've been wanting to tell you, Nenna, that I very much doubt whether you're strong enough to undertake all the work you do on Grace" (BNC: H0R). This motive can be found mainly in fiction and spoken language. Moreover, such occurrences have quite frequently a form of a question. Another reason that quite commonly brings about the use of want in the progressive form is to emphasize
44
emotions, as for example in "You don't have to be shy with me, you know. I've been wanting you to kiss me for absolute ages" (BNC: FS1). This usage was detected much more in fiction than in any other register. This can be explained by the fact that emotiveness may play an important role in making a piece of fiction dramatic and attractive for readers. As the table shows, the progressive form of want is also fairly often employed to stress immediate present, as for example in Are you cold? Are you wanting me to warm you up? Want my jumper? (BNC: KPK). This motive was found primarily in the spoken mode. The rest of the reasons occurred more marginally and these are the following: giving immediacy to a rather generic statement, stylistic reasons, the explanatory function, and also the stress on repetition and increasing activity of a verb. In addition to providing immediacy to a generic statement, stylistic reasons is another motive that is not stated in grammar books, but occurs in practice. It covers various rhetorical and stylistic reasons for the employment of a stative verb with the progressive in order to make a text or speech natural, attractive, striking etc. There are a lot of combinations of reasons for using the progressive form of want in a single instance. The stress on duration was found thirty-nine times together with emotiveness, as for example in From time to time he wondered whether he had made a mistake in sleeping with her. It was something he had been wanting to do for over ten years (BNC: HR8). This employment was detected predominantly in fiction. Another fairly frequent combination is the emphasis on duration together with expressing politeness and tentativeness: "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked you. I know how difficult it must be. Believe me, I've been wanting to ask you how you felt about us, trying not to" (BNC: CEC). The motive of politeness and tentativeness was also found nineteen times with the emphasis on the present period of time, as for example in "Good afternoon, m'Lady. Which way are you wanting to ride, today?" asked Gareth
45
Davis (BNC: C98). Moreover, expressing politeness is also often combined with presenting a situation as a matter of course. The following example demonstrates such usage: "So will you perhaps be wanting a couple of bags, say, of coal to help with the fire? The house will be dry enough" (BNC: CKF). These motives were found eighteen times together. The rest of the combinations are as follows: the stress on immediate present and presenting a state as a matter of course, the emphasis on duration and giving immediacy to a generic statement, the stress on temporariness together with emotiveness, the emphasis on repetition and emotiveness, expressing politeness and the moment of speaking, the emphasis on temporariness and increasing activity of a verb, the explanatory use together with expressing politeness, and also emotiveness together with the stress on immediate present. Furthermore, presenting a situation as a matter of course was as well detected with the stress on duration, repetition, emotiveness, and temporariness. As for the groups of three reasons, the combinations are the following: the stress on temporariness with increasing activity and emotiveness, and also the stress on temporariness together with emotiveness and stylistic reasons. Moreover, presenting a situation as a matter of course is also a part of several combinations of three motives. It can be seen that the verb want occurs very often with the progressive form. It is found predominantly in spoken language and also quite frequently in fiction. It was detected only rarely in academic language. The most common reason for employing the progressive form of this verb is to emphasize temporariness. It is also often used in order to stress duration. There are a lot of combinations of motives for employing want with the progressive. The most frequent pairs are the following: emotiveness together with duration, and politeness together with duration. For complete list of occurrences see Appendix 1.4.
46
2.1.5. Wish The verb wish was found seventy-nine times with the progressive. The following table indicates the occurrence of such usage across various registers.
Table 9 Distribution of Wish WISH TOKENS all registers (96,263,399 words) spoken (9,963,663 words) fiction (15,909,312 words) newspaper (10,466,422 words) academic (15,331,668 words) miscellaneous (44,592,334 words) 79 13 34 10 2 20 PER MIL 0.82 1.3 2.14 0.96 0.13 0.45
REGISTER
It can be seen in the table above that, according to the frequency per million words, the verb wish is employed with the progressive more frequently in spoken language than in the written mode. Nevertheless, as to the occurrence of this verb across various registers, the situation is slightly different. It was detected more often in fiction than in any other style of language. Furthermore, wish is also used quite substantially in the spoken mode and the language of newspaper. On the other hand, it is rarely found in the academic style.
47
The following table demonstrates the reasons for using the verb wish with the progressive and their frequency in the BNC.
48
Table 10 Distribution of Reasons for Using Wish with the Progressive miscellaneous 1 0.02 3 0.07 9 0.2 2 0.04 7 0.16 5 0.11 1 0.02 1 0.02 all registers
newspaper 3 0.29 1 0.1 7 0.67 1 0.1 1 0.1 2 0.19
WISH
6 0.06 30 0.3 19 0.19 33 0.33 3 0.03 17 0.17 12 0.12 3 0.03 2 0.02
3 0.3 1 0.1 7 0.7 1 0.1 4 0.4 1 0.1
2 0.13 24 1.51 17 1.07 9 0.57 8 0.5 2 0.13
0.07 1 0.07
49
academic 1
spoken
fiction
As the figures reveal, the progressive form of wish is employed in order to emphasize temporariness, duration, repetition, intensity of a feeling, the moment of speaking, and in order to express politeness, to present a situation as a matter of course, and to give immediacy to a more or less generic statement It is also used with the progressive due to stylistic reasons. According to the table, wish was primarily detected to stress the present period of time, as in "She was the one who wanted me to take early retirement. Now she is wishing that I was back at work" (BNC: CMK). This usage can be found mainly in spoken language, fiction and the style of newspaper. The stress on emotiveness is another motive that very frequently occurs in the BNC, as in the example He was sitting with Mick at the top of a hill and he was wishing with a deep desire that he could remain in time, this present time, forever (BNC: CFY). The expressions such as to wish with a deep desire, to wish hard, to wish urgently, to wish fervently, to wish with all a person has were found in the generated occurrences and they clearly express emotiveness. Most of the instances of this usage appear in fiction, where drama and strong emotions play an important role in attracting readers attention. The emphasis on immediate present is another reason that was often detected in the corpus, as in "Oh yes, I took it. And it does mean I know exactly how shitty you're feeling at this moment, and all the horrible fates you're wishing down on my head" (BNC: H92). The register in which this employment occurs is in almost all cases fiction. Furthermore, the progressive form of wish is also fairly often used to emphasize duration, as for example in "I'm in no hurry to get married, and anyway, it wouldn't be right while you're still wishing you could be married to someone else" (BNC: FS1). Thirteen out of seventeen instances of this particular usage refer in some way to the past rather than to the present. The tenses that are most often employed in these occurrences are the present perfect, the past perfect and the past simple tense. This motive of duration was detected primarily in
50
fiction as well. The table also indicates that wish is used in order to present a situation as a matter of course. This reason was found twelve times in the corpus and the following lines demonstrate this employment: I think presumably you'll be wishing at a later stage to look at what we're proposic in erm in individual districts (BNC: HVF). Most of these instances were detected in spoken language. As to the motive of politeness and tentativeness, six occurrences were found in the BNC: Just then a forman emerged behind me. "Miss Kenton is wishing to have a word with you, sir," he said (BNC: AR3). This particular employment can be found primarily in the spoken register. The rest of the detected reasons occurred rather marginally and these are as follows: the stress on repetition, stylistic and rhetorical reasons, and giving immediacy to a rather generic statement. As regards the way the motives were combined, there is quite a lot of instances in which at least two reasons bring about together the employment of the progressive form of wish. The stress on emotiveness and immediate present were detected twelve times together, as in she noticed with sudden uneasiness that one of the wall lights halfway down the corridor had gone, plunging the passageway into semi-darkness. All at once she was wishing that Desmond was with her (BNC: JXS). Emotional colouring also occurred together with the emphasis on duration, as in "Oh, will you? How kind you are! That is the very thing I had been wishing for -- someone to recommend me" (BNC: HGV). This particular usage was found nine times in the generated occurrences. Another combination is the stress on emotions and temporariness, as in the following example: "Even that very first night, at that party at the Estwicks' place, you were wishing we lived in the days when a man could keep his mistress hoden away" (BNC: H9L). This employment was detected six times in the BNC. Furthermore, the stress on temporariness was also found five times together with expressing politeness, as in I
51
think also the shadow of Lithuania is very much over this and Mr Bush is obviously not wishing to er box himself into a corner at this stage while the Lithuania crisis is still open (BNC: KRT). The rest of the combinations are the following: presenting a situation as a matter of course together with the stress on temporariness, the stress on repetition and emotions, the emphasis on temporariness together with giving immediacy to a generic statement, expressing politeness and the emphasis on immediate present, the stress on duration together with presenting a state as a matter of course, stylistic reasons and the stress on immediate present, the emphasis on duration and giving immediacy to a generic statement, presenting a state as a matter of course together with the stress on the moment of speaking, and the combination of stylistic reasons and presenting a situation as a matter of course. There were also two groups of three motives. The stress on emotions was detected together with the emphasis on temporariness and presenting a state as a matter of course. Furthermore, emotiveness also occurred together with stylistic reasons and the stress on temporariness. To sum up, the verb wish is very often employed with the progressive. It can be found primarily in fiction and spoken language. It is used in this particular form mainly in order to stress temporariness. It is also frequently employed to express emotiveness. There are a lot of combinations of the motives for the use of progressive form of wish. The most frequent pair is: emotiveness together with the emphasis on the moment of speaking. For complete list of occurrences see Appendix 1.5.
2.1.6. Know The verb know occurs with the progressive eleven times in the corpus. The first table shows the occurrence of this verb in the given styles of language.
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Table 11 Distribution of Know KNOW TOKENS all registers (96,263,399 words) spoken (9,963,663 words) fiction (15,909,312 words) newspaper (10,466,422 words) academic (15,331,668 words) miscellaneous (44,592,334 words) 11 3 4 4 PER MIL 0.11 0.3 0.25 0.09
REGISTER
As this table demonstrates, the verb know occurs with the progressive more often in spoken language than in the written mode. As far as the individual styles of language are concerned, it is found most significantly in the spoken register. Furthermore, this verb is also quite often employed in fiction, but not very substantially in miscellaneous. The academic style and the language of newspaper represent the registers in which know does not occur in the progressive form at all. Again, the absence of this verb in academic language may be caused by the fact that stative verbs in the progressive form are not regarded as a formal and maybe even a correct language use. The second table represents the motives for employing the verb know in the progressive form and their incidence in the corpus.
53
Table 12 Distribution of Reasons for Using Know with the Progressive miscellaneous 1 0.02 2 0.04 1 0.02 all registers
newspaper
KNOW
2 0.02 1 0.01 5 0.05 3 0.03 1 0.01 1 0.01
1 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1
2 0.13 2 0.13 2 0.13
54
academic
spoken
fiction
As the table reveals, the verb know is used with the progressive in order to express politeness, to emphasize temporariness and intensity of a feeling, to present a situation as a matter of course, to give immediacy to a generic statement and, not less importantly, for various stylistic reasons. The figures indicate that know is predominantly employed to stress the present period of time, as in I will check anything -- see if boy is knowing too many girls or girl is watching too many Hindi films and not pursuing her studies (BNC: H89). This motive can be found mainly in fiction and spoken language. Furthermore, the progressive form of know is also used considerably to depict a situation as a matter of course, as in the following example: You will be knowing of Charles Dickens and Terry Wogan and Scotland. All this can be arranged for cash no questions (BNC: FAS). Again, this usage was detected primarily in fiction. As for expressing politeness and tentativeness, know occurred twice for this reason. The following lines demonstrate this particular usage: "One of them was Harry." "And who would the other be? Or aren't the police knowing yet?" (BNC: CJF). Both of the instances are part of a question and they were both found in fiction. Another reason is emotional colouring that occurred once in the generated instances: "I was trained to see behind enemy lines," Mr Aggarwal told me, "and I am knowing how to observe properly." (BNC: H89). Here the progressive form expresses intensity of the given cognitive state. Among other marginally occurring motives for using the progressive form of know is giving immediacy to a rather general statement, as the following lines demonstrate: because the the fields that were in the databases in the past didn't d er w were sort of total cost of the Mm. job and y you weren't really knowing whether it included or excluded the A Cs anyway (BNC: FUJ). The employment of the progressive form of know in this particular example seems to function as an involvement of the listeners in an action. It provides greater immediacy. The table
55
above also indicates that people use the verb know for stylistic and rhetorical reasons: There's something about me That I'm knowing. There's something about me That isn't showing. I'm growing! (BNC: G24). Repetition and rhythm seem to play a significant role here, as far as the usage of the progressive form is concerned. As regards the combinations of more than just one reason, only a small number of such instances were detected. The progressive form of know is employed in order to convey politeness and at the same time to emphasize the present period of time. This combination was found once in the corpus: "One of them was Harry." "And who would the other be? Or aren't the police knowing yet?" (BNC: CJF). Furthermore, the motive of politeness and tentativeness also occurred together with presenting a situation as a matter of course. This particular usage was detected once in the BNC as well: "Get word to Liam Devlin. Tell him I'll be staying at the Europa Hotel and I must see him." "Jesus, Mr Higgins, and how would i be knowing such a desperate fella as that?" (BNC: HTW). No combinations were found in the rest of the instances of the verb know. It can be seen that the verb know is rarely used in the progressive form. It is found predominantly in spoken language and fiction. It does not occur in academic style and the language of neswpaper at all. The most frequent reason for employing know with the progressive is to emphasize temporariness. Furthermore, it is often used in order to present a state as a matter of course. For complete list of occurrences see Appendix 1.6.
2.1.7. Understand The verb understand was found twenty-four times in the progressive form. The following table demonstrates how frequently such usage occurs in different registers.
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Table 13 Distribution of Understand UNDERSTAND TOKENS all registers (96,263,399 words) spoken (9,963,663 words) fiction (15,909,312 words) newspaper (10,466,422 words) academic (15,331,668 words) miscellaneous (44,592,334 words) 24 11 5 3 5 PER MIL 0.25 1.1 0.31 0.2 0.11
REGISTER
The table clearly shows that the verb understand occurs with the progressive much more frequently in spoken language than in the written mode. As far as the individual registers are concerned, this verb can be then naturally found mainly in the spoken style of language. Furthermore, it also occurs quite frequently in fiction and the academic mode. It can be seen in the table that no instances of the progressive form of understand were detected in the style of newspaper. The table below indicates the reasons for using the verb understand with the progressive and their frequency across various registers.
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Table 14 Distribution of Reasons for Using Understand with the Progressive miscellaneous 2 0.04 2 0.04 1 0.02 1 0.02 all registers
newspaper
UNDERSTAND
4 0.04 1 0.01 10 0.1 8 0.08 4 0.04 2 0.02
1 0.1 3 0.3 6 0.6 2 0.2
1 0.06 1 0.06 3 0.19 1 0.06 1 0.06
0.13 1 0.07 1 0.07
stylistic, rhetorical T reasons PM
According to the table, the verb understand is employed with the progressive in order to emphasize temporariness, repetition, the moment of speaking, and also to 58
academic 2
spoken
fiction
convey politeness. Moreover, it is used for stylistic reasons and due to the change of its meaning. The most frequent motive for employing understand with the progressive is to emphasize immediate present, as in "So, these crates contain your prize exhibits for the business fair? Am I understanding this correctly?" Her voice shook with suppressed anger (BNC: GUE). Seven out of ten such occurrences are associated with understanding what one is reading or what another person is saying at the moment. This motive can be found predominantly in the spoken register. Furthermore, understand is also very often used in order to stress the present period of time, as in Okay now some people you mention fractions and they scream and run and, Ah no no hate fractions. and it's cos they don't understand them but you're understanding them I think very well now so you're going to like them (BNC: FUH). This reason can be found principally in spoken language. As for the motive of politeness and tentativeness, four instances were found in the corpus: "He was dropping one of his tools and let forth a number of obscenities. His voice was what is called, I am understanding, Cockney or perhaps Australian" (BNC: A0D). Here the speakers uncertainty brings about the use of the progressive form. This usage was detected mainly in the spoken register. Furthermore, the stress on repetition also occurred four times in the BNC and the following example demonstrates this particular use: ""Men have needs," that's what Francis used to say. "Needs". "So have I," I used to say. But I don't think we were understanding each other" (BNC: FPF). This motive occurred primarily in spoken language as well. The table further indicates that people also marginally use the progressive form of understand for stylistic and rhetorical reasons, as in People may say that understanding something, as you are now understanding what I have written, involves interpretation (BNC: CK1). Last but not least, understand was found once with the progressive due to the change of its meaning from to understand to to arrive at understanding: Mr. Mendez
59
started to nod, very slowly, as if he was just understanding something (BNC: J2G). As far as the combinations of the motives for using the progressive form of understand are concerned, only five out of twenty-four occurrences contain more than one reason for such usage. The stress on immediate present and the stylistic reasons were detected twice together. The following lines show this particular employment: "So, these crates contain your prize exhibits for the business fair? Am I understanding this correctly?" Her voice shook with suppressed anger. "At last, I think we can safely say that you are understanding the situation correctly" (BNC: GUE). Again, it can be seen in this example that the context may play a significant role in detecting the motives for using stative verbs with the progressive. The emphasis on immediate present was also found twice together with expressing politeness: "I'm not understanding you, so can you say it differently?" (BNC: CEF). Lastly, a combination of the change of meaning and the stress on immediate present was detected once in the BNC: Mr. Mendez started to nod, very slowly, as if he was just understanding something (BNC: J2G). To sum up, the progressive form of understand can be found predominantly in spoken language and also quite frequently in fiction. On the other hand, it does not occur in the newspaper style at all. The most common reason for employing this verb with the progressive is to emphasize the moment of speaking. Furthermore, it is often used in this form in order to express temporariness. For complete list of occurrences see Appendix 1.7.
2.1.8. Believe The verb believe occurs with the progressive twenty-three times in the BNC. The first table represents the occurrence of this verb in various styles of language.
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Table 15 Distribution of Believe BELIEVE TOKENS all registers (96,263,399 words) spoken (9,963,663 words) fiction (15,909,312 words) newspaper (10,466,422 words) academic (15,331,668 words) miscellaneous (44,592,334 words) 23 2 7 2 1 11 PER MIL 0.24 0.2 0.44 0.19 0.07 0.25
REGISTER
As the table reveals, the verb believe can be found with the progressive in the spoken mode almost as frequently as in the written style of language. As to the particular registers, it is used in all of them. It is employed predominantly in fiction and also quite substantially in spoken language, the style of neswpaper and miscellaneous. As for this last diversified register, the verb believe can be found four times in religious texts. It is rarely employed in the academic mode. The second table shows the motives for employing the verb believe in the progressive form and their occurrence in the BNC.
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Table 16 Distribution of Reasons for Using Believe with the Progressive miscellaneous 4 0.09 4 0.09 1 0.02 2 0.04 3 0.07 2 0.04 3 0.07 1 0.02 all registers
newspaper 1 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1
BELIEVE
8 0.08 9 0.09 2 0.02 4 0.04 1 0.01 6 0.06 2 0.02 5 0.05 2 0.02
1 0.1 1 0.1
2 0.13 4 0.25 1 0.06 1 0.06 1 0.06 2 0.13 1 0.06
0.07 1 0.07
62
academic 1
spoken
fiction
As the table above demonstrates, the verb believe tends to be employed in the progressive form for a relatively high number of reasons. It is used in this manner to convey politeness and tentativeness, to emphasize intensity of a feeling, duration, temporariness, repetition, and the moment of speaking. Moreover, it is employed to present a situation as a matter of course, to give immediacy to a generic statement and, not less importantly, for stylistic and rhetorical reasons. It can be seen from the table that believe was most substantially found with the progressive to stress intensity of emotion, as in "When I lost that opening game in the fourth set I said to myself "this is your match". I was still believing in myself" (BNC: K2D). The expressions such as not to believe someone's good luck and not to believe someone's eyes were found in the generated instances and they present the situation in an emotive way. As far as the individual registers are concerned, this particular usage was detected predominantly in fiction, where the stress on emotions and dramatic character of a story to draw attention play a significant role. Another motive that occurred quite frequently as well is expressing politeness and tentativeness. The following lines demonstrate such employment: "No, the murder of Lord Woodleigh was conceived here on Capri, I am believing. Perhaps because something called a stoup in a church was not so interesting enough as he had thought" (BNC: A0D). Here the speaker is probably not absolutely sure of the statement and does not want to risk potential scorn of others by a straightforward claim. The motive of politeness and tentativeness occurred most frequently in fiction. The motive of emphasizing duration was detected in the corpus quite often as well: She gazed at the golden-haired figure standing so tall and so proud in the centre of the stage. The kind of betrayal she'd been believing him guilty of was mean, petty-minded, and he was none of those things (BNC: HA9). Three out of six occurrences of this motive contained the adverb still that emphasizes the element of
63
duration. This employment occurred mainly in fiction. As for temporariness, four instances can be found in the BNC. These lines illustrate this particular motive: This government is not believing in integrated strategy, it never has done and it never will do and with the current the government expansit plans it is becoming less and less likely (BNC: JS8). Again, the majority of these occurrences were found in fiction. Another motive that was detected five times in the corpus is stylistic and rhetorical reasons: for in believing this we are believing that when all the truths are in, our justification will remain (BNC: F9K). In all five occurrences there is a certain word close to the verb believe in the text that has a progressive form. This causes the speaker to use believe with the progressive as well, in order to sound natural and smooth and to keep the flow of the speech. Furthermore, it can also be seen from the table that the motive of presenting a situation as a matter of course was detected in the corpus as well. The following example demonstrates this usage: and within two minutes the prize-winner will be believing that she knew all about him and had indeed been specially looking forward to meeting him (BNC: G2E). Both of the instances of this reason occurred in miscellaneous. The progressive form of believe is also employed in order to provide immediacy to a rather general proposition, as in If doubt is eventually justified, we were believing what clearly was not worth believing (BNC: C8V). Other marginally occurring reason for the employment of believe with the progressive is emphasizing the moment of speaking: They were now sitting up, most of them. The sun had pierced through the mist, and they were not believing their good luck at being alive, and being cared for by the beautiful colleens (BNC: B2E). Last but not least, the stress on repetition was also once detected in the corpus: To be honest, Mildred's stories often got rather out of hand, when she would find, to her dismay, that the whole class was listening and believing every word (BNC: CCA).
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As to the way the motives are combined in certain instances, there is a lot of cases where more than just one reason causes the use of the progressive form of believe. There are even instances where three motives participate in causing the speaker to use believe with this form. For example, the emphasis on duration, rhetorical reasons, and giving immediacy to a general statement seem to occur together in If doubt is eventually justified, we were believing what clearly was not worth believing (BNC: C8V). Another group of three reasons comprises: conveying tentativeness, depicting a state as a matter of course, and stylistic reasons, as in: It's time for a change. It's time for Labour. I'm almost believing it could happen. They may be believing it, too, on the Meadowell estate, North Shields (BNC: CAF). Furthermore, stylistic reasons were also found in combination with emphasizing duration and intensity of a feeling, as the following lines demonstrate: When they get drunk, have a binge, take on yet another new project or make even more plans for someone else's recovery, they are not relapsing; they are still suffering, still believing that they can compromise with the concept (BNC: G3D). Last but not least, a combination of stylistic reasons, the emphasis on the moment of speaking, and stressing intensity of emotion was detected in the corpus: Alec sighed, "but I hate experimenting in a lonely spot like this." "We're not experimenting, Alec," I cried, my voice filled with passion," we're believing -- Miss Sowerby and me" (BNC: CHG). As for the occurrences of two motives in one instance, the combinations are the following: the emphasis on the moment of speaking together with stressing emotion, emphasizing temporariness and the stress on emotiveness, emphasizing duration and emotiveness, expressing repetition together with intensity of emotion, and lastly, the emphasis on temporariness together with conveying politeness. It can be seen that the progressive form of believe occurs in spoken language as frequently as in the written mode. It can be found most often in fiction. It was also
65
detected four times in religious texts. The most frequent motive for employing this verb with the progressive is to emphasize the intensity of emotion. For complete list of occurrences see Appendix 1.8.
2.1.9. Realise The verb realise was found in the progressive form seventy-one times in the corpus. The instances of the variant realize were also taken into consideration. The following table indicates how frequently this verb occurs in the given registers.
Table 17 Distribution of Realise REALISE TOKENS 71 12 11 6 8 34 PER MIL 0.74 1.2 0.69 0.57 0.52 0.76
REGISTER all registers (96,263,399 words) spoken (9,963,663 words) fiction (15,909,312 words) newspaper (10,466,422 words) academic (15,331,668 words) miscellaneous (44,592,334 words)
It can be seen in the table above that, according to the frequency per million words, the progressive form of realise is used more frequently in spoken language than in the written style. It was detected in all the individual registers and, as has been
66
already stated, it is the spoken mode in which realise occurs most often with the progressive. As for the rest of the given styles of language, it was found relatively equally in all of them. The following table demonstrates the reasons for using the verb realise with the progressive and their frequency in the given registers.
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Table 18 Distribution of Reasons for Using Realise with the Progressive miscellaneous 1 0.02 19 0.43 27 0.61 5 0.11 6 0.13 1 0.02 1 0.02 all registers
newspaper 5 0.48 5 0.48 1 0.1 1 0.1
REALISE
1 0.01 2 0.02 43 0.43 5 0.05 45 0.45 8 0.08 1 0.01 18 0.18 1 0.01 1 0.01
1 0.1 6 0.6 1 0.1 7 0.7 1 0.1 1 0.1 2 0.2
9 0.57 4 0.25 7 0.44
0.07 4 0.26 6 0.39 1 0.07 2 0.13
T increasing, decreasing activity PM immediate future habitual, sporadic repetition duration interpretive, explanatory use recent occurrence a matter of course immediacy in a generic statement T PM T PM T PM T PM T PM T PM T PM
According to the table, the verb realise is employed with the progressive for quite a lot of reasons. It is used in order to emphasize temporariness, repetition, 68
academic 1
spoken
fiction
duration, the moment of speaking, increasing activity of a verb, and intensity of a feeling. Furthermore, it is employed in order to be polite, to present a state as a matter of course, to provide immediacy to a more or less generic statement, and due to the change of its meaning. The figures clearly indicate that the progressive form of realise is predominantly used in order to stress temporariness, as in Although some doctors carry on the tradition of the medical profession in refusing to accept these "outsiders", more are now realising that osteopaths and chiropractors can relieve pain (BNC: B3G). This motive was detected primarily in spoken language and miscellaneous. Another reason that was found almost as frequently as temporariness is the change of the meaning of realise. In thirty-four out of forty-three occurrences, it changes its meaning to to arrive at realising, as in His cousin, she was quickly realising, though, was a man who had an aversion to answering any but selected questions (BNC: JY1). Furthermore, the meaning of realise also shifts seven times to to make something real, to bring something into existence, as can be seen in A few lucky people have been realising a lifetime's dream -- mounting the footplate of the world's most famous engine (BNC: K21). In the rest of the instances, realise changes into to earn. The motive of the meaning change was detected primarily in spoken language and fiction. As to the stress on duration, a relatively high number of occurrences were found as well: The public and especially hospital consultants are rapidly realising and acknowledging that Trust hospital status is a genuine attempt to address local health needs which is providing increasingly successful health care (BNC: JJD). The emphasis on duration was detected most often in fiction. The adverbs instantly, quickly, swiftly, fast, rapidly, and slowly were found to modify the verb realise in such instances. They express duration and also the shift from not realising to realising. That is why the motive of the meaning change is as well found in the instances in which the adverbs occur. It will be also seen later in the
69
discussion of the combinations of motives. Furthermore, the stress on increasing activity of a verb also occurred fairly significantly in the corpus: It is sometimes implied that sales promotion is a second rate or peripheral marketing activity, but companies are increasingly realising the importance of a well-planned and coordinated programme of sales promotion (BNC: K94). The rest of the detected motives occur rather marginally in the BNC and these are as follows: the stress on immediate present, repetition, emotiveness, politeness, presenting a state as a matter of course and giving immediacy to a generic statement. There are quite a lot of combinations of the reasons for employing the progressive form of realise. The stress on temporariness and the change of meaning were found sixteen times together, as in While manufacturers were perceived as the traditional user sof sales promotion, now retailers and financial institutions are realising that these techniques can help build business (BNC: K5H). The change of the meaning of realise also often occurred with the emphasis on duration, as in Blue Rondo was fast realising that British youth could not be moulded from lentil burger gorged bodies in Covent Garden offices (BNC: ART). This usage was found fourteen times in the generated instances. There is also a grouping of three reasons that significantly occurs in the corpus and it is a combination of the meaning change together with the stress on temporariness, and increasing intensity of a feeling, as in Historians are increasingly realizing that if the experience of older people is not soust we are in danger of losing a unique individual insight into the times and events they report (BNC: CE1). These motives were detected eight times together. The rest of the combinations are the following: the emphasis on immediate present and the meaning change, emotiveness together with the meaning change and the stress on duration, emotiveness with the meaning change and the emphasis on immediate present, and last
70
but not least, the meaning change together with giving immediacy to a generic statement and presenting a state as a matter of course. To sum up, the verb realise is employed very frequently with the progressive. It occurs predominantly in spoken language. The most frequent reason for the use of realise in this form is to emphasize temporariness. Moreover, it is also very often employed due to change of its meaning, predominantly to to arrive at realising. These two motives were frequently found together in a single instance. For complete list of occurrences see Appendix 1.9.
2.1.10. Suppose The verb suppose occurs with the progressive eleven times in the BNC. The first table shows the occurrence of such usage across different styles of language.
Table 19 Distribution of Suppose SUPPOSE TOKENS all registers (96,263,399 words) spoken (9,963,663 words) fiction (15,909,312 words) newspaper (10,466,422 words) academic (15,331,668 words) miscellaneous (44,592,334 words) 71 11 1 7 3 PER MIL 0.11 0.1 0.44 0.2
The table clearly indicates that, according to the frequency per million words, the verb suppose is employed with the progressive in spoken language nearly as frequently as in written language. As for the individual registers, it is found predominantly in fiction and less often in the academic and spoken language mode. Moreover, it does not occur in newspaper and miscellaneous at all. The second table represents the motives for employing the verb suppose in the progressive form and their incidence in the corpus.
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Table 20 Distribution of Reasons for Using Suppose with the Progressive miscellaneous all registers
newspaper
SUPPOSE
6 0.06 3 0.03 2 0.02 2 0.02 2 0.02 1 0.01
1 0.1 1 0.1
2 0.13 3 0.19 2 0.13 2 0.13 1 0.06 1 0.06
0.2
stylistic, rhetorical T reasons PM
The table above reveals that the verb suppose is employed in the progressive form in order to stress temporariness, duration, the moment of speaking, and also to 73
academic 3
spoken
fiction
express politeness, to present a situation as a matter of course, and for various stylistic and rhetorical reasons. It is obvious from the table that suppose is most frequently employed with the progressive to express politeness and tentativeness, as for example in There was no thing in the world for an explanatory proposition to state. What we are supposing is that everything could have been exactly as it was except for the nonoccurrence of the smell of the candles (BNC: EVX). It can be seen in these lines that suppose is used in this way to avoid commitment and to soften the directness of the proposition. This motive was found predominantly in the academic style of language. Furthermore, the progressive form of suppose occurred several times in order to emphasize the moment of speaking, as in "I tell you the things I think will interest you." "If you go out with another woman that interests me." "I'm not going out with another woman. Not like that." "Not like what?" "Not like you're supposing." (BNC: HTX). Again, a more extended context is required to detect the motive. All the instances of this particular usage were found in fiction. Another reason for using suppose in the progressive form is stressing the present period of time, as can be seen in "Are you supposed to find out who killed Hereward or where Amy is?" "I think the Church are supposing it would be one and the same." (BNC: HA2). Both occurrences of this employment can be found in fiction. As for the motive of emphasizing duration, two instances were detected in the corpus. The following lines demonstrate this use: I think I was also thinking about the tape-recorder. I think I was supposing it would be on your list and wondering why (BNC: J17). Again, both of the instances occur in fiction. Furthermore, suppose is also employed with the progressive to present a situation as a matter of course, as in I think the issue as you rightly as Miss rightly put it, is the normal vacancy rate and is there any reason to suppose as the County Council must be supposing, that this shrinks to a degree (BNC: HVF). No volition is implied here. Last
74
but not least, suppose is also evidently used for stylistic and rhetorical reasons: "tell you the things I think will interest you." "If you go out with another woman that interests me." "I'm not going out with another woman. Not like that." "Not like what?" "Not like you're supposing." "What am I supposing?" (BNC: HTX). The repetition suggests a quick response to what has just been said and it thus stresses the quarrel between the people involved. It makes the situation more dramatic. The example was found in fiction, where the demand on dramatic character of an action is very common. As far as the combinations of the motives are concerned, several instances were detected. The progressive form of suppose occurred twice to express politeness and at the same time the present period of time, as in the following example: "We are to give whatever help we can," McPhee told Owen. "How far does the help extend?" asked Owen. The Prince smiled. "Not as 6r as you are evidently supposing," he said (BNC: J10). Both occurrences of this usage were found in fiction. Furthermore, conveying politeness was also once detected together with depicting a situation as a matter of course: I think the issue as you rightly as Miss rightly put it, is the normal vacancy rate and is there any reason to suppose as the County Council must be supposing, that this shrinks to a degree (BNC: HVF). Presenting a situation as a matter of course was also found in combination with another motive, particularly with the stress on duration: Though if he took his own life, as everyone has always supposed, and as we are still likely to be supposing after the present rumours have been scotched (BNC: J17). Not less importantly, a combination of rhetorical and stylistic reasons together with the emphasis on the moment of speaking was detected in the given occurrences. This example have already been dealt with: "tell you the things I think will interest you." "If you go out with another woman that interests me." "I'm not going out with another woman. Not like that." "Not like what?" "Not like you're supposing." "What am I
75
supposing?" (BNC: HTX). It can be seen that the verb suppose is rarely employed with the progressive. It occurs in spoken language almost as frequently as in the written mode. It was detected primarily in fiction. On the other hand, it was not found in newspaper and miscellaneous at all. The most common reason for using suppose in the progressive form is to express politeness and tentativeness. Furthermore, it is often employed in order to emphasize the moment of speaking. For complete list of occurrences see Appendix 1.10.
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2.2. Comparison of the Verbs This part of the thesis deals with the comparison of the given verbs of cognition, emotion, and attitude, as far as their usage in the progressive form is concerned. I contrast the verbs as to the frequency of their employment with the progressive in the entire corpus as well as across various styles of language. Furthermore, I compare the given verbs in terms of the reasons for such usage. Moreover, as has already been pointed out, apart from comparing the verbs with each other, I also analyze the differences between the group of verbs referring more to cognitive states (know, understand, believe, realise, and suppose) and the group of verbs rather expressing emotions (love, like, fear, want, wish). This part of the thesis reveals if the verbs are similar as a group, as regards their usage with the progressive. Furthermore, it shows to what extent the theories on statives with the progressive correspond to the actual usage of these verbs. The following table demonstrates the occurrence of each of the verbs with the progressive in various registers as well as in the entire corpus. The letter L signifies the occurrence of the lemma of each of the verbs. This piece of information is mentioned in order to determine if there is any link between the general frequency of each verb and the frequency of its usage in the progressive form.
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Table 21 Distribution of Verbs miscellaneous 9 0.2 4,543 3 0.07 11,712 3 0.07 1,894 55 1.23 24,261 20 0.45 6,209 4 0.09 42,165 5 0.11 8,902 11 0.25 14,234 34 0.76 5,663 2,404 all registers newspaper
VERBS
T LOVE PM L T LIKE PM L T FEAR PM L T WANT PM L T WISH PM L T KNOW PM L T UNDERSTAND PM L T BELIEVE PM L T REALISE PM L T SUPPOSE PM L
31 0.32 14,219 16 0.17 40,564 14 0.15 4,746 369 3.83 87,795 79 0.82 12,910 11 0.11 178,508 24 0.25 22,974 23 0.24 33,674 71 0.74 14,962 11 0.11 11,493
2 0.2 1,831 5 0.5 12,082 125 153 15.36 23,975 13 1.3 1,293 3 0.3 61,743 11 1.1 2,442 2 0.2 2,994 12 1.2 1,355 1 0.1 2,915 78
6 0.38 6,103 8 0.5 12,779 5 0.31 1,045 135 8.49 27,147 34 2.14 2,879 4 0.25 55,168 5 0.31 5,937 7 0.44 7,136 11 0.69 5,379 7 0.44 4,630
12 1.15 1,406 2,744 6 0.57 1,197 22 2.1 8,890 10 0.96 769 9,177 1,462 2 0.19 5,510 6 0.57 1,190 315
0.13 336 1,236 485 4 0.26 3,513 2 0.13 1,760 10,246 3 0.2 4,231 1 0.07 3,796 8 0.52 1,375 3 0.2 1,229
academic 2
spoken
fiction
The table clearly shows that the verbs differ markedly from each other, as far as their occurrence in the progressive form is concerned. It is obvious that not all of them easily take the progressive. However, none of them avoid it completely. The verb want was found very frequently in this form. The verbs wish, realise, and love are also employed quite often with the progressive. On the other hand, the occurrence of the verbs know and suppose is rather rare in this respect. Many of the analyzed verbs were detected in such form more often in spoken language than in the written registers. However, the verbs love and fear occurred predominantly or exclusively in the written mode. As for the individual registers, the majority of verbs are used with the progressive predominantly in fiction or spoken language. Nevertheless, love and fear occur primarily in the newspaper style. Most of the verbs can be found only rarely or never in academic language. Solely understand and suppose are employed more significantly in this register. The fact that the majority of the verbs do not occur in academic texts at all indicates that the employment of stative verbs with the progressive is probably considered informal and improper. As to the style of newspaper, the verbs love, fear, want, and wish were detected quite frequently in this register. However, the rest of the verbs occur rarely or never in this style of language. It is evident that the verbs associated more with emotional states tend to be used more often with the progressive than the verbs referring more to cognitive states. As to the occurrence in the particular registers, these two groups do not differ in any significant way. The number of instances of the lemmas of the analyzed verbs clearly demonstrate that there is no link between the overall occurrence of each of the verbs in the corpus and their occurrence with the progressive. For example, the frequency of the lemmas of love and realise are nearly the same (14,219 and 14,963 respectively).
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However, the progressive form of love was found thirty-one times in the BNC, while realise was detected seventy-one times. Moreover, the verb know generally occurs most frequently in the corpus of all the analyzed verbs, while it is employed least often with the progressive. The figures in the table also reveal that there is no link between the overall occurrence of each of the verbs in the individual registers and their occurrence in these registers with the progressive. For example, the occurrence of the lemma of understand in the spoken mode and in miscellaneous is 2,442 and 8,902 respectively. However, the progressive form of this verb was found eleven times in spoken language and only five times in miscellaneous. The table below indicates the motives for using each of the verbs in the progressive form. The numbers next to the verbs signify their overall occurrence with the progressive. As has already been stated, the motives located above the bold line are all motives that have been dealt with in the chapter on the theories on stative verbs with the progressive, even though not all of them were found in the corpus for each of the analyzed verbs. Other reasons for such usage are located under the bold line. Thus, the table provides clear comparison of the theory on stative verbs with the progressive and its actual application in practice, as to the verbs of cognition, emotion, and attitude.
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Table 22 Reasons for Using Verbs with the Progressive UNDERSTAND (24)
REASON
politeness, tentativeness emotional colouring change of the meaning the moment of speaking temporariness increasing, decreasing activity immediate future habitual, sporadic repetition duration interpretive, explanatory use recent occurrence a matter of course stylistic, rhetorical reasons immediacy in a generic statement
22 5 4 2 2 15 1 1
3 5 4 9 1 1
1 10 1 4 8
84 71 34 114 5 13 107 1 95 1 16
6 30 19 33 3 17 12 3 2
2 1 5 3 1 1
4 1 10 8 4 2
8 9 2 4 1 6 2 5 2
1 2 43 5 45 8 1 18 1 1
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SUPPOSE (11) 6 3 2 2 2 1
BELIEVE (23)
REALISE (71)
WANT (369)
KNOW (11)
LOVE (31)
WISH (79)
FEAR (14)
LIKE (16)
The table reveals that the circumstances under which the progressive form occurs and also their frequency differ with each of the verbs. It can be also seen that the theories on stative progressives correspond only to a certain extent to the actual usage of the selected verbs. Some of the reasons were not detected at all, although they are mentioned in various grammar books. These are the motive of expressing immediate future and recent occurrence. However, it is important to state that the non-occurrence of the motive of immediate future does not entirely conflict with the theory, for Joos (1964: 115) claims that this motive is rare. Furthermore, it can be seen that some of the reasons were detected only marginally and these are as follows: the interpretive use, expressing increasing or decreasing activity of a verb, and the change of the meaning of a verb. Solely the verb realise occurs very often with the progressive due to the change of its meaning. Increasing activity was also found most frequently in the instances of this particular verb. The rest of the motives presented in the grammar books were found quite frequently with the analyzed verbs. Generally, the emphasis on temporariness, emotiveness, duration, the moment of speaking, and expressing politeness are the most frequent reasons for the use of the given verbs in the progressive form. Emotiveness is the most frequent motive for using the progressive form of the verbs love, fear, and believe. Furthermore, it is the verb like, want, wish, know, and realise that occur with the progressive predominantly to stress temporariness. The emphasis on the moment of speaking is the most frequent reason for using the progressive form of understand, while it is the verb suppose that is found with the progressive primarily to express politeness or tentativeness. Even though the motive of presenting a situation as a matter of course was not generally detected as frequently as several other reasons, it occurs fairly significantly in the instances of the verb want. In addition to the consulted theory on the use of stative verbs with the progressive, two other motives were detected in the
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corpus and these are the following: stylistic reasons and giving immediacy to a more or less generic statement. Stylistic and rhetorical reasons were most frequently a motive for using the progressive form of believe, whereas providing immediacy to a generic statement often occurred in the instances of the progressive form of want. The figures clearly indicate that the verbs associated more with emotions are used to stress emotiveness more frequently than the verbs rather expressing cognitive states. As far as the other motives are concerned, these two groups do not differ in any significant way. As to the combinations of the motives, the verbs differ in both the types and the number of them. The more frequently a verb occurs with the progressive, the more combinations it has. Though the combinations of the motives vary with each of the verbs, there are also several of them that can be found in instances of most of the verbs. For example, the stress on duration and emotiveness were detected very frequently together in the occurrences of wish, love, believe, want, and fear. Furthermore, the combination of the emphasis on temporariness and emotiveness was found quite often as well, particularly in the instances of fear, want, believe, love, and wish. The progressive forms of like, wish, love, and want were fairly often employed in order to stress immediate present and at the same time emotions. As to the combination of expressing politeness and the stress on temporariness, the verbs suppose, wish, and want are frequently employed with the progressive under these two circumstances. Though expressing politeness and presenting a situation as a matter of course do not generally occur together as frequently as several other motives, the verb want is used fairly often with the progressive due to these two reasons in a single instance. It is also the only verb that is significantly used in the progressive form in order to express politeness and at the same time duration. As to the combinations of three motives, the change of
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meaning together with stressing temporariness and increasing activity was detected quite substantially in the BNC. All of such occurrences were found in the instances of the progressive form of realise.
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2.3. Questionnaire Since the method I employ in the analysis of the circumstances under which the verbs occur in the progressive form is essentially based on determining other peoples motives for such usage, I believe I need to comment on this approach. As has already been pointed out, in analyzing the motives I focus on the register, context, tenses, and specific words used in the given context. It is also very important to take into account the idiosyncrasies of the authors of utterances and expressions, as well as their own perspectives on each situation they depict or comment on, for subjectivity is a very siginficant aspect of language use. Each speaker or writer may use the progressive form in their own specific way. This implies that each person detecting the motives analyzes each instance in their own way as well. It is therefore very difficult, if not impossible, to provide definite answers in terms of the reasons for employing stative verbs with the progressive. Moreover, these answers can be neither right nor wrong, for two different people may have two different opinions about a given instance of a stative verb with the progressive and they both may have their own justifications. To demonstrate the degree of subjectivity in language use, as far as statives in the progressive form are concerned, I have created a questionnaire in which the respondents are asked to guess the reasons for the employment of stative verbs in this form in the given examples. They are offered to choose from the motives that are discussed in the chapter on the theories on statives with the progressive. Furthermore, they are invited to indicate other motives of their own. However, not all of the reasons the thesis deals with are proposed in the questionnaire, for its formation had to be completed quite early and the analysis of grammar books was only in process at that time. Still, the questionnaire offers majority of the potential motives. The following table demonstrates how each of the respondents assessed each of
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the given instances of stative verbs with the progressive. The respondents on the left from the bold line are the ESL students, while the native speakers are situated on the right from the bold line. The questionnaire provides information on the degree of subjectivity in the use of stative progressives.
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Table 23 Answers from Questionnaires Respondent 11 j f e d b d a, d f b c h e a, d b g b d d a c Respondent 10 Respondent 12 i d d, e e b, e d, g j d, e k c b, d, e, k b, i b, d j b, d a c, d a, c, k a, d a, b a, d, g Respondent 1 Respondent 2 Respondent 3 Respondent 4 Respondent 5 Respondent 6 Respondent 7 Respondent 8 e b b, d e i d, i b f d e b, j e b, d d e, j i d b, d g d Respondent 9 d b a j i a i f b j a b b b a d e a a d
Ex.
ex. 1 ex. 2 ex. 3 ex. 4 ex. 5 ex. 6 ex. 7 ex. 8 ex. 9 ex. 10 ex. 11 ex. 12 ex. 13 ex. 14 ex. 15 ex. 16 ex. 17 ex. 18 ex. 19 ex. 20
b c d c b a i e f f b h b e i e b a a b
b, i h, i d b, h i d, f, j d h b, f c b, i f b b j e a, c, d a, i a, e b, i
i b, e d, e h b, e d c f f, h c b, i e, f d, f b d c f a, b g b, h
e, h b, e a i e b, i f, h f b, i c b d, f b, i b, e a d a a, e a b
e b, e a e, h e a, e, i b, j d, e h, j e, i b, h b, i b b, i a, i a a b, h a, d a, b
i b a, g b d, i h i b, j b c b a, f d b a j a, d b, e, j a b
e, i e b e e e i i g c b e b b e i a a e i
e e, i a, b, d e b d a, b e b, i f b b, i b b, e d, e a, b, e a b a, d e, i
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As the table reveals, the respondents differ from each other in analyzing the use of the given verbs with the progressive. Each of them seems to deal with such usage in their own subjective way. In some examples, the answers vary to a large degree, as in the example 16, where almost each of the respondents answered in a different way. However, there are also instances where people were more unified in their answers, as in the example 14. Here, most of the respondents think that the answer is b. Nevertheless, they still differ in the sense that some of the respondents believe it is exclusively b, whereas others think the answer is rather a combination of b with either e, i, or d. When the answers of the ESL students are compared with the responses of the native speakers, it is obvious that these two groups differ from each other, as far as their view on the use of stative verbs with the progressive is concerned. However, it is also evident that the native speakers themselves vary in their views on such usage. This fact substantially supports the notion of subjectivity in language use, as far as stative progressives are concerned. Furthermore, both native speakers commented in the same manner on the usage in the examples 9 and 17. These are examples of the verbs know and understand in the progressive form. Both native speakers argue that this employment is incorrect in English. Still, it is obvious that there are reasons, probably subjective, for such usage. The differences of the answers due to sex of the respondents are not analyzed, for only two respondents are men. For the questionnaires see Appendix 2.2.
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CONCLUSION In the thesis, I examined and compared the selected verbs of cognition, emotion, and attitude, as far as their employment with the progressive is concerned. The aim of the analysis was to find out if the given verbs are similar in this respect as a group or if they differ from each other, and if the theories on stative verbs with the progressive correspond to the actual usage of these verbs. Furthermore, the purpose of the thesis was also to reveal the degree of subjectivity in the use of stative progressives. The analysis clearly shows that the selected verbs differ from each other and are not similar as a group, as for their use with the progressive. It is important to point out that none of the verbs avoid this form completely. Nevertheless, it is evident that not all of them easily take it. The verbs wish, realise, love, and especially want occur fairly frequently with the progressive, whereas know and suppose are rarely employed in this form. While most of the verbs are found primarily in fiction or spoken language, fear and love are employed with the progressive predominantly in newspaper. Furthermore, the verbs love, believe, and fear are used with the progressive primarily to emphasize emotiveness. Want, wish, like, know, and realise occur in this form mainly in order to stress temporariness. While understand is employed with the progressive predominantly to stress the moment of speaking, the verb suppose is used chiefly to express politeness and tentativeness. Nevertheless, it must be pointed out that the verbs also have something in common. As for academic language, the majority of verbs occur rarely or never in this register. This indicates that stative progressives may be considered informal and improper. It has also been detected that the analyzed verbs differ as far as their divison into cognitive and rather emotional states is concerned. The five verbs expressing emotions tend to be employed with the progressive more frequently than the five verbs associated
89
with cognitive states. Moreover, the verbs of emotional states are also more often used in order to express emotiveness than the verbs of cognitive states. Furthermore, the analysis demonstrates that the theories on stative verbs with the progressive correspond only to a certain extent to the actual employment of the selected verbs. Two reasons proposed in various grammar books were not found at all. These are the motive of expressing recent occurrence and immediate future. Several reasons occurred only marginally. These are as follows: expressing increasing activity of a verb, the explanatory use, and the change of the meaning of a verb. However, the change of meaning is one of the most frequent motives for using the progressive form of realise. In most cases, it changes its meaning to to arrive at realising. The rest of the reasons discussed in various grammar books were detected fairly often in the corpus. The most frequent motives for employing the verbs with the progressive are the following: the stress on emotiveness, temporariness, duration, the moment of speaking, and expressing politeness and tentativeness. Although the motive of presenting a state as a matter of course does not generally occur very often, it was detected fairly significantly in the instances of want. Two other reasons were detected, in addition to the motives presented in the linguistic literature. These are stylistic reasons and giving immediacy to a generic statement. It can be thus seen that stative progressives occur not only due to grammatical or semantic reasons, but also stylistic motives. Giving immediacy is frequently a motive for employing the progressive form of want, while stylistic reasons most often bring about the use of the progressive form of believe. It has also been revealed that the given verbs sometimes occur with the progressive due to more than just one reason. It is obvious that these reasons overlap. There are combinations of two or even three motives that bring about such usage. The selected verbs differ in this respect as well. Each of the verbs is used with the
90
progressive due to different combinations of reasons. Nevertheless, several combinations were detected in instances of most of the given verbs. The emphasis on emotiveness and duration were found very often together, particularly in the occurrences of the verbs love, wish, want, believe, and fear. Other frequent combinations are as follows: the stress on emotiveness and temporariness, the emphasis on immediate present and emotiveness, expressing politeness together with the stress on temporariness. The most frequent combination of three reasons is the emphasis on temporariness together with the change of meaning and expressing increasing activity. This combination was found only in the instances of the verb realise. Last but not least, the analysis of the questionnaire answers shows that there is a high degree of subjectivity in the use of stative verbs with the progressive. Each of the respondents of the questionnaire assesses the instances of stative progressives in their own way. Although the respondents sometimes provide identical answers, in most cases they either answer completely differently or guess the same motive and only differ in the motive with which they combine it. It can be also seen that the ESL students differ from the native speakers, as far as their views on the use of stative verbs with the progressive is concerned. Nevertheless, it is important to state that the native speakers differ from each other in their views on such usage as well. This finding is very significant, as far as the notion of subjectivity in the use of stative progressives is concerned. By means of the questionnaire I was able to demonstrate that the detection of peoples motivations for the use of stative verbs with the progressive is a rather problematic issue. It is obvious that people have their own views on the employment of stative progressives. It is therefore impossible for the person detecting the motives to provide definite answers in terms of the intentions of each speaker or writer. What is
91
more, a person detecting the motivations also has their own views on stative progressives, which are reflected in their analysis of each such instance. On that account, it is important to emphasize that the analysis provided in the thesis is by no means exhaustive, for a person may use a stative verb in the progressive form for a certain reason that is evident only to them. Moreover, certain motives for the use of stative verbs with the progressive cannot be detected from the text itself, such as a specific style of an author, or the fact that a speaker may use a particular stative verb in the progressive form due to its trendiness or frequent use in a particular period of time, etc. On the other hand, it should be pointed out that, in many cases, the context plays a very significant role in the analysis of the motives. Therefore, it must be always taken into account.
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REFERENCES Aijmer, Karin and Altenberg, Bengt (eds) (1991) English Corpus Linguistics: Studies in Honour of Jan Svartvik. London: Longman. Biber, Douglas; Conrad, Susan; and Reppen, Randi (1998) Corpus Linguistics: Investigating Language Structure and Use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Biber, Douglas; Johansson, Stig; Leech, Geoffrey; Conrad, Susan; and Finegan, Edward (1999) Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. London: Longman. Bowker, Lynne and Pearson, Jennifer (2002) Working With Specialized Language : A Practical Guide to Using Corpora. London: Routledge. British National Corpus. <http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/>. Charleston, Britta Marian (1941) Studies on the Syntax of the English Verb. Bern: A. Francke. Comrie, Bernard (1976) Aspect: An Introduction to the Study of Verbal Aspect and Related Problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Frawley, William (1992) Linguistic Semantics. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Givn, Talmy (1993) English Grammar: A Function-Based Introduction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Gordon, Jelena Michajlovna and Krylova, Inna Pavlovna (1974) A Grammar of Present-day English: (Parts of Speech). Moscow: Higher School Publishing House. Greenbaum, Sidney (1996) The Oxford English Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Huddleston, Rodney (1984) Introduction to the Grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Huddleston, Rodney; Bauer, Laurie; and Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2002) The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Joos, Martin (1964) The English Verb: Form and Meanings. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Leech, Geoffrey Neil (1971) Meaning and the English Verb. London: Longman. Long, Ralph Bernard (1961) The Sentence and Its Parts: A Grammar of Contemporary English. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. McEnery, Tony; Xiao, Richard; and Tono, Yukio (2006) Corpus-based Language Studies: An Advanced Resource Book. London: Routledge. Millington Ward, John (1966) The Use of Tenses in English. London: Logmans, Green. Palmer, Frank Robert (1974) The English Verb. London: Longman. Quirk, Randolph; Greenbaum, Sidney; Leech, Geoffrey; and Svartvik, Jan (1985) A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman. Roey, Jacques van (1982) English Grammar: Advanced Level. Utrecht: Didier-Hatier. Rot, Sndor (1988) On Crucial Problems of the English Verb. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. Sinclair, John (1991) Corpus, Concordance, Collocation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Spasov, Dimiter (1972) The Verb in the Structure of English: A Practical Course for Advanced Students. Sofia: Naouka i Izkoustvo. Tobin, Yishai (1993) Aspect in the English Verb: Process and Result in Language. London: Longman.
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RSUM The thesis deals with the analysis of stative verbs with the progressive. This particular usage is a rather problematic issue in the English language. Though many scholars argue that stative verbs are incompatible with the progressive, they propose various circumstances under which such employment may occur. In the thesis, I focus on a particular group of stative verbs - verbs of cognition, emotion, and attitude. By means of the British National Corpus, I examine the selected verbs in terms of their use in the progressive form. I concentrate on the registers in which they occur and, above all, on the reasons for their employment with the progressive. The verbs are analyzed independently as well as compared with each other. The aim of the thesis is to find out whether the selected verbs are similar as a group, as far as their employment with the progressive is concerned. Moreover, the correspondence of the theories on stative progressives to the actual usage of these verbs is investigated. As the method I employ for the analysis is essentially based on assessing peoples motives for this particular usage, I also attempt to, by means of a questionnaire, demonstrate the degree of subjectivity in the use of stative progressives. The analysis reveals that the selected verbs are not similar in terms of their use with the progressive. They differ in frequency of their occurrence, reasons for their use in this form, and registers in which they occur. The theories on stative progressives corresponds to the actual usage of the selected verbs only to a certain degree. Furthermore, the analysis of the questionnaires shows that people differ in their views on stative verbs with the progressive.
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CZECH RSUM / ESK RESUM Prce se zabv analzou stavovch sloves v progresivn form. Toto uit je v anglickm jazyce dosti problematick. Akoli mnoho odbornk tvrd, e stavov slovesa jsou s progresivem nesluiteln, pedkldaj rzn okolnosti, za kterch se toto spojen vyskytnout me. V prci se zamuji na konkrtn skupinu stavovch sloves - slovesa vyjadujc poznn, emoce a postoje. Prostednictvm Britskho nrodnho korpusu zkoumm vybran slovesa z hlediska jejich vskytu v progresivn form. Pozornost vnuji jazykovm stylm, ve kterch se dan slova nachz a hlavn dvodm k jejich uit v progresivu. Slovesa jsou analyzovna samostatn a tak porovnna mezi sebou. Clem prce je zjistit, zda maj vybran slovesa, co se te vskytu v progresivu, spolen vlastnosti. Krom toho prce zkoum, jak odpovdaj teorie zabvajc se tmto jevem skutenmu uit analyzovanch sloves. Jeliko je m analza zaloena na odhadovn dvod k pouit stavovch sloves v progresivu, formou dotaznku tak zkoumm, do jak mry je toto uit otzka subjektivnho posouzen. Z vzkumu vyplv, e dan slovesa se z hlediska pouvn v progresivn form znan li a to etnost vskyt, jazykovmi styly, ve kterch se v tto podob nachz a tak okolnostmi, za kterch jsou v tto form pouita. Teorie zabvajc se stavovmi slovesy v progresivu se jen do urit mry shoduj se skutenm uitm danch sloves. Analza dotaznk navc ukazuje, e lid se ve svch pohledech na tento jazykov jev li.
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Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

Bc. Jana Drkov

Stative Verbs with the Progressive

Supervisor: PhDr. Nadda Kudrnov, CSc.

newspaper 10 0.96 1 0.1 2 0.19 7 0.67

22 0.22 5 0.05 4 0.04 2 0.02 2 0.02 15 0.15 1 0.01 1 0.01

1 0.1 1 0.1 2 0.2

1 0.06 4 0.25 2 0.13 3 0.19 1 0.06

3 0.03 5 0.05 4 0.04 9 0.09 1 0.01 1 0.01

1 0.1 2 0.2 1 0.1 3 0.3 1 0.1

1 0.06 2 0.13 2 0.13 4 0.25 1 0.06

newspaper 5 0.48 3 0.29 3 0.29

1 0.01 10 0.1 1 0.01 4 0.04 8 0.08

4 0.25 1 0.06 4 0.25

newspaper 2 0.19 5 0.48 1 0.1 7 0.67 2 0.19 8 0.76 7 0.67

33 3.3 13 1.3 15 1.5 69 6.9 3 0.3 35 3.5 27 2.7 9 0.9

35 2.2 36 2.26 14 0.88 18 1.13 6 0.38 48 3.02 50 3.14 1 0.06

0.07 1 0.07 1 0.07 2 0.13

stylistic, rhetorical T reasons PM immediacy in a generic statement T PM

newspaper 3 0.29 1 0.1 7 0.67 1 0.1 1 0.1 2 0.19

6 0.06 30 0.3 19 0.19 33 0.33 3 0.03 17 0.17 12 0.12 3 0.03 2 0.02

3 0.3 1 0.1 7 0.7 1 0.1 4 0.4 1 0.1

2 0.13 24 1.51 17 1.07 9 0.57 8 0.5 2 0.13

stylistic, rhetorical T reasons PM immediacy in a generic statement T PM

2 0.02 1 0.01 5 0.05 3 0.03 1 0.01 1 0.01

1 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1

2 0.13 2 0.13 2 0.13

stylistic, rhetorical T reasons PM immediacy in a generic statement T PM

4 0.04 1 0.01 10 0.1 8 0.08 4 0.04 2 0.02

1 0.1 3 0.3 6 0.6 2 0.2

1 0.06 1 0.06 3 0.19 1 0.06 1 0.06

0.13 1 0.07 1 0.07

stylistic, rhetorical T reasons PM

newspaper 1 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1

8 0.08 9 0.09 2 0.02 4 0.04 1 0.01 6 0.06 2 0.02 5 0.05 2 0.02

2 0.13 4 0.25 1 0.06 1 0.06 1 0.06 2 0.13 1 0.06

stylistic, rhetorical T reasons PM immediacy in a generic statement T PM

newspaper 5 0.48 5 0.48 1 0.1 1 0.1

1 0.1 6 0.6 1 0.1 7 0.7 1 0.1 1 0.1 2 0.2

9 0.57 4 0.25 7 0.44

0.07 4 0.26 6 0.39 1 0.07 2 0.13

6 0.06 3 0.03 2 0.02 2 0.02 2 0.02 1 0.01

2 0.13 3 0.19 2 0.13 2 0.13 1 0.06 1 0.06

stylistic, rhetorical T reasons PM

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