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In:The Progressive Revisited: Historical and Quantitative Studies in Germanic and Romance Languages
Edited by Alessandro Carlucci and Jerzy Nykiel
[Studies in Language Companion Series 236] 2025
► pp. 159–187

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Does English have grammaticalized progressive pseudo-coordination?

The case of sit and V

 | University of Bergen
Published online: 12 September 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.236.06nyk
Abstract
This study investigates the question whether English has a grammaticalized or non-grammaticalized pseudo-coordination (PC) structure with the postural verb sit. The point of departure of this study is Koops’s (2004) observation that sit and V in PDE is a nascent grammatical structure which can be used to express progressive/durative aspect. I analyze corpus data going back to the beginning of the EModE period searching for, first, the properties of PC and then developments concomitant of grammaticalization. I work on the assumption that the grammaticalization of the PC should be detectable in the language of the previous centuries. The results of the study support the notion that sit and V is non-grammaticalized PC in PDE.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.PC in English
  • 3.Data and methodology
  • 4.Frequency
  • 5.Properties of PC and grammaticalization features with sit and V
    • 5.1Extraction and negation
    • 5.2The choice of verbs and subjects
    • 5.3Locative elaboration
    • 5.4Temporal adverbials
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
References (59)
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