In:Comparative Studies in Australian and New Zealand English: Grammar and beyond
Edited by Pam Peters, Peter Collins and Adam Smith
[Varieties of English Around the World G39] 2009
► pp. 115–124
The progressive
Published online: 29 July 2009
https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g39.07col
https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g39.07col
The progressive aspect has enjoyed spectacular growth in English since late Modern English, but its spread has not been uniform across all varieties. The study compared the frequency and uses of the progressive in Australian, New Zealand, British and American English across a range of variables. These included the overall frequency of tokens, the proportion of complex progressive forms, the proportion of special pragmatic uses, the frequency of main clause progressives and the frequency of contracted forms. It was found that the rise of the progressive is most advanced in the two antipodean varieties, with Australian English ahead of New Zealand English, and that of the northern hemisphere pair American English is the more advanced.
Cited by (6)
Cited by six other publications
Burke, Isabelle
Rickman, Paul & Juhani Rudanko
Díez-Bedmar, María Belén
Laitinen, Mikko & Magnus Levin
2016. On the globalization of English. In World Englishes [Varieties of English Around the World, G57], ► pp. 229 ff.
Ssempuuma, Jude, Bebwa Isingoma & Christiane Meierkord
2016. The use of the progressive in Ugandan English. In Ugandan English [Varieties of English Around the World, G59], ► pp. 173 ff.
Kirk, John M.
2015. The progressive in Irish English. In Grammatical Change in English World-Wide [Studies in Corpus Linguistics, 67], ► pp. 87 ff.
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