Progressives, pluractionals, and the domains of aspect

Brenda Laca (1)

1 SFL - Structures Formelles du Langage

The Romance languages are rich in monoclausal verbal constructions traditionally classified as "aspectual periphrases". Those consisting of the locative copula or a motion verb with the gerund of the "main predicator" are frequently treated as expressions of progressive aspect. The aim of this paper is twofold. It will be shown that periphrases with motion verbs belong to the realm of "lower" aspect, whereas those containing STARE are genuine expressions of the progressive as a "higher" time-relational aspect. On the other hand, I will claim that periphrases with motion verbs can be analysed as pluractional operators on VPs along the lines recently proposed by Van Geenhoven (2003, 2004) for V operators. Their scope interactions with participants differ, however, crucially from those of adverbs with similar meanings.

Mots clés: aspect (progressive; incremental; frequentative); periphrases; progressives; pluractionals

Domaines: Linguistique

Brenda Laca. Progressives, pluractionals, and the domains of aspect. Domaines, Journées d'Études linguistiques, Nantes, 2004, Nantes, France. pp.87-92. ⟨halshs-00104641⟩