Uses of the Progressive Marker (Feature 47)
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Feature Annotation
An overt marker which fulfills the function of the progressive, i.e. which refers to ongoing activities, often fulfills other functions as well. Among them are current states and habitual situations, as for instance in Papiamentu:
PROGRESSIVE Awor mi ta traha. now I prog work ‘Now I am working.’
CURRENT STATE Mi ta kere den Dios. I ipfv believe in God ‘I believe in God.’
HABITUAL Mi ta traha na pòstkantor. I hab work in post.office ‘I work at the post office.’
Besides this, such markers may also refer to future situations.
This feature asks about the other functions a progressive marker may fulfill, and it is not important whether in a language there are other markers that fulfill one of the potential additional functions that the progressive marker has.
If your languages has both a present progressive and a past progressive marker, disregard the past progressive marker.
Many languages do not mark all verbs which refer to current states with the progressive marker (as defined here). Papiamentu uses the marker ta obligatorily with some stative verbs (as with kere ‘believe’ in the example above), but, for instance, the modal verbs sa ‘know’, por ‘can’ or mester ‘must’ are zero-marked for present reference. The point at issue is whether the progressive marker can mark some stative verbs (value 3, 6-7, 9), or whether it cannot mark any stative verbs (values 2, 4-5, 8).
From our comparative perspective, it is not important whether the progressive function of the marker is the “basic” function.
You may select several values if there are several progressive markers in your language.
Additional remarks
Notice that we only look at overt markers. If progressive is expressed by the plain verb without any overt marker (as e.g. in German), value 1 should be chosen.
Values
| Value | Value Annotation | |
| 1 | No progressive marker exists | |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Only progressive | A language where the progressive marker is used only with activity verbs but not with stative verbs, and is not used as a habitual marker, is Papia Kristang, where ta is used. Also Chinuk Wawa, Lungwa Santome. |
| 3 | Progressive and current state | Réunion Creole, Tok Pisin |
| 4 | Progressive and habitual | Kituba |
| 5 | Progressive and future | Haitian Creole, Sango |
| 6 | Progressive, current state and habitual | Singlish |
| 7 | Progressive, current state and future | |
| 8 | Progressive, habitual and future | |
| 9 | Progressive, current state, habitual and future | Papiamentu (see examples in Feature Annotation) |
WALS No.
(None)
