Progressive present tense in history

Question

Sorry if this is an FAQ, I don't drop in here often. I am trying to find out when the progressive present (as in "I am writing") first entered English, when it became the prevalent form of the present tense for most purposes, and how it compares with usage in other European languages (and if anyone has any special knowledge, non- European).

Paul Burke

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Sorry if this is an FAQ, I don't drop in here often. I am trying to find out when the ... purposes, and how it compares with usage in other European languages (and if anyone has any special knowledge, non- European).[/nq]
As to the last question, as far as I know it is unique to English in European languages. As to the former question, it's a very interesting one to which I cannot give an answer but await them with interest, for it is indeed a rather peculiar thing.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Sorry if this is an FAQ, I don't drop in ... languages (and if anyone has any special knowledge, non- European).[/nq]
[nq:1]As to the last question, as far as I know it is unique to English in European languages. As to ... to which I cannot give an answer but await them with interest, for it is indeed a rather peculiar thing.[/nq]
Do you mean the 'periphrastic present' or 'periphrastic with gerund'? If so, it exists in Spanish and Italian, but not French.
John Briggs

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Sorry if this is an FAQ, I don't drop in ... languages (and if anyone has any special knowledge, non- European).[/nq]
[nq:1]As to the last question, as far as I know it is unique to English in European languages.[/nq]
Ik ben aan het schrijven Dutch
Ik zit te schrijven Dutch
Estoy escribiendo Spanish
All three are direct translations of the English phrase 'I am writing'. The productive rules giving rise to these idioms are in everyday use in both Dutch and Spanish. For example, see: http://tinyurl.com/543q5 (photo taken on Queen's Day in Amsterdam last year).
Giles.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Ik ben aan het schrijven Dutch Ik zit te schrijven Dutch Estoy escribiendo Spanish[/nq]
Thanks. And I also know about the Welsh 'yn chwarae' construction, which AFAIK is the ONLY verb construction they use.
[nq:1]All three are direct translations of the English phrase 'I am writing'. The productive rules giving rise to these idioms are in everyday use in both Dutch and Spanish.[/nq]
Are they commonly as the ordinary present tense as in English? The T-shirt illustrated wouldn't translate to English- 'ik zit te zuipen' seems to be a pun on 'I'm toasting/ saluting' and 'I'm boozing'... perhaps 'I'll drink to that', which makes it a future or perhaps a sort of conditional.
Paul Burke

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Ik ben aan het schrijven Dutch Ik zit te schrijven Dutch Estoy escribiendo Spanish[/nq]
[nq:1]Thanks. And I also know about the Welsh 'yn chwarae' construction, which AFAIK is the ONLY verb construction they use.[/nq]
In Irish there is also a present continuous tense - "Tá sé ag ithe arán" = "He's eating bread" as distinct from "Itheann sé arán" = "He eats bread".

Regards, Einde O'Callaghan

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Thanks. And I also know about the Welsh 'yn chwarae' construction, which AFAIK is the ONLY verb construction they use.[/nq]
[nq:1]In Irish there is also a present continuous tense - "Tá sé ag ithe arán" = "He's eating bread" as distinct from "Itheann sé arán" = "He eats bread".[/nq]
Well all that is interesting, your post, that of Giles and Paul too but no one has told us yet when this started as the OP asked. Does anyone have any idea about this? Of course it may have existed in Latin but from the (very) little I remember I don't think it did, so come on you erudites, give us an answer or I won't be able to sleeep tonight.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Are they commonly as the ordinary present tense as in English?[/nq]
Yes.
[nq:1]The T-shirt illustrated wouldn't translate to English- 'ik zit te zuipen' seems to be a pun on 'I'm toasting/ saluting' and 'I'm boozing'...[/nq]
The latter. No pun involved. The 'dikke Van Dale' (Dutch equivalent of the OED) defines 'zuipen' as various forms of drinking heavily or consuming too much liquid (cf. a car with a big engine). It is apparently etymologically related to the verb 'slurpen', which might ring a few bells with English monoglots.
[nq:1]perhaps 'I'll drink to that', which makes it a future or perhaps a sort of conditional.[/nq]
No, that would be 'proost' or some such. There is no sense of toasting in 'zuipen'. Just overindulgence. 'Ik zit te zuipen' is a progressive or periphrastic present, just like the one in English.

Giles

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]In Irish there is also a present continuous tense - ... as distinct from "Itheann sé arán" = "He eats bread".[/nq]
[nq:1]Well all that is interesting, your post, that of Giles and Paul too but no one has told us yet ... think it did, so come on you erudites, give us an answer or I won't be able to sleeep tonight.[/nq]
Sorry, I can't help you - but one more titbit: while searching for works on teh history of progressive (or continuosu) tenses I came across a reference (in Russian, unfortunately) to an article about the use of the present progressive in the Kazakh language. So, obviously, present progressive tenses exist in some other languages, including non-Indo-European ones.
I hpe you can sleep well, despite our failure.
Regards, Einde O'Callaghan

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]As to the last question, as far as I know ... with interest, for it is indeed a rather peculiar thing.[/nq]
[nq:1]Do you mean the 'periphrastic present' or 'periphrastic with gerund'? If so, it exists in Spanish and Italian, but not French.[/nq]
"Je suis en train de..."?
It exists in Swedish, and I would think Norwegian and Danish, too.
Bye, FB

L'importante è che risplenda tu, sola primadonna e immarcescibile leggenda del tuo pianerottolo.
(Lucangel su it.cultura.libri)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Do you mean the 'periphrastic present' or 'periphrastic with gerund'? If so, it exists in Spanish and Italian, but not French.[/nq]
[nq:1]"Je suis en train de..."? It exists in Swedish, and I would think Norwegian and Danish, too.[/nq]
No, I know about these round-the-houses ways of indicating ongoing action. We even have them in English, especially of the Synge dialect sort: "He is over beyant in Dingle an' he at the drinkin'" sort of Paddywhackery.
Where the original question was starting from:
In the three main languages historically sharing the British Isles (I'm counting the Gaelic dialects as one, and not counting Latin or French), two seem to have had this progressive 'I am doing' construction as the main present tense form. English adopted it later, though I don't know when it arrived in writing, or if there was pedantic resistance to it.

It seems to be uncommonly used, as a special effect only, in most other European languages.
Some time ago, on the Britarch list, there was a discussion concerning the apparent poverty of words in English from the ancient British language (palaeo-Welsh), and this was used as an argument for large scale replacement of the native population.
It occurred to me at the time that the structure of the progressive present tense could be an adoption from one of the Celtic languages, preserved by the ex-Celtic Anglo Saxon peasants, and ignored by the (aristocratic and conservative) AS literary language. The destruction of the literary elite by the Norman conquest allowed many (perhaps demotic) features to come through into writing- notably the collapse of gender, case inflexion, concordance etc.
But for the progressive present to be part of the package (how's that for AS alliteration?) timing is all. I can't find any examples of it in the few middle-English sources available to me (Gawain, Piers Plowman, riddles, Sir Orfeo, one or two more) but neither can I find when it DID come in. I sometimes suspect that the 'special' nature of writing prior to the invention of printing inhibited the use of forms thought to be ungrammatical- but that's not evidence.
So the question is: did this usage spring up spontaneously, was it adopted from another (higher status?) European language, was it adopted from (definitely low-status) Irish or Welsh, or did it rise from the underground of English dialect, the Brythonic language showing through the flourishing growth of English like a crop mark in a field?

Paul Burke

Progressive present tense in history

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions