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Like a rolling stone: the changing use of English premodifying present participles1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2014

HENDRIK DE SMET  and
EVELYN VANCAYZEELE
HENDRIK DE SMET
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Leuven, Blijde Inkomststraat 21, box 3308, 3000 Leuven, [email protected]
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Abstract

This article develops a functional classification of the different uses of English premodifying present participles and applies it to historical corpus data to show that premodifying present participles have undergone functional change. It is argued that three core functions can be distinguished: identifying uses (e.g. the following evening); type-oriented uses (e.g. a talking dog) and situation-oriented uses (e.g. a passing car). Historically, the use of premodifying present participles has shifted from predominantly identifying and type-oriented uses, to predominantly situation-oriented uses, particularly in narrative discourse. This means that premodifying present participles have come to fulfil a function that is less typical of noun-phrase-internal modification, instead being increasingly used to denote backgrounded situations that are temporally aligned to the situation evoked by their main clause. The shift can be interpreted as an instance of functional clausalization.

Type
Research Article
Information
English Language & Linguistics , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , March 2015 , pp. 131 - 156
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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Footnotes

1

We would like to thank Kristin Davidse, Bettelou Los, Peter Petré, three anonymous referees and the editors of English Language and Linguistics for their helpful and constructive comments on earlier versions of this article. The first author also gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Research Foundation Flanders and the University of Leuven.

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