A Study Of English Progressive From The Perspective Of Markedness Theory

This thesis attempts a systematic analysis of English progressive and an exploration of its markedness in use.The classical markedness theory allows for only one pattern:an absolute relationship between the two values of a binary-valued category,one unmarked and the other marked.But from the point of view of linguistic typology,markedness is a relative notion,a continuum. Actually,the meanings and functions of English progressive ought to be in a hierarchical structure,but we can not find a specific standard,therefore,I employ the general markedness pattern based on the binary one.The research finds that there is an issue of matching between situation types and English progressive:not all verbs can be used in the progressive construction;however,when a verb is atypically used in the progressive form,it will be forced into a marked reading.In other words, when English progressive is used unmarkedly,it specifies an on-going event;when it is used markedly,it invokes future reading,iterative or habitual reading,temporary reading,tactful reading or modal reading.This study takes the modal reading of English progressive as its focus and finds that context is an important factor affecting the modal reading of English progressive.Another important factor is being-Adj./NP construction.It also finds that:(1) Persons are closely related to the modal meaning of a whole sentence.The sentence with the second person as its subject often expresses a negative meaning.The reason is that you reduces the imaged spatial distance between the speaker and the hearer and it is easy to judge the speaker's attitude;(2) Tenses are closely related to the modal meaning of a whole sentence.The data of the study are all relevant to the grammatical category tense,and the present tense overweighs the past tense,which indicates that the former is preferred to show emotions for the present tense quickens the temporal of the situation and produces an urgent atmosphere;(3) The adjectives are closely related to the modal meaning expressed,and the nouns the adjectives modifying also play a role.Generally,the modal meaning the adjectives carry by themselves is in concordance with that of the whole sentence.However,in specific analysis, there is a need to take into account the adjectives and the nouns modified(e.g.a wise ass emphasizing an ironic meaning) as well as context;and(4) The nouns indicating certain modal meanings or social roles are also closely related to the modal meaning of the whole sentence.Generally,the modal meaning the nouns carry by themselves is in concordance with that of the whole sentence.Since social roles have their own determinants and characteristics,when speakers use the nouns indicating certain social roles, their own emotions are expressed.The study made in this thesis is conductive to a systematic analysis of the markedness in use of English progressive;moreover,the markedness account of English progressive provides a workable approach to the research into the discourse function of tense and aspect.