This dissertation studied the multifunctionality in a sociofunctional perspective of the imperfective past in the Spanish language in the contexts of use of imperfective periphrasis of past and of imperfect of indicative tense. It was also investigated the variation among these forms in the descriptive, habitual, desiderative and narrative functions. The objectives of the research were: a) to map out the encoded functions by the imperfective aspectual forms of past (imperfect of indicative tense and verbal periphrases) in literary short stories written in Spanish; b) to describe the phenomenon of linguistic variation in the functions performed by imperfective aspectual forms of past; c) to examine linguistic and extra-linguistic contexts, prototypical to each function and the factors that constrained the analyzed forms. As theoretical backgrounds, we used principles of Sociofunctionalism by Tavares (2003), as a result of a theoretical connection of the North American approach Linguistic Functionalism (HOPPER; TRAUGOTT, 1993; GIVÃN, 1995), and some assumptions of the Theory of Change and Variation (LABOV, 1972, 1978, 1994 and 2001). The research analyzed data of written language from 24 short stories by Spanish writers, selected based on extra-linguistic parameters (the linguistic zone of Spanish, the narratives and the writers). The results were the following: from 2093 cases, 1803 are in the imperfect past tense of indicative, 86,15% of the total, and 290 in imperfective periphrasis of past in Spanish, which is 13,85% of the total. These data were analyzed according to parameters of transitivity by Hopper and Thompson (1980); types of verbs by Vendler (1957,1967); types of aspectual modifiers; the foreground and background relationship by Hopper e Thompson (1980); narrative unities by Labov (1972); types of discourse; linguistic zones; short stories and selected writers; types of report and voices of the literary narrative. In addition to that, functions were mapped out, and those, which had variation, it was investigated linguistic and extra-linguistic factors, which influenced the use of variants, by subjecting these data to a statistical analysis through the computer program GOLDVARB. Concerning the multifunctionality of imperfective forms of past, it was found, in our research, the following results: descriptive (33,84%), narrative (32,07%), habitual (6%), interactive (1,53%), present (3,07%), future (1,53%), simultaneity (3,07%), courtesy (0,28%), desiderative (8,08%), contrariety (1,53%) and playful (9%). In four of these functions, the analyzed forms vary (according to Labovâs concept, 1978). The imperfect tense is more frequent in the descriptive function (constrained by the presence of two or more arguments in the sentence, discursive level background 2, object not affected by the verbal action, the style of the writers Virgilio PiÃera and Roberto BolaÃo, the absence of volitivity, and dynamic and durative verbs), and in the narrative one (constrained by modality irrealis, discursive level foreground, object not affected by the verbal action, dynamic verbs, sentences whose polarity is negative, and the evaluation of the narrative. Periphrases occur more frequently in the desiderative function (motivated by the absence of agentive subject and of individuated object in the sentence, discursive levels background 1 and 2, and durative verbs), and in the habitual function (motivated by agentive subject, the style of the writers Gabriel GarcÃa MÃrquez and Virgilio PiÃera, dynamic and durative verbs and the presence of the aspectual modifier. / Esta tese deteve-se no estudo da multifuncionalidade, numa perspectiva sociofuncionalista, do passado imperfectivo em LÃngua Espanhola, em contextos de uso das perÃfrases imperfectivas de passado e do pretÃrito imperfeito do indicativo. Investigou, ainda, a variaÃÃo entre essas formas nas funÃÃes descritiva, habitual, desiderativa e narrativa. Os objetivos que nortearam a nossa pesquisa foram: a) mapear as funÃÃes codificadas pelas formas aspectuais imperfectivas de passado (pretÃrito imperfeito do indicativo e perÃfrases verbais) em contos literÃrios escritos em Espanhol; b) descrever o fenÃmeno de variaÃÃo linguÃstica nas funÃÃes desempenhadas pelas formas aspectuais imperfectivas de passado e c) examinar contextos linguÃsticos e extralinguÃsticos prototÃpicos a cada funÃÃo e fatores que condicionam as formas sob anÃlise. Deram suporte a nossa pesquisa os pressupostos teÃricos do Sociofuncionalismo, de acordo com Tavares (2003), resultado do casamento teÃrico do Funcionalismo LinguÃstico de vertente norte-americana (HOPPER; TRAUGOTT, 1993; GIVÃN, 1995) e dos postulados da Teoria da VariaÃÃo e MudanÃa (LABOV, 1972, 1978, 1994 e 2001). A pesquisa analisou dados de lÃngua escrita provenientes de 24 contos literÃrios escritos por autores de LÃngua Espanhola, selecionados a partir de parÃmetros extralinguÃsticos (zona linguÃstica do Espanhol, narrativas e autores). Obtivemos um total de 2093 dados, sendo que 1803 desses sÃo de formas do pretÃrito imperfeito do indicativo, 86,15% do total, e 290 de perÃfrases imperfectivas de passado em Espanhol, o que corresponde a 13,85% do total. Esses dados foram analisados conforme os parÃmetros de transitividade, de acordo com Hopper e Thompson (1980); tipos de verbo, conforme Vendler (1957,1967); tipos de modificadores aspectuais; relaÃÃo figura e fundo, conforme Hopper e Thompson (1980); unidades da narrativa, segundo Labov (1972); tipos de discurso; zonas linguÃsticas; contos e autores selecionados; tipos de relato e vozes da narrativa literÃria. Ademais, foi realizado o mapeamento funcional e, nas funÃÃes em que houve variaÃÃo, investigamos fatores linguÃsticos e extralinguÃsticos que condicionaram o uso das variantes, submetendo esses dados a tratamento estatÃstico atravÃs do pacote computacional GOLDVARB. No que tange à multifuncionalidade das formas imperfectivas de passado, encontramos, em nossa pesquisa, os valores descritivo (33,84%), narrativo (32,07%), habitual (6%), iterativo (1,53%), presente (3,07%), futuro (1,53%), simultaneidade (3,07%), cortesia (0,28%), desiderativo (8,08%), contrariedade (1,53%) e lÃdico (9%). Dessas funÃÃes, em quatro, as formas sob anÃlise estÃo em variaÃÃo (de acordo com conceito proposto por Labov, 1978). O imperfeito à mais frequente na funÃÃo descritiva (condicionado por presenÃa de dois ou mais argumentos na oraÃÃo, plano discursivo fundo 2, objeto nÃo afetado pela aÃÃo verbal, estilo dos autores Virgilio PiÃera e Roberto BolaÃo, ausÃncia de volitividade e verbos dinÃmicos e durativos) e na funÃÃo narrativa (condicionado por modalidade irrealis, plano discursivo figura, objeto nÃo afetado pela aÃÃo verbal, verbos dinÃmicos, sentenÃas cuja polaridade à negativa e avaliaÃÃo da narrativa). As perÃfrases ocorrem, mais frequentemente na funÃÃo desiderativa (motivadas por ausÃncia de sujeito agentivo e de objeto individuado na oraÃÃo, plano discursivo fundo [1 e 2] e verbos durativos) e na funÃÃo habitual (motivadas por sujeito agentivo, estilo dos autores Gabriel GarcÃa MÃrquez e Virgilio PiÃera, verbos dinÃmicos e durativos e presenÃa de modificador aspectual).

No description available.

In many languages, antipassive morphology is comprised of aspectual morphology (Polinsky 2008). This thesis presents an analysis of the syntax and semantics of antipassives in Inuktitut by exploring the link between aspectual morphology and antipassive morphology. It resolves the longstanding question as to the factors governing the distribution of the antipassive morpheme, showing that the presence of the antipassive morpheme is determined by the meaning of the construction, i.e. it does not merely change the grammatical function. It is proposed that the antipassive construction has imperfective viewpoint in contrast to the ergative construction. Antipassive morphology is obligatory with punctual telic verbs, i.e. achievements, which are verbs that have perfective viewpoint by default. Antipassive morphology is thus necessary to convey imperfective viewpoint for verbs that are by default perfective. Using a modified Reichenbachian (Reichenbach 1947) framework, it is shown that imperfective viewpoint does not allow for telic interpretations. Instead, punctuality determines the types of viewpoint, which coincide with the aspectual meaning of the antipassive marker. Viewpoint contrasts in Inuktitut are encoded not only in morphology but in changes of case and agreement configurations. They are derived using a version of the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 2008). Imperfective viewpoint can either be default, in which case there is inherent case on the internal argument, or derived through the addition of antipassive morphology, in which case the construction closely parallels a nominative-accusative structure. Perfective viewpoint is encoded through absolutive case on the internal argument, either in an ergative construction or in a canonical intransitive construction with unaccusative verbs. The thesis provides insight into the relation between case-agreement configurations and aspectual contrasts in language and the nature of those aspectual contrasts. It also provides a new approach to the relation between lexical aspect and viewpoint by considering the role of punctuality.

In many languages, antipassive morphology is comprised of aspectual morphology (Polinsky 2008). This thesis presents an analysis of the syntax and semantics of antipassives in Inuktitut by exploring the link between aspectual morphology and antipassive morphology. It resolves the longstanding question as to the factors governing the distribution of the antipassive morpheme, showing that the presence of the antipassive morpheme is determined by the meaning of the construction, i.e. it does not merely change the grammatical function. It is proposed that the antipassive construction has imperfective viewpoint in contrast to the ergative construction. Antipassive morphology is obligatory with punctual telic verbs, i.e. achievements, which are verbs that have perfective viewpoint by default. Antipassive morphology is thus necessary to convey imperfective viewpoint for verbs that are by default perfective. Using a modified Reichenbachian (Reichenbach 1947) framework, it is shown that imperfective viewpoint does not allow for telic interpretations. Instead, punctuality determines the types of viewpoint, which coincide with the aspectual meaning of the antipassive marker. Viewpoint contrasts in Inuktitut are encoded not only in morphology but in changes of case and agreement configurations. They are derived using a version of the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 2008). Imperfective viewpoint can either be default, in which case there is inherent case on the internal argument, or derived through the addition of antipassive morphology, in which case the construction closely parallels a nominative-accusative structure. Perfective viewpoint is encoded through absolutive case on the internal argument, either in an ergative construction or in a canonical intransitive construction with unaccusative verbs. The thesis provides insight into the relation between case-agreement configurations and aspectual contrasts in language and the nature of those aspectual contrasts. It also provides a new approach to the relation between lexical aspect and viewpoint by considering the role of punctuality.

The effect of grammar instruction on second language acquisition continues to be a source of debate in SLA research. Previous studies have shown that input-based instruction such as Processing Instruction (PI) is more effective than traditional grammar instruction (TI) for the acquisition of grammatical structures such as object pronouns in Spanish, the Spanish preterite, the simple present vs. the present progressive in English, and the ser/estar contrast in Spanish (VanPatten and Cadierno, 1993; Cadierno, 1995; Buck, 2000; Cheng, 2004). This quasi-experimental, classroom-based study examines the effects of output-based instruction (OB) and PI on the acquisition of the perfective/imperfective aspectual distinction in French, shown to be difficult to master by English-speaking learners due to its linguistic and pragmatic complexity. Specifically, the research design investigates whether OB instruction and PI have significant effects on the learners' performance involving the interpretation and production of the passé composé and the imparfait in narration. Two second semester university level French classes at the University of Texas at Austin were randomly assigned to one of the two groups: an output-based instruction group (n=18) and a processing instruction group (n=17). A distinct instructional treatment was developed for both groups, and a pretest/posttest procedure was used to assess the effect of instruction. The two posttests were administered one day and one month after instruction. All tests except the pretest included a written interpretation task, a controlled written production task, and a written composition. The findings show that both the OB and the PI groups improved their performance significantly on the assessment tasks and that there was no statistical difference between the groups on any of the tasks. These results differ from those of previous PI research and suggest that either type of instruction, output-based or processing, may have had a significant impact on the learners' developing system. The type of output-based instruction used in this study differs from TI in that it does not include a mechanical component. The results of the present study are consistent with Farley (2004b) in showing that approaches to grammar instruction that are meaning-oriented may bring about significant effects on SLA. / text

ALBUQUERQUE, Micheline Guelry Silva. Uso do imperfeito do indicativo e de perífrases imperfectivas de passado em memórias literárias produzidas por alunos de escolas públicas brasileiras. 2015. 155f. – Dissertação (Mestrado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departamento de Letras Vernáculas, Programa de Pós-graduação em Linguística, Fortaleza (CE), 2015. / Submitted by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2015-08-26T11:39:58Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_dis_mgsalbuquerque.pdf: 960073 bytes, checksum: 236942dc5ae5c1c1d88efd3e5ed376fc (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo(marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2015-08-28T13:25:59Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_dis_mgsalbuquerque.pdf: 960073 bytes, checksum: 236942dc5ae5c1c1d88efd3e5ed376fc (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-08-28T13:25:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_dis_mgsalbuquerque.pdf: 960073 bytes, checksum: 236942dc5ae5c1c1d88efd3e5ed376fc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / This research aims to analyze variation in the use of the imperfect of indicative and imperfective periphrases the past, literary memories produced in 2010 and 2012, by students of the 7th and 8th years, finalists of the Portuguese Language Olympiad Writing the Future. Accordingly, it intends to investigate factors (linguistic and extra-linguistic) motivate the choice of one form or another. Therefore, is based on the Sociofuncionalism the postulates defended by Tavares (2003), resulting theoretical wedding between Sociolinguistics variational (Weinreich, Labov And HERZOG, 1968; Labov, 1972, 1978, 1994, 2001, 2003, 2010) and the US shed functionalism (cf. Givon, 1995, 2001; HOPPER, 1991; HOPPER & TRAUGOTT, 1993; TRAUGOTT, 1995. the corpus consists of 2205 data imperfective forms of past collected from 76 of literary texts memories , and in 1926 these data imperfect indicative past tense, for a total of 87.3% of the total, and 279 forms of imperfective periphrases past, totaling a percentage of 12.7% of the total incidence. The outcomes of the rounds statistics done using the software GoldVarb revealed that the phenomenon under study is motivated by linguistic factors, as imperfective function (episodic, habitual, iterative and progressive), semantic-discursive kind of verb (process culminated, culmination, activity and state), type prayer (coordinated asyndetic, subordinate adverbial, adjectival subordinate, coordinated syndetic, principal, absolute and conditional substantive), aspectual modifier (quantifier, durative, punctual and without modifier) and polarity (positive and negative), having been discarded by the statistics rounds factors narrative of the plan: figure and ground and geographic regions for failing to submit the relevant motivation of the imperfective forms under review. Thus, the results obtained and analyzed showed us how prototypical contexts for each form under the following analysis: the imperfect codes, prototypically, episodic role, culminating with process verb in affirmative prayer coordinated asyndetic with quantifier modifier; the periphrasis, in turn, presents, prototypically, progressive encoding function, with state verbs in negative substantive subordinate clauses, in the presence of aspectual point modifier. / Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo analisar variação no uso do imperfeito do indicativo e de perífrases imperfectivas de passado, em memórias literárias produzidas em 2010 e 2012, por alunos do 7o e do 8o anos, finalistas da Olimpíada de Língua Portuguesa Escrevendo o Futuro. Nesse sentido, intenta-se investigar fatores (linguísticos e extralinguístico) motivam a escolha por uma ou outra forma. Para tanto, fundamenta-se nos postulados do Sociofuncionalismo, defendidos por Tavares (2003), resultante do casamento teórico entre a Sociolinguística Variacionista, (WEINREICH, LABOV E HERZOG, 1968; LABOV, 1972, 1978, 1994, 2001, 2003, 2010), e o Funcionalismo de vertente norte-americana (cf. GIVÓN, 1995, 2001; HOPPER, 1991; HOPPER &TRAUGOTT, 1993; TRAUGOTT, 1995). O corpus é formado por 2205 dados de formas imperfectivas de passado coletados de 76 textos de memórias literárias, sendo 1926 destes dados de pretérito imperfeito do indicativo, perfazendo um total de 87,3% do total, e 279 formas de perífrases imperfectivas de passado, que totalizam um percentual de 12,7% do total de ocorrências. Os resultados decorrentes das rodadas estatísticas realizadas pelo programa computacional GoldVarb revelaram que o fenômeno em estudo é motivado por fatores linguísticos, como função imperfectivas (episódica, habitual, iterativa e progressiva), tipo semântico-discursivo do verbo (processo culminado, culminação, atividade e estado), tipo de oração (coordenada assindética, subordinada adverbial, subordinada adjetiva, coordenada sindética, principal, absoluta e subordinada substantiva), modificador aspectual (quantificador, durativo, pontual e sem modificador) e polaridade (positiva e negativa), tendo sido descartados pelas rodadas estatísticas os fatores plano da narrativa: figura e fundo e regiões geográficas por não terem apresentado relevância na motivação por uma das formas imperfectivas sob análise. Dessa forma, os resultados obtidos e analisados revelaram-nos como contextos prototípicos para cada forma sob análise os seguintes: o imperfeito codifica, prototipicamente, função episódica, com verbo de processo culminado, em oração coordenada assindética afirmativa, com modificador quantificador; a perífrase, por sua vez, apresenta-se, prototipicamente, codificando função progressiva, com verbos de estado, em orações subordinadas substantivas negativas, na presença de modificador aspectual pontual.

Submitted by Maike Costa (maiksebas@gmail.com) on 2016-07-20T11:14:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivo total.pdf: 1246465 bytes, checksum: 64619ce538bea8f6beb75ff0ca102d86 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-20T11:14:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivo total.pdf: 1246465 bytes, checksum: 64619ce538bea8f6beb75ff0ca102d86 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-19 / This research has the objective of reflecting on the characterization of the perfective and imperfective aspects to support a scale analysis of the criterion of transitivity aspect that faces the binary perspective of Hopper and Thompson (1980). It is a bibliographic research, with theoretical research, associated to the analysis of examples. The present exemplification is constituted, mainly, of the dissertation of Vanderlei (2014), entitled “Oral Transitivity: reflections on the textual-discursive function of the pronouns o(s), a(s), me, te”, which were the comparative base for us between the scale and binary proposal of analysis of the aspect. We put as the issue of the research the fact that the perfective and imperfective aspects generally being defined by binary oppositions, when it can present a group of more or less obvious traces. We hypothesize that the criterion aspect must be analysed according to the acting of a group of characterizing notions, indicating traces of perfectivity or imperfectivity. The analysis of the exemplification highlighted revealed that the most perfective actions and, therefore, more transitive, are characterized by the presence of notions of punctuality, completion and finishing and by the lack of length, while the most imperfective actions, less transitive, are characterized by the presence of length and completion and the lack of punctuality and finishing. We conclude that there is the possibility modification of binary results from a scale analysis of the criterion of transitivity aspect, signalizing the complementary validity of this last proposal as a form of approximating the study of the functionalist criterion of the particularities of the verbal category in Brazilian Portuguese. / A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo refletir sobre a caracterização dos aspectos perfectivo e imperfectivo para fundamentar uma análise escalar do critério de transitividade aspecto diante da perspectiva binária de Hopper e Thompson (1980). Trata-se de uma pesquisa bibliográfica, com motivação teórica, associada à análise de exemplos. A exemplificação presente é constituída, principalmente, pela dissertação de Vanderlei (2014), intitulada “Transitividade oracional: reflexões sobre a função textual-discursiva dos pronomes o(s), a(s), me, te”, que nos serviu de base comparativa entre as propostas escalar e binária de análise do aspecto. Colocamos como problemática da pesquisa o fato de os aspectos perfectivo e imperfectivo serem em geral definidos por oposições binárias, quando podem apresentar um conjunto de traços mais ou menos patentes. Hipotetizamos que o critério aspecto deva ser analisado segundo a atuação de um conjunto de noções caracterizadoras, indicativas de traços de perfectividade ou imperfectividade. A análise da exemplificação destacada revelou que as ações mais perfectivas e, portanto, mais transitivas, são caracterizadas pela presença das noções de pontualidade, completamento e acabamento e pela ausência de duração, enquanto as ações mais imperfectivas, menos transitivas, são caracterizadas pela presença de duração e completamento e a ausência de pontualidade e acabamento. Conclui-se a existência da possibilidade de modificações de resultados binários a partir de uma análise escalar do critério de transitividade aspecto, sinalizando a validade complementar desta última proposta como forma de aproximar o estudo do critério funcionalista das particularidades da categoria verbal no português brasileiro.

La présente recherche traite des constructions participiales en –ing de l’anglais contemporain. Elle s’appuie sur un corpus de plus de 1700 occurrences de participiales issues de romans et d’articles de journaux, ainsi que sur le British National Corpus et le Corpus of Contemporary American English. Les participiales ont pour caractéristique majeure ne pas expliciter les liens syntaxiques et sémantiques qui les unissent à la proposition dont elles dépendent. Pour expliquer les fondements linguistiques de cette propriété, la recherche établit une typologie détaillée des participiales, étudie les relations qu’elles entretiennent avec leur sujet, ainsi que la nature de l’incidence et de la prédication qui les caractérisent, et détaille les interprétations sémantiques qu’elles peuvent recevoir. Elle montre que la valeur sémantique basique des participiales est la circonstance concomitante, soit un simple lien établi entre deux procès qui forment une unité dans l’esprit de l’énonciateur. Ce sont les traits spécifiques du co- et du contexte qui peuvent modifier cette valeur basique pour déboucher sur l’interprétation finale, adverbiale ou adjectivale, de la participiale. La recherche propose, dans le cadre de la psychosystématique de Gustave Guillaume, des hypothèses susceptibles d’expliquer le comportement syntaxique et sémantique des participiales ; elle montre qu’il est directement lié au sens du participe présent, dont il est postulé que l’incidence est interne et qu’il code la simultanéité et l’imperfectif dans tous ses emplois. / This research deals with –ing participle clauses in contemporary English. It is based on a corpus totalling over 1,700 participle clauses collected from novels and newspaper articles, and it also relies on data from electronic corpora – the British National Corpus and the Corpus of Contemporary American English. The main characteristic of –ing participle clauses is that they lack an explicit syntactic and semantic link to their superordinate clause: to shed light on the linguistic phenomena accounting for this specificity, the research establishes a detailed typology of –ing clauses, studies their relationship to their subjects, investigates the specific nature of their incidence and predication, and provides a detailed analysis of their semantic indeterminacy. It shows that their basic semantic value is one of attendant circumstance – a mere link between two events or states that form a unit in the speaker’s mind. The characteristics of the co- and context may alter this basic value to give the clause its final (adjectival or adverbial) meaning. The research puts forward hypotheses to account for the syntactic and semantic characteristics of –ing participle clauses within the framework of Gustave Guillaume’s psychosystematic theory: it shows the syntactic and semantic behaviour of –ing clauses can be directly traced back to the meaning of the –ing participle, which, it is hypothesised, has an internal incidence and expresses simultaneity and imperfectivity in all of its uses.

No description available.

Temporal constructions in Afrikaans are ambiguous with respect to aspectual meaning. The past tense construction with het ge-, for instance, can be interpreted as progressive, perfective or anterior. In the same vein, the unmarked present tense construction can be interpreted as a construction with a progressive or a perfective meaning. This aspectual ambiguity of the Afrikaans verbal system has a significant effect on the way in which Afrikaans grammar is described or understood. The observation by native speakers, linguists, literary specialists and writers that the temporal constructions in Afrikaans are vague or ambiguous with regard to aspectual meaning has led to certain views about the expression of tense in the language. In Afrikaans literature, for example, there is a tradition to write prose primarily in the present tense, because of the perception that the past tense is not adequate to convey particular semantic nuances. Furthermore, certain speakers of Afrikaans and linguists believe that Afrikaans grammar has been simplified and just does not have aspect. However, Afrikaans possesses alternative strategies to specify aspectual meaning. The five prototypical ways of expressing aspectual meaning in Afrikaans are i) lexical constructions (such as adverbs and conjunctions); ii) constructions with affixes, iii) reduplication constructions; iv) passive constructions; and v) periphrastic constructions. Aspectual meaning in Afrikaans is an almost entirely unexplored research field. In my opinion, the literature on the expressions of aspectual meaning in Afrikaans contains two shortcomings. First, Afrikaans aspect needs to be described theoretically. Second, more research is needed concerning the specific ways in which aspectual meaning is expressed in Afrikaans. The scope of this entire research field is too large for a single study. For that reason, the present study aims to reveal the way in which periphrastic constructions are used to convey progressive meaning. As far as temporal meaning is concerned, it is possible to make a distinction between tempus meaning, which stands for deictic temporal meanings (i.e. past, present and future tense), and aspectual meaning, which stands for non-deictic temporal meanings such as duration, point of view and the internal structure of the situation. One can also distinguish between lexical and grammatical aspect. Lexical aspect has to do with the conceptual properties of a situation or, in other words, with the question whether it is static or dynamic, telic or atelic and durative. There are five situation types: states, activities, achievements, accomplishments and semelfactives. Grammatical aspect concerns the point of view from which the situation is perceived. One can make a distinction between perfective and imperfective grammatical aspect. The latter can be subdivided into imperfectives conveying habitual meaning and imperfectives conveying progressive meaning. Grammaticalisation theory is useful and a relevant tool to provide answers to the afore-mentioned research questions. First, it offers insight into the manner in which the ambiguous tempus constructions of Afrikaans came into being. Second, it can be used to show how the alternative aspectual constructions have developed and how they are currently employed in the language. For the purpose of this study, grammaticalisation is regarded as language change in which a construction loses its lexical meaning and comes to express grammatical meaning. Grammatical constructions can be used in more contexts than their lexical counterparts, as grammaticalised uses have been generalized contextually. Grammatical constructions lose the morphosyntactic properties typical of their lexical counterparts and assume grammatical properties. Grammaticalisation is a typological phenomenon and the lexical origin of a grammatical construction is often the same in different languages. Grammaticalizing constructions exhibit an increase in frequency. Afrikaans and Dutch are closely related languages and possess cognate periphrastic progressive constructions, viz. i) the aan het- / aan die- ii) VPOS te / VPOS en-; en iii) bezig- / besig- progressive constructions. To examine the use of periphrastic progressive constructions in Afrikaans from a grammaticalisation perspective, I compare the results of a study of these constructions in an Afrikaans corpus to those of previous studies of the periphrastic progressive constructions in Dutch. The respective constructions are compared on the basis of four criteria, viz. i) frequency; ii) verb collocations; iii) transitivity; and iv) combinatorial possibilities with other aspectual periphrastic constructions. The lexical origins of the various constructions are also considered. The comparison of the constructions on the basis of the afore-mentioned criteria makes it possible to demonstrate how the periphrastic progressive constructions in Afrikaans came into being and how they have developed into grammatical constructions conveying aspectual meaning and in which way the different Afrikaans periphrastic constructions express progressive meaning. / PhD (Afrikaans and Dutch), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012