Solf workshop (ScanDiaSyn 2006 Grand Meeting)

A progressive in progress: changes in the Icelandic aspect system

Theódóra Anna Torfadóttir, Háskóli Íslands

Recently there has been a great increase in the use of the progressive form vera að plus infinitive main verb in Icelandic. Although to a large extent grammaticalized for the description of ongoing events, the Icelandic progressive has shown more restrictions than for example the English progressive in that it largely resists an habitual meaning and combination with states. This is changing however. In my talk I will demonstrate how this extended use of the progressive is first found in sports reports 15 to 20 years ago but is now increasingly used in other fields of communication and in more stative situations. The first results from an extensive survey on syntactic variation carried out within the Icelandic dialect syntax project provides evidence for the spread.