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Is the English present progressive unique*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

E. R. Mapstone  and
Paul L. Harris
E. R. Mapstone
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Paul L. Harris
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Abstract

The ‘problem of the error-free progressive’ (Brown 5973) was reexamined. It was hypothesized that young children make errors with the progressive as part of a developmental process. An experiment designed to elicit present-tense verbs is described, using 36 pictures, illustrating 9 process and g stative verbs. Twenty-two children (4; 2 to 6; 6) were tested: all responded mainly in the present tense, and 10 out of 22 produced over-generalizations of the progressive to stative verbs. It is argued that resistance to the progressive is based on a semantic distinction that is modified subsequently in accordance with adult use.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , June 1985 , pp. 433 - 441
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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