Universal #1683

Legacy number: 1683

 Number  1678
 Original  Progressives (which develop from locative, postural or movement verb constructions) tend to develop into imperfectives or occasionally presents.
 Standardized  Progressives (which develop from locative, postural or movement verb constructions) tend to develop into imperfectives or occasionally presents.
 Keywords  aspect, progressive, imperfective, tense, present
 Domain  inflection
 Type  target < source
 Status  diachronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  76 languages from the GRAMCATS database
 Source  Bybee 1994: 244

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Present progressives developing into general presents, as for example in the Chamus dialect of Maa (Mon-Khmer, Austo-Asiatic). But the latter development would only occur where a past tense already exists; if there were no past tense, the progressive would become a general imperfective (Bybee 1994: 250).
Notes
Implicationally:IF there are progressives (which develop from locative, postural or movement verb constructions), THEN they tend to develop into imperfectives or occasionally presents.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Implicationally:
IF there are progressives (which develop from locative, postural or movement verb constructions), THEN they tend to develop into imperfectives or occasionally presents.