4. Results and discussion

1)The classification of functions of static verbs used in the progressive aspect

These samples share similarities to some extent and reveal some common features in the discourse purpose through analyzing the semantic and contextual meaning of these samples. In other words, the speakers or the writers have some common intentions for using the static verbs in the progressive aspect, which hides behind the context. Generally speaking, these similarities could be further interpreted to be the potential function of static verbs used in the progressive aspect, not explained in the tradition grammar. And the essay aims at making initial classification of the functions of the static verbs used in the progressive aspect and relevant paragraphs in which collected samples were located have been explored and investigated firstly. Taking into account the semantic and contextual meaning of these samples as well as users'intentions, five main functions of the static verbs used in the progressive aspect have been classified in this study(see Table 1). In addition, Table 2 shows the data distribution of overall samples associated with eight word groups in five different functions.

In Figure 1, the overall distribution of the functions of static verbs used in the progressive aspect illustrates an uneven distribution on usage of five functions of static verbs. The speakers or writers tend to use more frequently the static verbs to present a snapshot image of the action. Nev ertheless, the fifth function, referring to the future, is rarely used by comparison, which may suggest that there is the relatively low acceptability for this function. The normalized frequencies of the first function, snapping a short image of actions, are nearly five times more than those of the fifth function in total samples. But the data of the second and third one are not significant in this research, which are required more samples to dig out information.

Potential reasons behind this data disparity and the relationship between data distribution of the five functions and subtypes of the static verbs would be further explored and discussed in this article.

(1)The first function:“snapping a shot image of the action”

In some cases, the speakers or writers want to stress their feelings, attitudes or thoughts at the moment when they are speaking. Especially, the action or state at this situation or that time when he is speaking is unusual or special, which may be different from his action in the past or what he is supposed to do. Here are some instances picked from the COCA to illustrate this phenomenon.

1 Speaker 1:Sarah, you're just days from delivery now, I know. How, how do you feel and has all this trauma affected the pregnancy?

Speaker 2:I am feeling relatively well. Actually, I wouldn't say that the trauma has affected this pregnancy too much as far as, physically, I'm feeling fine.

2 Corinne climbed into the SUV and sighed. She didn't know why she was worrying about houses, since it seemed as if she spent half her life in this vehicle.

In the first example, Speaker 2 wants to emphasize her state at the moment when answering the question from Speaker 1. It's clear that Speaker 1 has the assumption that the woman may have the bad experience due to the influences of the unexplained trauma from the question. But Speaker 2 uses the static verbs in the progressive aspect to show what's the truth at this moment. She was likely to try to emphasize her physical condition at present to change the this negative assumption and conciliate Speaker 1.

Similarly, the woman wondered why she got bogged down in such a situation which was strange and abnormal in the second instance. She gave a thought to this state where she had been. Personally, she was a little banged up at this unusual moment and was in rather a spin about this situation.

One of functions of the static verb has shown up in these examples. The speaker could use static verbs to show his state at this moment which is a snapshot of his action and to present the property of the actions or the emotions which occur at the fixed moment. It should be noted that, the action or state is supposed to be more special than the original thought and imagination or different from what is normal. The speaker's actions or behaviors should be fixed and settled, so the progressive aspect lost its nature of the dynamic at this point-in-time snapshot for the property of the action or the statue is special and fixed. And what the speaker wants to show or indicate is to describe the current situation. What's more, the static verbs used in the progressive aspect also indicate the temporariness of the states or actions of the speaker. As shown in Figure 1, to present a snapshot image of the action is the most frequently used function, which suggests that the semantic meaning of static verbs still has been preserved in these cases, while the aspect of the progressive couldn't show the continuance of action. And in this process, the reference of time is the most important requirement for the speaker to use static verbs in the progressive aspect. To sum up, the static verb could be employed in the progressive aspect to emphasize the state or action at a fixed time when the speaker giving his ideas, which is quite common and widely accept ed usage for the native speaker.

(2)The second function:“indicating the subjective initiative of the speaker”

As stated previously, static verbs describe the actions or state which are involuntary and the subject could be passive or unconscious to accept the influence of the activity. But there are some cases that indicate that speaker is aware of himself and his action in an alert cognitive state. The following examples coming from the COCA would provide a more intuitive way to understand this implication.

3 This is what we're having for dinner.

4 Listen, we're talking about - if we - if Mr. Clinton were an ordinary citizen, we would not be having this discussion.

5 Then we talked about our childhoods, our dead parents, and other people we were seeing at the time.

The lexical meaning of the word having, deviating from its original meaning, was changed totally in the third instance which is equivalent to the lexical meaning of the word of eating. Similarly, “have”in the fourth instance was branded the property of the dynamic state. “Have”describes the state of the ownership or possession. But what the speaker mean by that is to carry out this conversation and to state the fact through changing the original meaning of the word, having. In the fifth sentence, the word, “seeing”also lost its original meaning, which describes the behavior that using one's eyes to become aware of somebody or something. It has been granted the new connotation and transformed into another verb.

From these examples, using the static verbs in the aspect of the progressive to some extent shows the consciousness of the speaker. Although the static verbs in samples still keep their forms, the semantic meaning of these static verbs may be changed into that of the dynamic verbs under the purpose of showing speaker's initiative. A preliminary conclusion could made that one of functions of static verbs used in the progressive aspect is to indicate the subjective initiative of the speaker by showing the dynamic state of action.

(3)The third function:“emphasizing the emotions of the speaker”

In some cases, the speakers tend to combine the static verbs and the progressive aspect to show their feelings at that moment. It is obvious for participants to use the static verbs in the progressive aspect to emphasize or indicate speaker's emotion after investigating samples in depth. And there are some static verbs which are used as the hedges for the speaker to raise his idea in a soft way and show his politeness.

6 I was thinking, there's, there's no way. There's no way because it just, it doesn't make any sense. None of it does.

7 I was wondering when you were going to turn up. We stopped serving breakfast an hour ago.

In Example 6, the speaker wants to emphasize his idea which is full of bitterness and uncer tainty. On the other hand, the speaker might be unable to give a clear and compelling answer for this question. Using the aspect of the progressive may give some room for compromise on this matter. In the seventh instance, the speaker actually wishes this man or woman leave right now, so the speaker uses a polite way to tell this truth. In this case, the static verb used in the progressive aspect is the hedge for it doesn't carry with too much content meaning and there is no conflict between the property of the static verb and the aspect of the progressive. This function could be interpreted as the euphemismand the aspect of the progressive also doesn't show its attributes and was not be time-stamped.

(4)The fourth function:“indicating the repetition or the continuation of the action or state”

Sometimes the static verb used in the progressive aspect requires the time reference and describes a state or action which happens or occurs at a certain time period. And the characteristics of the static verbs suggests the continuation of this state and brings out the seriousness of the matter.

8 For days when I am being Ms. Chic around town, my dark cigarette Harlan jeans look sharp with a shrunken jacket and a little blouse that puffs over the waistband.

9 You've been making your brag around town that you've been loving my man. But the man I love, when he picks up trash, he puts it in a garbage can.

In Example 8, the speaker holds this title and keeps the status as Mr. Chic for quite a time. She actually looks back to the past time and uses the static verbs in the progressive aspect to indicate her past which she takes proud of at that moment. Generally, the speaker needs to create an appropriate context to apply the static verb in the progressive aspect, when he wants to express the continued existence of the action or state. Additionally, these static verbs in sentences are not used to present some habits or conventions but to highlight the action at that time. As shown in Example 9, the static verb, “love”, is used in the progressive aspect to reveal the unchangeable state of the woman who the speaker refers to. The speaker actually wants to emphasize the truth that the woman's love for this man is what happened before and does keep for a while. So the aspect of the progressive has been used with the static verb to exhibit the mental state or a specific situation over a period of time.

(5)The fifth function:“referring to the future”

As we all known, the aspect of the progressive could be used to refer the action or the state which could happen or produce in the future. One of functions of the static verbs used in the progressive aspect also is to refer to the future.

10 And you will be seeing some more names coming out next week that are phenomenal.

11 And, you know, if you're having problems with your kids, you know, you better try to get some professional help.

12 “Put our team in New York, and they'd be loving us.”Parker says.

These instances indicate the state or action which may occur in the future. Taking will and if as examples, the time occurrence of the action could be easily inferred from the information con text and some specific items associated with“time”. Imperative mood suggests a proposal and can better show the appealing in Example 13 and it is obvious that the time of this tentative plan is taken at some point in the future. The semantic meaning and lexical meaning of the static verbs would not be changed and their features also have been kept in this kind of the usage. Admittedly, the progressive aspect lose its dynamic nature and the property of temporariness and could not show the procedural nature of the action. The aspectual coercion of the progressive aspect could not exert any influence on the semantic meaning of the static verbs. But the property of not necessary incompletion of the progressive aspect has been kept in these samples.

2)The distribution in the subtypes of static verbs

Table 1 displays the relationship between the data of the five functions and the subtypes of the static verbs. The sample data of eight word groups have been further classified and the sample percentage of subtypes of the static verbs was calculated in Table 3. “A”includes the samples associated with static verbs of cognition or mental attitude(think and wonder), and“B”is composed of samples associated with static verbs of denoting state or relations(be and have), with“C” and “D”respectively consisting of the samples associated with static verbs of sensation and perception (feel and see)and verbs of emotion(love and worry). There is a figure which shows the data distribution of five functions of static verbs associated with each subtype of the static verbs(Figure 2).

As stated before, the most frequently used function of the static verbs used in the progressive aspect is to emphasize the state or action at a fixed time when speakers giving their ideas. And this fact also be confirmed in Table 3 in which the percentage of the data associated with the first function is the most significant and largest in the sample data of four subtypes of the static verbs.

Additionally, the data also suggests that different types reflect different tendencies associated with functions of static verbs used in the progressive aspect. The percentage of data associated with the third function, emphasizing the emotions of the speaker, is 30% in the data of Class A. It is almost two or three times larger than that of other classes. This difference among the sample data of various types of the static verbs associated with functions also is illustrated in Figure 2. Thus, we may infer the static verbs which describe cognitive status and mental attitude are frequently used by the native speaker to make their feelings or emotions more noticeable with the aspect of the progressive.

Apart from this data, there is another difference among subtypes of static verbs associated with functions. By comparison, the data of the fourth function, indicating the repetition or the continuation of the action, takes a more significant role in Class B. Moreover, Table 3 also shows Class C has a stronger association with the second function of static verbs used in the progressive aspect.

Based on the data of Table 3, an assumption could be made that there are differences of the functions among various types of static verbs when they are used in the progressive aspect. It is possible that these static verbs which describe one's sensation and perception are applied in the aspect of the progressive to exhibit the subjective initiative of the speakers. What's more, the speakers are likely to choose the static verbs which originally denote state or relations to indicate the continuation of his action or state in the specific time. However, these assumptions are needed to be further confirmed and studied with more samples and data.