Cape Verdean TA in its role as a progressive aspect marker
Domain:
natural language processingRecord type:
paper
Creator:
Jac
Publisher:
Rev
Host:
This paper deals with the aspectual properties of the preverbal marker ta as used in Cape Verdean Creole (CV). It will be argued that, counter to what is generally held in the literature, CV ta marks not only habitual but also progressive aspect, most notably in gerundive complement clauses, but also in periphrastic progressive markers found throughout the CV dialect cluster. An added aim is to show that, as a progressive marker, CV ta behaves remarkably similar to its Papiamentu (PA) cognate ta, whose status as a general imperfective marker ([+habitual, +progressive]) is widely recognized. This way, Maurer’s (2009) claim that the aspect markers CV ta and PA ta are qualitatively different is proven to be invalid.