PROGRESSIVE ASPECT IN MAYAN LANGUAGES

Abstract

The progressive aspect in the modern languages of the Mayan linguistic family has some syntactic features that distinguish it considerably from other aspect categories. There are four groups of languages in the Mayan family that use different means in order to form a progressive construction. From the semantic standpoint, besides its primary meaning, the progressive aspect has also some secondary ones, including habitual, prospective, and perfect. The progressive aspect spreads to the meanings of incompletive aspect, provoking a semantic conflict. At the same time, it shows a clear tendency to express all kinds of states that precede, accompany or follow the action. A comparative analysis of these semantic features of progressive among the Mayan languages is presented in this paper.