> Therefore those two progressive constructions may have the same
> origin. But I'd still like to reserve the term for the
> 'I am on-talking' construction (Basque, Dutch, English, Northwest
> German, Danish, possibly Potuguese, Spanish, Italian), and use some
> other term for the 'I sit and speak' construction (Dutch, Danish,
> Norwegian, Swedish).
>
> Torsten
Add the curious Romanian construction made of
[(the future auxiliary) + (to be) + (the conjugated verb in the
/-(V)nd/ form)],
where the future auxiliary usually has colloquial forms
(ie, instead of "voi, vei, va, vom, vetzi, vor" -> "oi, oi/îi, o/a, om,
otzi/îtzi, or"; the x/y alternance reflects geographically spread, N/S,
subdialects).
The function of this construction: usually, expression of an assumption
about an action by or status of. Some kind of subjunctiv, expressing the
irrealis. <O fi> (< va fi) means, in the adequate context, "It
could/might
be so (usu. "but I have my doubts)," "maybe you're right." It can be
exaggerated as "O fi fiind", namely in the idiomatic phrase: "A$a o fi
fiind." [These aren't genuine future tenses, although the latter example
is well translatable as "So wird's wohl (gewesen) sein."]
Otherwise, without doubts, but only expressing the connotation
"maybe; I expect this to be so; I don't know" etc.
"La ora asta, ei or fi dormind" (at this hour, they'd be sleeping);
"Cât o fi costând benzina in America?" (can be replaced by the... easier
construction: "Oare cât costa benzina in America?" The elimination of
<va fi costând> leaves the sentence a bit... naked, so the sentence
needs such a word like <oare>, which is quite similar as <wohl> in
similar cases, with irrealis contents.
AFAIR, this is the only construction in Romanian which can be
interpreted as resembling the "continuous aspect" to some extent.
OTOH...
...for <stai facendo> there is no equivalent in Romanian. <Stai fãcând>
can be used with each verb having its own meaning and requesting adding
a few words in order to... explain; e.g. "stai pe scenã facand grimase,
gesticulând & strigând" / "dictatorul _stãtea_ în balcon _fãcând_ cu
mâna & _uitându-se_ descumpãnit" (stood + waving & looking (at the
masses) ill at ease). Something completely different.
George
PS: "Ce am scris eu & ce or fi citind cybali$tii?" :-)