Aspectual cognate constructions in Afrikaans and Dutch: a language contact approach to prospective and ingressive aspect

Abstract

This chapter examines ingressive (‘begin’) and prospective (‘about to’) cognate constructions in Afrikaans and Dutch through the lens of language contact. We propose a theoretical account of the conceptual link between these aspectual viewpoints that generates predictions on their selectional restrictions. These predictions are tested using corpus data and interpreted within Diasystematic Construction Grammar: shared diachronic development aligns with equivalent selectional behavior (diaconstructions), diachronic divergence leads to distributional differences (idioconstructions). Our findings reveal a mix of diaconstructions and idioconstructions. For example, ingressive gaan ‘go’ distributes differently across Afrikaans and Dutch, whereas begin(nen te) ‘begin (to)’ patterns similarly. The results support a conceptual distinction between two types of prospective aspect and ingressive aspect, differentiated by respective restrictions on telicity and dynamicity.