Revisiting the aspectual BUSY in (South African) English

Abstract

This paper investigates the so-called South African English busy progressive (for example, I’m busy working). Linguistic literature on South African English (SAfE) often states that this construction is a typical feature of this variety of English. The use and the frequency of this construction is mostly attributed to the influence of the Afrikaans [BUSYPROG XCOMP VINF] construction, as in Ek is besig om te werk (‘I am working’). The aim of this paper is twofold: Firstly, it critically evaluates some of the claims that have been made about the so-called “SAfE busy progressive” and, secondly, it uses a corpus- and usage-based approach that employs a greater assortment of available corpus data from SAfE and other English varieties, as well as available information on the Afrikaans and Dutch progressives, to explore the possibility of new insights into the use of busy in English aspectual constructions.