This thesis aims to provide an overview of relevant research on the -te iru form. Having summarised research by scholars such as Vendler, Dowty and Kindaichi, it proceeds to compare and contrast...Show moreThis thesis aims to provide an overview of relevant research on the -te iru form. Having summarised research by scholars such as Vendler, Dowty and Kindaichi, it proceeds to compare and contrast literature on the -te iru form itself. There appear to be two types of analyses for the -te iru form: polysemous and monosemous analyses. After comparing several accounts and providing some new data, I conclude that a monosemous account, which analyses -te iru as a pragmatically ambitious stative expression, is the most likely analysis.Show less
