The gerund periphrases in Italian. A quantitative survey of literary prose

This chapter analyses a corpus including novels written by Italian authors and translations from foreign languages into Italian dating from 1811 to 2005 to measure the frequency of gerund periphrases, the distribution of their auxiliaries and the selection of their verb tenses. The results of previous research are confirmed with reference to the dominant role of the continuous periphrasis in the 1800s and the growing success of the progressive periphrasis during the 1900s, particularly after 1950. In addition, data show that translations and popular literature (detective stories, romance, science fiction, etc.) may have contributed to the increase in the frequency of the progressive periphrasis, the relegation of the continuous periphrasis to higher registers and the disappearance of venire ‘come’ as a possible auxiliary.