Overtones of the progressive

This paper proposes a way to explain three overtones of the progressive systematically. It has been reported that the progressive evokes overtones such as temporariness, reproof and insincerity. Previously, there have been attempts to explain them separately or partly but they could not address how the three overtones are related to one another. This paper claims that the overtones are basically derived as a scalar implicature since the simple tense and the progressive tense constitute a strength scale and the stronger form of the simple tense is negated when the weaker form of the progressive is employed, as Hong (2013) suggests for temporariness. Developing Hong (2013), this paper claims that the diversity of the overtones arises since different modal forces are added when the meaning of the stronger form is negated.