LEXICAL ASPECT - AKTIONSART categories Flashcards
TWO LEVELS OF ASPECTUAL MEANING
Aspectual information is contributed by GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES
> E.g. English progressive, perfect
But also LEXICALLY
> VPs can be classified according to their temporal characteristics
Terminology varies, but distinction necessary:
- Grammatical vs Lexical aspect/Aktionsart
- Viewpoint aspect vs Situation aspect
situation aspect
smith defines SITUATION aspect as the TEMPORAL STRUCTURE of SITUATIONS
Viewpoint aspect
like a “camera lens” that enables speaker to present a situation from a particular temporal perspective
> PERFECTIVE viewpoint focuses on situation as WHOLE
IMPERFECTIVE viewpoint only focuses on a PORTION of its INTERNAL constituency
LEXICAL ASPECTUAL CLASSES
Aspectual characteristics of events coded in the basic VPs
> VPs give a particular description of actual events
EG. read vs read a novel
Eventualities (Bach): term for all types of VP descriptions
> Main subdivision = events and states
Main properties of eventualities
Finer classification: started with Aristotle; Zeno Vendler’s used by most linguists
MAIN FEATURES: telicity, duration, and change
Telic events
have a NATURAL ENDPOINT (‘telos’), beyond which same event cannot continue
> ‘write a letter’ (also durative), ‘win a race’ (not durative)
NOT the same as ‘bounded’: beginning & end points
Compare:
- Al jogged
- Mary ran a mile
(1) denotes a past event that is bounded (has an end point)
» true if any amount of jogging took place
(2) denotes a past event that has reached its goal or telos (telic)
» true if the running went on for a mile, false otherwise
Durative events
take time; non-durative events are idealized as corresponding to a point in time
> build a house vs reach the summit: +telic; ± durative
> tap vs play the piano: -telic; ± durative
Change:
heterogeneous vs homogeneous/static eventualities:
HETEROGENEOUS event contains INTERNAL change -not identical from moment to moment:
> walk, build a house
all parts of HOMOGENUOUS/static eventuality are UNIFORM (states)
> know, be Australian
Vendlers classes
states + - -
activities + - +
accomplishments + + +
achievements - + +
(+ semelfactive - - +)
STATES
\+ - - know, love, be happy, be tall, have green eyes, etc 1. no natural boundaries or culmination 2. durative 3. homogeneous
ACTIVITIES
\+ - + (also processes) run, walk, swim, play the piano, write, sing, dance etc. 1. atelic 2. durative 3. heterogeneous
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
+ + +
more complex structure - activity leading up to a culmination
EG. build a house, play a sonata, write a novel, run a mile etc.
1. Telic
2. Durative
3. Heterogeneous
ACHIEVEMENTS
- + + win the race, reach the summit, die etc. 1. telic 2. non durative 3. heterogeneous (change = event itself)
other class (not Vendler's classification) SEMELFACTIVE
- +
tap, wink, knock, hiccough
1. atomic/punctual events; not telic points though
- +
TESTS: In X amount of time
helps identify TELICITY
> combines well with telic VPs, not so well with other classes
So, ‘In’ adverbials LOCATE a POINT IN TIME WITHIN AN INTERVAL
> with achievements (punctual) event takes place at end of interval
> with accomplishments, activity preceding telic point occupies interval
» with activities and states, no point for ‘in’ adverbial to attach to
‘In’ adverbials are better with activities & states if the TENSE IS FUTURE
> She will play the piano in an hour.
> They will be happy in a month
Interpretation is that the activity or state will start at the time denoted by the adverbial (inception/onset
reading)
REINTERPRETATION POSSIBLE THANKS TO COERCION
TESTS: For X amount of time
Fine with activities and states; FOR adverbials express DURATION of an ATELIC event
to use as Test, focus on interpretation where EVENT DURATION is expressed
Plural arguments allow an ITERATIVE interpretation: NON-telic reading
> Guests arrived for two hours.
Mary built houses for years
> he sneezed for five minutes
TESTS: It took X amount of time to VP
- selects telic events & works better with accomplishments as they are durative
- if event is non-durative, we need to be able to re-interpret it as including a ‘process’ part:
»> sense of anticipation/expectation that it would take place
» If we have a non-telic VP, we need to be able to identify a ‘point’, e.g. onset of a state or activity - not good for activities:
- it took half an hour for mary to push the trolley
- state has INCEPTIVE reading
It took 5 mins for Mary to be happy
» identifies starting point of state
TESTS: agentivity
persuade X to VP
deliberately + VP
> Agentivity tests discriminate between accomplishments & activities (OK) and achievements & states (not
OK)
> accomplishments and activities both contain a process part
> process is dynamic, not static, and extends in time
the SUB-INTERVAL PROPERTY
Telic events can be distinguished from atelic ones using the sub-interval property
» Not a diagnostic test, but useful esp. when discussing progressives
> Telic events occur at a time interval
> Have beginning, middle and end
