A Semantic and Pragmatic Model of Lexical and Grammatical Aspect

Abstract

This work studies two related phenomena in human language: the ability of verbs and other lexical items to describe how a situation (event or state) develops or holds in time (sc LEXICAL ASPECT) and the view some verbal auxiliaries and affixes present of the development or result of situations at a given time (sc GRAMMATICAL ASPECT). Through this investigation I reveal a formal situation structure represented by aspectual phenomena, a structure to which other linguistic elements refer, particularly tense. I examine data in a variety of languages, taking particular care to distinguish between aspect semantics and cancellable pragmatic implicatures associated with aspect forms. The semantic-pragmatic distinction provides a tool for determining what properties need to be accounted for in the semantic representation and what may be adduced as evidence for these properties. In particular, I show that oppositions generally assumed to be semantically equipollent ($+/-$) are semantically privative ($+$/unmarked), with unmarked forms interpreted in accordance with pragmatic principles. Lexical aspect semantics is represented by the privative features ($+$telic), ($+$dynamic), and ($+$durative). These features define the Event Time (ET) as a situation structure consisting of a nucleus and a coda. Grammatical aspect oppositions, also represented privatively, crucially interact with this structure: ($+$imperfective) views situations intersecting a Reference Time (RT) at the nucleus, and ($+$perfective) views them at the coda. The conception of grammatical aspect as a view of the ET-RT intersection allows the representation of tense to be limited to a relation between a RT and the deictic center (C). Complex temporal phenomena--perfect and extended tenses--are shown to be interactions between grammatical aspect and tense. The privative analysis allows aspect semantics to be built up monotonically--from the lexical aspect ET features, the grammatical aspect view of the ET, and tense. The semantics restricts pragmatic interpretation in principled ways, based on marked and unmarked features. Chapter 1 introduces theoretical issues and assumptions. Chapters 2-4 outline the semantic structure of lexical aspect, grammatical aspect, and tense, respectively. Chapters 5-6 apply the analysis to the aspect and tense systems of English and New Testament Koine Greek.