Abstract
ABSTRACT:In this article I show thatalreadyin Singapore English expresses two aspectual properties: the completion of an action (perfectivity) or the beginning of an action (inchoativity). The sentenceMy son go to school alreadyis potentially ambiguous: it could mean that my son has already gone to school, or my son now goes to school, having reached the school‐going age. The perfective (or completive) use ofalreadyis consistent with its lexical meaning in Standard British English, but the source of the second, inchoative use, I argue, is the Chinese particlele, which expresses perfectivity and inchoativity, depending on its position within the sentence.
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