Temporal and aspectual characteristics of verba sentiendi et cogitandi in Czech

Abstract

The article deals with verba sentiendi et cogitandi in Czech, specifically with verbs vidět [see], slyšet [hear], cítit [smell/feel/sense], vědět and znát [know]. The framework of the study is the notion of TAM space, which is constituted by interrelations of time, aspect and modality factors in establishing communication construal. The article focuses on interplay of two of this factor triple, namely aspect and time. It builds on two distinctions: stative events (states) vs. dynamic events (activities processes), and distinction between morphological aspect (i.e., aspect given by the morphological make-up of the verb) vs. aspectual construal of the communication the verb is part of. The latter of the distinctions is motivated by the fact that in Czech morphologically perfective verbs may constitute an imperfective communication construal and vice versa. It is demonstrated that the above verbs behave in Czech in regard to TAM differently than other verbs: they do not constitute aspectual »perfective vs. imperfective« pairs contrary to, for instance, telic verbs; in respect to aspect and tense they result in different communication construals in collocation with temporal expressions and various verbal tenses than other verbs. The article provides explanation of these specifics. All conclusions and explanations are corpora based.