Aspectual Properties Research Articles

Spanish Anticausative Inherent Reciprocals and Syntactic Reciprocals with Se*

AbstractWithin the debate about the heterogeneity of unaccusative structures, the aim of this paper is to distinguish two types of Spanish marked anticausative inherent reciprocals (AIRs) from other syntactic reciprocals (SRs) withse. Several diagnostics show that AIRs such asmezclarse‘get mixed’ are symmetric, unaccusative, telic, and show causative alternations, while SRs are transitive and vary in their aspectual properties and do not show causative alternations. Theen/durante‘in/for’ adverbials test reveals that there are two types of AIRs: achievements such ascasarse‘get married’, and degree achievements such asmezclarse‘get mixed’. Although the clitic is an agreement marker in these reciprocal constructions, it is an expletive voice head withcasarse, a causative head withmezclarse, and an anaphor merged in the internal argument position in SRs. Differences between AIRs and SRs depend on semantic properties associated to their respective event structures.

Stability and change in the Hebrew verbal system

Abstract The paper studies the nature of the interplay between viewpoint aspect and tense in the temporal systems of Modern Hebrew and Biblical Hebrew, focusing on the suffixed verb form qaṭal and on the participial verb form qoṭel common to both. The examination of these temporal systems is couched in a neo-reichenbachian framework, taking the categories of viewpoint aspect and tense to consist of relations between temporal intervals (also known as the “two dimensional theory of tense”). It follows from this framework that viewpoint aspect and tense are encoded in any given temporal system, and languages differ in whether they contrastively mark tenses and/or aspects. When only one of the categories is morphologically marked, it is assumed that the other marks a default value. In the current context, it will be shown that viewpoint aspect properties of the verbal forms remain essentially unchanged over the two periods: qoṭel expressed, and still does, imperfective viewpoint aspect, with some characteristics of a progressive, whereas qaṭal expressed, and still does, a default viewpoint aspect that is interpreted as perfective according to the lexical aspectual properties of the underlying VP. In contrast, the properties of the tense categories in the systems have undergone a significant change: in Biblical Hebrew, the category of tense, in these particular forms, but possibly also more generally in the system, mark only a default value where the two temporal intervals, R and S, are not ordered in any specific manner, but rather present a temporal overlap; in Modern Hebrew, the category of tense contrasts temporal values, where R and S are clearly ordered with respect to each other: overlap, precedence. It will be suggested that this state of affairs is correlated with the (im)possibility of the forms to express narrative progression. Given that narrative progression involves update of R, this is not possible when the temporal relation between R and S is one of general overlap, blocking R progression. In Biblical Hebrew, narrative progression is achieved via the sequential w-forms, which have later disappeared from the system.

The expression of habituality in Biblical Hebrew

Abstract The aim of the article is to expand the crosslinguistic scope of the study of the expression of habituality in language, and to provide further support for the claim that the expression of habituality is basically independent from that of tense and aspect, although it closely interacts with it. The argument for this independence is based on the following findings: First, habituality in Biblical Hebrew is not marked morphologically: any verbal form of the verb system can serve as a basis to express habituality irrespective of its aspectual and temporal qualities. In this respect, the periphrastic form hāyā qōṭēl receives special attention, since although it does not appear in episodic occurrences, it nevertheless patterns with non-recurring positional predicates (e.g., stand, live as in She used to live here), illustrating that it selects statives that can hold over prolonged periods of time, subsuming habituals, rather than being exclusively dedicated to the expression of habituality. Second, and most importantly, this pattern is diachronically stable. When observing Early and Late Biblical Hebrew, nothing alters in the way verbal forms pattern in clauses expressing habituality, even though the make-up of the verbal systems has changed over time. Additionally, the findings confirm the importance of paying attention to the availability of habitual interpretation with and without a modifying quantificational expression, by lending support to the correlation established between the bareness of habituals and their aspectual properties.

Fonctionnement sémantique du connecteur coréen -ko : temporalité, aspectualité et manière

Abstract This article aims to examine the Korean connective -ko, which is generally considered an equivalent of the French connective et. The connective -ko is semantically polyvalent, having several interpretations such as enumeration, temporal succession, simultaneity, causality, and manner. In this article, we examine the expression of “manner” by the connective -ko on the hypothesis that such interpretation is derived from the temporal function of simultaneity of -ko. We introduce two main functions of -ko, temporal connection and simple connection by contiguity and then show how the temporal function interacts with the aspectual properties of propositions connected by -ko to generate the interpretation of manner.

Review of Szawerna (2007): A Corpus-Based Study of Nominalizations Predicated by English Deverbal Nouns In -tion

In A Corpus-Based Study of Nominalizations Predicated by English Deverbal Nouns in -tion, Michal Szawerna presents the results of his PhD research on -tion nominalizations. Szawerna’s approach is couched in the Cognitive Grammar framework as developed primarily by Langacker (1987 and 1991) and fits in with the traditional approach to nominalization in that it is essentially word-based (i.e. it focuses on the word level rather than on the nominalized NP as a whole or the discourse context in which it functions). As in most traditional analyses of nominalization, Szawerna takes the lexical-descriptive and aspectual properties of the base verb as starting point (described in cognitive terms) and then attempts to capture the distinct ‘profiles’ of the derivations in -tion in a schematic network of interrelated meanings. Since there are relatively few publications that have nominalizations as their sole focus (other monographs on nominalization are Marchand 1969; Heyvaert 2003; Nordrum 2007) and even fewer that consider derived nouns in -ion, Szawerna’s book is a welcome addition to the literature. Unfortunately, the carefulness with which the author tackles the issue is obscured by the book’s heavy-going style, long-winded explanations, repetitions and extensive use of abbreviations and cognitive terminology. The overall structure of the book, with only three chapters, two of which take up more than 100 pages, moreover makes for hard reading. Those willing to work their way through it, however, will find a rich overview of subtypes of -ion nominalizations and a serious attempt to map out the semantic intricacies of the -ion nominalization system.

The Post-Verbal Pronoun Keoi in Child Cantonese: A Corpus-Based Study

This study investigates the acquisition of the third person pronoun keoi5 佢 with inanimate referents in post-verbal position (henceforth, KEOI) in Hong Kong Cantonese. Following a linguistic analysis of KEOI vis-à-vis its equivalents it in English and tā 它 in Mandarin Chinese, we conducted a corpus-based study on the use of KEOI in 9 Cantonese-English bilingual children (1;03–4;06) and 3 Cantonese monolingual children (1;10–2;09) in naturalistic settings. Results show that Cantonese-speaking children mainly used KEOI as a canonical object of verbal predicates expressing irrealis bounded disposal events, indicating their early sensitivity to the aspectual properties of KEOI-clauses. While monolingual children were consistently adult-like in using KEOI, bilingual children produced unbounded KEOI-clauses unattested in their monolingual peers and the adults. They also used higher rates of realis KEOI-clauses and demonstrated interchangeable use between KEOI and it in code-mixed utterances. Our findings lend support to the proposal that KEOI marks bounded disposals with irrealis results or states. Input and language experience are shown to influence the acquisition of KEOI-clauses, with cross-linguistic influence of English likely induced by the interplay among ambiguity of input in Cantonese, extensive exposure to English and regular processing of the English pronouns.

The post-verbal pronoun KEOI in child Cantonese: A corpus-based study

This study investigates the acquisition of the third person pronoun keoi5 [inline-graphic 02i] with inanimate referents in post-verbal position (henceforth, keoi) in Hong Kong Cantonese. Following a linguistic analysis of keoi vis-à-vis its equivalents it in English and tā [inline-graphic 03i] in Mandarin Chinese, we conducted a corpus-based study on the use of keoi in 9 Cantonese-English bilingual children (1;03–4;06) and 3 Cantonese monolingual children (1;10–2;09) in naturalistic settings. Results show that Cantonese-speaking children mainly used keoi as a canonical object of verbal predicates expressing irrealis bounded disposal events, indicating their early sensitivity to the aspectual properties of keoi-clauses. While monolingual children were consistently adult-like in using keoi, bilingual children produced unbounded keoi-clauses unattested in their monolingual peers and the adults. They also used higher rates of realis keoi-clauses and demonstrated interchangeable use between keoi and it in code-mixed utterances. Our findings lend support to the proposal that keoi marks bounded disposals with irrealis results or states. Input and language experience are shown to influence the acquisition of keoi-clauses, with cross-linguistic influence of English likely induced by the interplay among ambiguity of input in Cantonese, extensive exposure to English and regular processing of the English pronouns.

중국어 방향보어의 상적 기능에 대한 고찰-— ‘下来’와 ‘下去’의 코퍼스 분석에 근거하여

So far, the study of directional complement have been focused on descriptive analysis based on verb meaning, and research on syntactic distribution. In this trend, the studies of directional complement ‘xialai’ and ‘xiaqu’ did not reflect their essential functions and above all, it did not help to find the status in the aspect system. This article analyzed the aspectual functions of ‘xialai’ and ‘xiaqu’ through the aspectual properties of the component, and as a result, confirmed the following. First, ‘xialai’ and ‘xiaqu’ have a aspectual function, which is the completion of a situation. At this time, the resultant state is implicitly provided. Depending on the meaning of the predicate and the degree of grammaticalization of the directional complement, the implicit meaning is realized differently. The implicit meaning is a secondary meaning accompanied by the aspectual function of completion. Second, the movement directions of verb phrase ‘xialai’ and ‘xiaqu’ are symmetrical, but its symmetry does not appear in all function of directional complement ‘xialai’ and ‘xiaqu’. As a result of analysis, ‘xialai’ and ‘xiaqu’ show differences in collocation of predicates, components, and aspect markers. In other words, ‘xialai’ implies continuation before completion, but the center of meaning is still in the completion of the situation. Considering as a aspectual properties of a component and aspect marker in the sentence, it is still difficult to see it as a continuous aspect marker. ‘xiaqu’ expresses continuity, and since the initial and final endpoints(or one of them) are open, it can be regarded as a continuative aspect marker of the imperfective aspect. Lastly, ‘xialai’ and ‘xiaqu’ have been changed from the function of the perfective to the function of the imperfective, which is a universal phenomenon of human language. There exist examples in which one form expresses both the function of perfective and imperfective, both synchronically and typologically, and most of them use the meaning of the resultant state. This hypothesis will help to understand the aspectual properties of ‘xiaqu’ and at the same time it is expected to be a new breakthrough in solving problems that are difficult to explain with the existing binary asepct system.

현대중국어 ‘V-得 C(보어)’구문과 부사어구조의 호환성 연구

This paper examines the motivation of asymmetrical compatibility between V-DE-C-construction and adverbials in Mandarin Chinese, based on the fact that the type/meaning of a construction is generally determined by multiple factors rather than one single factor. This paper argues that the following three factors mainly motivate the asymmetrical compatibility: (i) the semantic properties of an adverbial, (ii) the constructional meaning of V-DE-C-construction, and (iii) the syntactic and semantic properties of the verb in V-DE-C-construction. More specifically, this paper shows that not only the semantic properties of the syntactic categories (such as adverbs, adjectives, and verbs) but also their aspectual properties contribute to the asymmetry – particularly, [+stativity], [+descriptivity], [+resultativity]. The syntactic and semantic properties of adverbials in Mandarin Chinese discussed in this paper can make meaningful contributions to Chinese education. This study can serve as a stepping stone in developing a teaching method that helps Chinese learners understand the V- 得 construction. With regard to speaking, the learner’s clear understanding of the motivation of the use of 得 makes communication easier with Chinese native speakers. In terms of writing of V-得 construction and its corresponding adverbials, the leaner’s grammatical errors can be reduced when leaners understand the motivation of the asymmetrical compatibility between the two.

The acquisition of the locative subject construction in Mandarin: An aspectual account

Mandarin locative subject construction involves mismatches across argument structure and information structure, as well as complex interactions between event types and aspect markers. Acquiring the construction requires the integration of information across syntax–pragmatics and syntax–semantics interfaces, and thus it is predicted to be difficult. Based on the data of 151 children from age 1;7 (one year and seven months) to 6;0 (six years) in three child Mandarin corpora, we found that locative subject sentences (LSSs) emerged around 2;0, but the early verbs are exclusively existential verbs. Aspectually marked LSSs are extremely rare in child data, with only a few having placement verbs and posture verbs marked with the perfective aspect marker -le. In our modified forced-choice experiment, the children showed low sensitivity to this construction's aspectual properties: three-year-olds significantly differed from adults in rejecting aspectually marked LSSs; up to six years old, the children could not identify the aspectual clash between a manner-of-motion verb and -le, and the clash between a transitive process verb and Agent. Such low sensitivity is attributed to Mandarin-speaking children's insufficient exposure to aspectually marked LSSs in the input as shown by our corpus data and the complexity posed by the interface properties of this construction.

English Temporal Clause Expressing Posteriority

The research focus in this paper is on the adverbial temporal subordinate clause and the temporal relation of posteriority that it may express with respect to the main clause in the compound-complex English sentence. The paper shows that various parameters, such as the aspectual properties of the verb in the predicate, the conjunction introducing the clause, and the formal aspect of the verb phrase in predicate may influence the occurrence of temporal posteriority. While the conjunction itself unambiguously indicates it, the semantic structure of the verb in predicate may impact the semantic type of posteriority, and the form of the predicate may modify the indicative mood of the predicate, with further stylistic implications. The terminal position was the prevalent distributive value of the temporal clause indicating posteriority, with the conjunction 'before' as the most frequent one, while most of the clauses referred to the past temporal sector.

Paths of grammaticalization of the Lithuanian copula VIRSTI ‘turn into’: The case of the inclusive copular constructions

Paths of grammaticalization of the Lithuanian copula VIRSTI ‘turn into’: The case of the inclusive copular constructions

Situation aspectual properties of creation/consumption predicates

Abstract This paper is concerned with the situation aspectual properties of creation and consumption verbs. More specifically, it aims to explore how telic interpretations arise in this verbal doma...

Aspectual and quantificational properties of deverbal conversion and -ingnominalizations: the power of context

In this article we explore the range of aspectual and quantificational readings that are available to two kinds of deverbal nominalizations in English, conversion nouns and -ingnominals. Using data gathered from theCorpus of Contemporary American English(COCA) and theBritish National Corpus(BNC), we examine the range of readings available for the conversion and -ingforms of 106 English verbs in context. We distinguish eventive versus referential readings, looking at instances of both count and mass quantification for the two kinds of nominalizations. Within the eventive readings we also distinguish bounded versus unbounded aspectual readings, and within bounded readings two types that we call ‘completive’ and ‘package’. We argue that the quantificational properties and aspectual intepretation of both conversion and -ingnominalizations are not rigidly or even loosely determined by the form of the nominalization, but that the lexical aspect of the base verb (state, activity, accomplishment, achievement, semelfactive) plays some role in circumscribing aspectual readings. We argue that the strongest role in determining quantificational and aspectual readings is played by factors arising from the context in which conversion forms and -ingnominalizations are deployed. The aspectual interpretation of conversion and -ingnominalizations can be influenced by the presence of temporal and quantificational modifiers, by surrounding tenses, as well as by encyclopedic knowledge. We conclude with a consideration of the theoretical implications of our findings.

The properties of perfect(ive) and (eventive) passive participles: An identity approach

This paper sheds light on the properties of perfect(ive) and (eventive) passive participles on the basis of a discussion of the issue of past participial (non-)identity. In fact, as there is no evidence for the substantial non-identity of the two forms, a principled case is made for the identity of past participles in passive and perfect periphrases based on diachronic as well as synchronic considerations. While the historical predecessors of past participles boil down to deverbal adjectives that combine argument structural effects (the absence of an external argument) as well as aspectual properties (resultativity), synchronic data indicates that the contribution of the reanalysed eventive past participles is still two-fold: (i) the (syntactic) suppression of an external argument (if present), and (ii) aspectual properties that render a given situation perfective iff the underlying predicate denotes a simple change of state. This accounts for the interpretations of past participles when combined with semantically vacuous auxiliaries (be and become): passive properties arise if (i) applies and (ii) thus cannot impose perfectivity (the eventive passive), and perfect properties ensue if (ii) applies but (i) does not (the be-perfect in languages showing auxiliary alternation). The perfect auxiliary have, on the other hand, may overtly license an argument that would otherwise remain suppressed and contributes relevant perfect properties (posteriority) so that combinations with have elicit active perfect interpretations (where perfectivity may but need not come about via implication).

‘-어 있(다)’ 구문의 상적 특성과 명령문 구성의 제한

‘-어 있(다)’ 구문의 상적 특성과 명령문 구성의 제한

Функціонально-граматична специфіка українських віддієслівних іменників зі значенням дії на фоні інших слов’янських мов

The article analyzes the grammatical, semantic and functional features of verbal nouns with the meaning of action in the Ukrainian language on the background of other Slavic languages. Research methods: quantitative formally-semantic analysis of the corpus of Ukrainian nomina actionis, obtained by the continuous sampling method from the largest Ukrainian-language dictionary; a linguistic experiment with native speakers focused on finding out the perception of the aspectual properties of the nomina actionis. In the South Slavic, Western Slavic and Eastern Slavic languages the verbal noun of the action is located at different distances from the verb, and has different grammatical status. The verbal noun with the meaning of action in the Ukrainian language isn’t a verbal form. It is a special category of noun. To a large extent this category of words inherits the verbal aspectual semantics. Absolute majority of Ukrainian verbal nouns is strictly related to the verb of a certain aspect. Almost half of the Ukrainian nomina actionis keeps verbal aspectual pairs. Members of such pairs inherit the verbal aspectual characteristics. This especially refers to those nouns that have retained the formal markers of the aspect (perfective prefixes or imperfective suffixes) The speakers of the Ukrainian language clearly differentiate the members of the prefixed pairs in the speech; less pronounced functional difference between the verbal nouns, which differ of an imperfect suffix. The aspectual peculiarity of the Ukrainian nomina actionis is partially affected by the transposition suffixes. The Ukrainian language avoids the aspectual universality of the nomina actionis, in the system of verbal nouns there is a tendency to express different aspectual meanings using different forms. The ratio of nominal and verbal semantics in these hybrid formations is the unique feature of the Ukrainian grammatical system in comparison with other Slavic languages.

Aspectual and discourse-pragmatic properties of verbal forms expressing Simultaneity in three Finno-Ugric languages

This paper concerns the converb forms expressing simultaneity in Izhma Komi, Northern Khanty and Moksha belonging to the Finno-Ugric group of languages. The existing typological classifications of temporal relations and simultaneity relations in particular either are not detailed enough or lack rigorous criteria and thus appear not to be sufficient for understanding the usage and the distribution of temporal converbs. This study attempts to build a more detailed typological classification of simultaneity relations which accounts for the data of the languages under consideration. The analyzed parameters of variation include the viewpoint aspect of the events, clause modification type, givenness of the conveyed information and the pragmatic type of the predicate. Special attention is paid to the discourse-pragmatic properties of the forms which bring new insights into the discussion.Аннотация. Никита Муравьев: Аспектуальные и дискурсивные свойства глагольных форм со значением одновременности в трёх финно-угорских языках. В данной статье рассматриваются формы деепричастий, выражающие семантику одновременности в коми-зырянском, хантыйском и мокшанском языках финно-угорской языковой группы. Существующие типологические классификации таксисных функций и, в частности, функций зоны одновременности представляются либо недостаточно проработанными, либо построенными на неочевидных критериях и поэтому не являются достаточными для понимания функционирования и дистрибуции таксисных деепричастий. Исследование представляет собой попытку построить типологически ориентированную классификацию функций одновременности, адекватно описывающую рассматриваемый языковой материал. В статье анализируются параметры видового ракурса ситуаций, типа клаузальной модификации, статуса активации информации и прагматического типа предиката. Особое внимание уделяется дискурсивным свойствам форм, которые открывают новые перспективы для исследования таксисных конструкций.Ключевые слова: деепричастие, одновременность, аспект, дискурс, коми-зырянский язык, мокшанский язык, хантыйский языкKokkuvõte. Nikita Muravyev: Verbivormide aspektilised ja diskursus-pragmaatilised omadused samaaegsuse väljendamiseks soome-ugri keeltes. Siinne artikkel käsitleb samaaegsust väljendavaid konverbivorme ižmakomi, põhjahandi ja mokša keeltes, mis kuuluvad soome-ugri keelerühma. Olemasolevad tööd, mis tüpoloogilisest vaatenurgast ajasuhteid ja samaaegsust käsitlevad on kas üldsõnalised või ei sisalda täpseid kriteeriume, mistõttu on nad ajaliste konverbide kasutuse ning distributsiooni mõistmiseks ebapiisavad. See uurimus püüab töös käsitletud keelte andmete põhjal anda detailsema tüpoloogilise klassifikatsiooni samaaegsuse suhetest. Analüüsitavad variatsiooniparameetrid hõlmavad situatsioonide vaatepunktiaspekti, lause modifikatsioonitüüpi, edastatava informatsiooni tuntust ja predikaadi pragmaatilist tüüpi. Erilist tähelepanu pööratakse arutelusse uusi vaatenurki andvate vormide diskursus-pragmaatilistele omadustele.Märksõnad: konverb, ajasuhted, samaaegsus, aspekt, diskursus, ižmakomi, mokša, põhjahandi

Stative verbs and French Verb-Noun compounds: a discreet preference

This paper deals with French nominal Verb-Noun compounds formed on stative verb bases. We assume that word-formation schemas have access to the aspectual and argumental properties of the base verbs and impose fine-grained restrictions on their input. Contrary to what is usually claimed, the study argues that Verb-Noun compounding in French (and probably in other Romance languages) is compatible not only with dynamic verbs but also with stative ones that construct Verb-Noun compounds of high-frequency. These stative verbs are ambiguous between two readings, and verbs can have either a stative or a dynamic structure. Verb-Noun compounding generally prefers the stative verb that systematically corresponds to the class of “pure” stative (that is to say, Kimian-states). The study establishes a link between the aspectual values of the base-verb and the interpretation of VN compounds: VNs on stative base-verbs never form Agent and Instrument nominals but only Experiencer, Means or Location nominals. The inverse prediction also holds: VNs based on the dynamic agentive construction of ambiguous verbs can be interpreted as Agent or Instrument nominals but not as Experiencer or Means nominals.

Aspectual Properties of the French Verb Tense passé composé and the Particularities of Its Use in Narrative Text (Based on the Material of the Novel “Les Catilinaires” by A. Nothomb)

Aspectual Properties of the French Verb Tense passé composé and the Particularities of Its Use in Narrative Text (Based on the Material of the Novel “Les Catilinaires” by A. Nothomb)