The Factative and Perfect Aspect Markers in Degema and Kalaḅarị

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-138
Author(s):  
Ethelbert Kari
Keyword(s):  
Aspect Markers

Domains, text types, aspect marking and English-Chinese translation

1999 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony McEnery ◽  
Richard Xiao
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Translation ◽  
Parallel Corpus ◽  
Text Type ◽  
Text Types ◽  
Reference Corpus ◽  
Aspect Markers ◽  
Chinese Texts

This paper uses an English-Chinese parallel corpus, an L1 Chinese comparable corpus, and an L1 Chinese reference corpus to examine how aspectual meanings in English are translated into Chinese and explore the effects of domains, text types and translation on aspect marking. We will show that while English and Chinese both mark aspect grammatically, the aspect system in the two languages differs considerably. Even though Chinese, as an aspect language, is rich in aspect markers, covert marking (LVM) is a frequent and important strategy in Chinese discourse. The distribution of aspect markers varies significantly across domain and text type. The study also sheds new light on the translation effect by contrasting aspect marking in translated Chinese texts and L1 Chinese texts.

Adverbs in the Austronesian languages of Taiwan

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-109
Author(s):  
Paul Jen-kuei Li
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Item ◽  
Personal Pronouns ◽  
Austronesian Languages ◽  
Main Verb ◽  
Aspect Markers ◽  
Chinese And English

Abstract This is a study of adverbs in nine typologically divergent Austronesian languages of Taiwan, Atayal, Bunun, Favorlang, Kavalan, Puyuma, Rukai, Saisiyat, Thao, and Tsou. There are only a few adverbs in each of these languages. The form of an adverb is usually invariant and its position in a sentence is relatively free. On the contrary, the form of a verb usually varies and its position in the sentence is usually fixed. Since the function of an adverb is to modify a verb, it may not occur without a verb in a sentence, whereas a true verb may occur without any other verb. Many adverbial concepts in Chinese and English, such as ‘all’, ‘only’, ‘often’, and ‘again’, are expressed using verbs that manifest different foci and take aspect markers. When these words function as the main verb in the sentence, they may attract bound personal pronouns in many Austronesian languages of Taiwan. However, there are a few genuine adverbs in each of these languages. It varies from language to language whether a certain lexical item functions as a verb or adverb.

Bilingual children as “laboratories” for studying contact outcomes: Development of perfective aspect

Linguistics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 693-723 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pui Yiu Szeto ◽  
Stephen Matthews ◽  
Virginia Yip
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Ecological Approach ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Verbal Morphology ◽  
Perfective Aspect ◽  
Contact Linguistics ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Aspect Markers ◽  
Conceptual Link ◽  
Language Transmission

Abstract This paper examines the close parallels between the contact phenomena in Cantonese-English bilingual children and Southeast Asian creoles, especially in the domain of perfective aspect marking. ‘Already’ is a cross-linguistically common lexical source of perfective aspect markers given its conceptual link with the sense of perfectivity. In contact scenarios involving a European lexifier and Southeast Asian substrates, the development of ‘already’ into a perfective marker is further triggered by the incompatibility between the verbal morphology of the former and the isolating typology of the latter. Adopting an ecological approach to language transmission and creole genesis we discuss how the transient grammaticalization phenomena in the bilingual children can be compared to decreolization, and how the study of bilingual acquisition can contribute to contact linguistics. Despite the prevalence of unpredictable factors in contact scenarios, we argue that bilingual children can still serve as powerful “laboratories” for studying contact outcomes at the communal level.

On nominal tense

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-352
Author(s):  
Pier Marco Bertinetto
Keyword(s):  
Side Effect ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Seminal Work ◽  
Semantic Component ◽  
Aspect Markers ◽  
Paraguayan Guaraní ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Intense Debate

AbstractNordlinger & Sadler’s (2004. Nominal tense in crosslinguistic perspective. Language 80. 776–806) seminal work fostered an intense debate on the semantics of nominal tense systems, with the side effect of widening the typological coverage of this grammatical feature. This paper aims at contributing to the ongoing debate. In contrast with work by Tonhauser, who excluded ‘tense’ as a semantic component of the Paraguayan Guaraní nominal tense system, the paper claims that all TAM dimensions are involved – temporality, aspect, modality – with different proportions in the individual markers. Most importantly, it claims that nominal tense does not presuppose a semantics of its own, other than the one needed for verbal tenses. Moreover, the paper presents evidence that the semantic component of aspect, besides being necessarily activated in any nominal tense marker, is also directly conveyed by some of them, which can legitimately be called ‘nominal aspect’ markers. This integrates Nordlinger & Sadler’s (2004) survey, in which aspect was notably absent. In addition, the paper points out possible cases of nominal actionality (a.k.a. Aktionsart). Finally, the paper suggests that the pervasive presence of aspect (and also, but rarely, actionality) among nominal tense markers finds interesting parallels in some types of deverbal nominalizations, although these belong in another grammatical drawer.

Acquisition of Chinese Aspect

1997 ◽  
Vol 117-118 ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaohong Wen
Keyword(s):  
Word Meanings ◽  
Advanced Level ◽  
Aspect Marker ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
University Level ◽  
Aspect Markers ◽  
Perfective Aspect Marker ◽  
The University ◽  
Temporal Sequences ◽  
Different Levels

Abstract This study investigates the acquisition of Chinese aspect markers of -le, -guo, and -zhe by English-speaking learners at the university level. The speech and written data produced by students at two different levels of proficiency were collected, compared and analyzed. The results show that English-speaking learners of Chinese acquire the perfective aspect marker -le and the past experience marker -guo before the durative aspect marker -zhe. The process by which learners acquire the aspect markers appears be meaning-based and can be summarized into: 1) looking for logical temporal sequences; 2) using time adverbials and conjunction for the time references; 3) using lexical aspects and word meanings; and 4) using pragmatic cues with the aspect markers of -le and -guo. Learners, especially at the lower level of proficiency, rely more on the time adverbial expressions and lexical aspects than learners at the more advanced level.

scholarly journals Interactions Between Viewpoint Aspect and Situation Aspect: A Case Study of Alternating Intransitive Constructions in Thai

MANUSYA ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 54-79
Author(s):  
Kachen Tansiri
Keyword(s):  
Causal Chain ◽  
Imperfective Aspect ◽  
Grammatical Aspect ◽  
Dynamic Phase ◽  
Viewpoint Aspect ◽  
Situation Aspect ◽  
Aspect Marker ◽  
Aspect Markers ◽  
The One ◽  
Verb Meaning

This paper aims at analyzing an internal temporal constituency of situations denoted by alternating intransitive constructions (AIC) in Thai in order to subclassify them, and investigating interactions between two viewpoint-aspect markers, namely kamlaƞ and jùu, and each subtype of AICs. According to the scope of a profile on the causal chain, the AICs in Thai are arranged into two main groups, i.e., the AICs denoting a simplex causal situation and the AICs denoting a complex causal situation. In each group, they are further subclassified according to the situation aspect of the denoted situations. In analyzing the interactions between viewpoint aspect and situation aspect, I show that kamlaƞ and jùu both function as imperfective viewpoint-aspect markers because they interact with situation aspect at the phase of the situation without any reference to the boundaries. However, they are distinguished in terms of the semantics of the forms themselves and the semantics of the phase they profile. On the one hand, kamlaƞ functions as a dynamic imperfective viewpoint-aspect marker in that it profiles the dynamic phase of the situations and construes them as on-going processes. On the other hand, jùu functions as a stative imperfective aspect marker. Unlike kamlaƞ , jùu can profile either a static or a dynamic phase. If jùu co-occurs with a static situation, the situation will be construed as a persistent state. If jùu co-occurs with a dynamic one, it refers to the progressive situation, which is viewed as stative. Since the grammatical aspect marker jùu is grammaticalized from the lexical verb meaning ‘to exist,’ there is a remnant of that meaning when jùu functions as a grammatical aspect marker. Consequently, the grammaticalized viewpoint-aspect marker jùu conveys the meaning that there exists a static or dynamic situation on the time line at the reference time or the speech-act time.

Temporal reference in Chinese mother–child conversation: morphosyntactic, semantic and discourse-pragmatic resources

2000 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 421-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHIUNG-CHIH HUANG
Keyword(s):  
Background Knowledge ◽  
Situational Context ◽  
Temporal Reference ◽  
The Past ◽  
Maternal Scaffolding ◽  
Aspect Markers ◽  
Semantic Aspect ◽  
Chinese Mother

This paper explores two Mandarin-speaking children's (3;2 and 3;3) ability to refer to the past in mother–child conversation. The approach encompasses morphosyntactic, semantic and discourse-pragmatic perspectives. The results show that the children tend to refer to immediate past spontaneously, but rely heavily on elicitation when referring to earlier past. It is suggested that maternal scaffolding functions as a discourse support for children to participate in conversation involving earlier past. When establishing past reference with overt temporal markers, the children resort mainly to aspect markers. In addition, they also rely on semantic and discourse-pragmatic resources for temporal inferencing, such as inherent semantic aspect, shared background knowledge and situational context.

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