scholarly journals VERB CHOICE IN COMPETITION OF ASPECTUAL MODUS MEANINGS

2016 ◽  
pp. 156-160
Author(s):  
M. V. Voronets
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Perfective Aspect ◽  
Imperfective Aspect ◽  
Verb Aspect

The paper deals with the problem of verb choice in potential aspectual competition. The analysis of the most popular interpretations of invariant aspectual meanings suggests that the Imperfective Aspect defines an action itself while the Perfective Aspect defines the action’s limit. If this hypothesis is correct, the opposition of an action and the action’s limit is supposed to stay relevant in any contexts even in case of competition of aspectual modus meanings. Such contexts are considered as a field where verb aspect conveys more distinctive nuance of the action compared to the traditional particular aspectual meanings. However, in such cases verb choice is to be motivated by invariant aspectual meanings as verb choice in any other context. To verify this hypothesis we have conducted an experiment that aimed to identify the rules of the verb choice in potential aspectual competition. The paper considers the results of the part of the experiment that was dedicated to modus meanings. Results of the experiment proved that the opposition of the action and the action’s limit is relevant for Russian native speakers even in case of competition of aspectual modus meanings.

Gesture, verb aspect, and the nature of iconic imagery in natural discourse

Gesture ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan D. Duncan
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Visual Images ◽  
Language Differences ◽  
Imperfective Aspect ◽  
Verb Aspect ◽  
Action Sequences ◽  
Natural Discourse ◽  
Abstract Level ◽  
Linguistic Analyses ◽  
Chinese And English

Linguistic analyses of Mandarin Chinese and English have detailed the differences between the two languages in terms of the devices each makes available for expressing distinctions in the temporal contouring of events — verb aspect and Aktionsart. In this study, adult native speakers of each language were shown a cartoon, a movie, or a series of short action sequences and then videotaped talking about what they had seen. Comparisons revealed systematic within-language covariation of choice of aspect and/or Aktionsart in speech with features of co-occurring iconic gestures. In both languages, the gestures that speakers produced in imperfective aspect-marked speech contexts were more likely to take longer to produce and were more complex than those in perfective aspect speech contexts. Further, imperfective-progressive aspect-marked spoken utterances regularly accompanied iconic gestures in which the speaker’s hands engaged in some kind of temporally-extended, repeating or‘agitated’ movements. Gestures sometimes incorporated this type of motion even when there was nothing corresponding to it in the visual stimulus; for example, when speakers described events of stasis. These facts suggest that such gestural agitation may derive from an abstract level of representation, perhaps linked to aspectual view itself. No significant between-language differences in aspect- or Aktionsart-related gesturing were observed. We conclude that gestural representations of witnessed events, when performed in conjunction with speech, are not simply derived from visual images, stored as perceived in the stimulus, and transposed as faithfully as possible to the hands and body of the speaker (cf. Hadar & Butterworth, 1997). Rather, such gestures are part of a linguistic-conceptual representation (McNeill & Duncan, 2000) in which verb aspect has a role. We further conclude that the noted differences between the systems for marking aspectual distinctions in spoken Mandarin and English are at a level of patterning that has little or no influence on speech-co-occurring imagistic thinking.

scholarly journals What’s Done is Done: Verb Aspect and Verbatim Memory

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan Salomon-Amend ◽  
G.A. Radvansky ◽  
Sarah Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Surface Form ◽  
Perfective Aspect ◽  
Memory Tests ◽  
Imperfective Aspect ◽  
Verb Aspect ◽  
Original Presentation ◽  
Narrative Time ◽  
Event Model ◽  
Event Models ◽  
Form Information

Grammatical verb aspect uses morphosyntactic cues (‘-ed’, ‘-ing’) to convey whether an action is, for example, complete (“walked”) or on-going (“was walking”) and has shown notable comprehension ramifications for a reader’s event model. Additionally, research suggests that the reader quickly forgets verbatim surface-form information, such as morphosyntactic cues, while the event model remains intact. The current study used three different memory tests to probe readers’ event models of the texts, testing readers’ event model at retrieval. More importantly, we explored whether participants could have biased memory for the perfective aspect consistent with events unfolding in the narrative world. We show that verbs in the perfective aspect were remembered more accurately than those in the imperfective aspect. Moreover, imperfective verbs had a stronger tendency to be misremembered as being in the perfective aspect. That is, readers’ memory seems to be affected by the passage of narrative time, rather than maintaining fidelity to the temporal status of the verb at original presentation.

Becoming a proficient academic writer: shifting lexical preferences in the use of the progressive

Corpora ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanie Wulff ◽  
Ute Römer
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Text Type ◽  
Learner Corpus ◽  
Verb Aspect ◽  
Academic Writer ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
The One

Recent corpus studies have shown that learners of English are aware of systematic associations between verbs and their preferred argument structures to an extent that is similar to that of a native speaker of English (e.g., Gries and Wulff, 2005 ). Given evidence for similarly systematic associations in native speaker data at the lexis–morphology interface (e.g., Römer, 2005a ), the question arises whether, and to what extent, learners of English are also sensitive to lexical dependencies at the level of morphology, and how their verb-aspect associations compare with those of native speakers. In order to address this question, this study focusses on the potential associations between verbs and progressive aspect in German learners' academic writing. On the basis of the German component of the International Corpus of Learner English and the Cologne–Hanover Advanced Learner Corpus, learners' significantly preferred verb-aspect pairs are identified using an adaptation of collostructional analysis ( Stefanowitsch and Gries, 2003 ). The results are complemented with corresponding analyses of a subset of the Michigan Corpus of Upper-level Student Papers on the one hand and published research articles from the Hyland Corpus on the other hand. The findings indicate that upper-intermediate and advanced German learners of English exhibit clear lexical preferences in the use of progressives. Furthermore, comparative analyses suggest that verb-aspect preferences shift as a function of writers' mastery of text type-specific conventions rather than language proficiency at large.

scholarly journals Aspects of the Indo-European Aorist and Imperfect

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Hollenbaugh
Keyword(s):  
Practical Reasons ◽  
Perfective Aspect ◽  
Imperfective Aspect

Abstract The Proto-Indo-European (PIE) tense-aspect system has been reconstructed since the time of Delbrück (1897) as containing a fundamental opposition between two aspect-denoting stems: An Aorist stem, denoting perfective aspect, and a Present stem, denoting imperfective aspect. This reconstruction is, for practical reasons, based almost entirely on Greek and Vedic. Re-examining the Homeric and R̥gvedic data, I argue on semantic grounds against this century-old understanding of the tense-aspect system of PIE. In its place, I reconstruct the “Aorist” indicative as denoting perfect aspect (not perfective), and the “Imperfect” indicative as a simple past tense (not imperfective). Evidence for this reconstruction is based on the consistent usage in the R̥gveda of the Aorist in the meaning ‘have done X’ (with present reference) and the Imperfect in the meaning ‘did X’ (especially in narrative contexts)—a distribution which frequently has a precise match in Homer.

A cross-linguistic investigation of the combinational possibilities of the ‘for X time’ adverbial with different aspectual verb classes

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-231
Author(s):  
Athina Sioupi
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Information ◽  
Perfective Aspect ◽  
Imperfective Aspect ◽  
Verb Classes ◽  
Change Of State ◽  
Viewpoint Aspect

The paper observes that the Vendler classification is not sufficient as a classification of verbs, since it cannot explain why some telic verbs, such as change of state (COS) verbs and degree achievements (DAs) appear with the durational adverbial (d-adverbial) ‘for X time’ in Greek, in English and in German, while some atelics like semelfactives appear with the frame adverbial (f-adverbial) se X ora (‘in X time’) in Greek. In the spirit of Iatridou et al. (2003) it is proposed that the d-adverbial ‘for X time’ tests not only for (a)telicity but also for (im)perfectivity. It also argues that the two d-adverbials in Greek ja X ora and epi X ora (‘for X time’) are to be found with different grammatical (viewpoint) aspect: the former with perfective aspect and the latter with imperfective aspect. This is due to the fact that the ja X ora gives not only durative temporal information but also a lexical aspectual one, while the epi X ora gives only a durative temporal.

scholarly journals ASPEK PERFEKTIF DALAM AL-QUR’AN

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-39
Author(s):  
Rezky Feryansyah Setiawan ◽  
Anwar Sanusi
Keyword(s):  
Perfective Aspect ◽  
Imperfective Aspect ◽  
Purposive Sampling ◽  
Past Time ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Qualitative Descriptive ◽  
Descriptive Approach

The perfective in Arabic is indicated by a form of māḍi verb used to indicate the past time. In the Qur'an there are often verses that describe the future (imperfective) but are contained in the māḍi verb. The research using this qualitative descriptive approach aims to know the meaning contained in the verses contained in the form of the māḍi verb but in the future context. The sample of this study using purposive sampling in the form of verses that contain māḍi verb in it that perpektive and imperfective aspect. The perfective aspect of the verses is inseparable from the influence of the letters that associated with the māḍi verbs and also has implications for meaning and time.

scholarly journals Acquisition of aspect and aktionsart by children in Croatian and French

2003 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 133-148
Author(s):  
Claire Martinot ◽  
Maja Andel ◽  
Sunil Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Trend ◽  
Perfective Aspect ◽  
Lexical Meaning ◽  
Imperfective Aspect

Our results indicate some differences in the use of aspect between French and Croatian speaking children. In Croatian language children always manage to keep the appropriate aspect, unlike French children. However, the imperfective aspect seems to be better acquired in French children than the perfective aspect. The perfective aspect, the marked form both in French as well as in Croatian, is related to the lexical meaning of the verbs. The acquisition of the Aktionsart in both languages seems to be more a matter of semantics than of morphology. Furthermore, our data suggest the existence of a specific developmental trend in the use of Aktionsart (intensive, iterative and inchoative), which is similar for children speaking Slavic and Romanic languages.  

Smashing new results on aspectual framing

2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 699-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teenie Matlock ◽  
David Sparks ◽  
Justin L. Matthews ◽  
Jeremy Hunter ◽  
Stephanie Huette
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
The Body ◽  
Linguistic Meaning ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Perfective Aspect ◽  
Imperfective Aspect ◽  
Cognitive Experience ◽  
Linguistic Aspect ◽  
The Way

How do people describe events they have witnessed? What role does linguistic aspect play in this process? To provide answers to these questions, we conducted an experiment on aspectual framing. In our task, people were asked to view videotaped vehicular accidents and to describe what happened (perfective framing) or what was happening (imperfective framing). Our analyses of speech and gesture in retellings show that the form of aspect used in the question differentially influenced the way people conceptualized and described actions. Questions framed with imperfective aspect resulted in more motion verbs (e.g. driving), more reckless language (e.g. speeding), and more iconic gestures (e.g. path gesture away from the body to show travel direction) than did questions framed with perfective aspect. Our research contributes novel insights on aspect and the construal of events, and on the semantic potency of aspect in leading questions. The findings are consistent with core assumptions in cognitive linguistics, including the proposal that linguistic meaning, including grammatical meaning, is dynamic and grounded in perceptual and cognitive experience.

scholarly journals A REFERENCE BOOK ON THE ASPECT OF BULGARIAN VERBS

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 1621-1626
Author(s):  
Antoaneta Pavlova
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Foreign Students ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Foreign Student ◽  
Reference Book ◽  
Alphabetical Order ◽  
Imperfective Aspect ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Verb Aspect ◽  
Verb Forms

The present paper aims at presenting the scientific work “A Reference Book on the Aspect of Bulgarian Verbs” published in 2019. The reference book is intended for foreign students studying Bulgarian but it may as well be a precious guide and a practical handbook for all who are interested in learning and teaching Bulgarian.The idea for writing and publishing this reference book was motivated by the strife of the author to facilitate the acquisition of the language.The reference book begins with brief theoretical comments on the Bulgarian verb. They are presented in a concise and adapted manner with a minimum use of linguistic terminology (with a view to the practical aim of the handbook and the specificity of the audience to which it is directed at).The presence of tables and schemes in the reference book is deliberate since the purpose of the handbook is to provide a quick reference and to make the memorizing of key concepts and verb forms easier.The reference book includes the most common and traditional concepts as well as the most contemporary ideas of the Bulgarian linguistics. Reference to the literature used is included.A list of more than 150 pairs of verbs in the perfective and imperfective aspect arranged in an alphabetical order in a table is included in “A Reference Book on the Aspect of Bulgarian Verbs”. The verbs in these pairs are used quite frequently in Bulgarian speech. The selection is consistent with Bulgarian language learning by foreign students in their first year of studies from the specialties in Medicine, Dental Medicine and Pharmacy and corresponds to A1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Verbs are not translated into another language but there is an additional blank column in which each foreign student can write a translation equivalent. The illustrative manner of grammar knowledge with appropriate verb forms arranged in tables was quite consciously chosen. The basic pairs of antonyms in the groups of the conjugated verbs are presented with the aim of optimizing the process of mastery of the verbs. The tense system of the Bulgarian language is presented through the nine tenses in it illustrated with examples from the three conjugations.The reference book presents some of the specificities of the Bulgarian verb in a more comprehensible manner and most of all the category verb aspect which is difficult and complex to teach and explain. For the first time the aspect’s functioning is illustrated with examples which are included simultaneously for the two verb aspects. Practical advice for the determination of the verb aspect is supplied and key words and expressions for “identifying” the perfective and imperfective aspect are derived. The connection between the aspect and the verb tense is also presented.“A Reference Book on the Aspect of Bulgarian Verbs” is a valuable tool for all who are interested in studying and teaching the Bulgarian language.

scholarly journals On the imperfective and perfective aspect in Estonian and Latvian

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 241-261
Author(s):  
Ilze Tālberga ◽  
Aive Mandel
Keyword(s):  
Direct Object ◽  
General Context ◽  
Text Corpus ◽  
Perfective Aspect ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
Lexical Meaning ◽  
Imperfective Aspect ◽  
Transitive Verbs

This article presents a brief overview and comparison of the imperfective and perfective aspect in Estonian and Latvian. The main means of expressing the perfective and imperfective aspect in Estonian are the case opposition of the direct object (the nominative/genitive or the partitive), the use of verb particles, and the general context. In Latvian, the opposition of the perfective and imperfective aspect is mainly expressed by existence or absence of verb prefixes, adverbs, and also the context. In Latvian, verb prefixes, besides perfectivity, may also add or modify the lexical meaning of the verb. We compare how the perfective and imperfective aspect are expressed in both languages in the case of transitive verbs, based on the correspondences found in a text corpus of literary works and their translations.Kokkuvõte. Ilze Tālberga, Aive Mandel: Imperfektiivsest ja perfektiivsest aspektist eesti ja läti keeles. Artiklis uuritakse imperfektiivse ja perfektiivse aspekti vastandust võrdlevalt eesti ja läti keeles. Selleks kasutatavad näited pärinevad eesti ja läti ilukirjandusteostest ning nende vastastikustest tõlgetest. Käesolevas analüüsis on keskendutud transitiivsetele verbidele, mis nõuavad objekti. Edaspidises uurimistöös loodetakse võtta vaatluse alla ka intransitiivsed verbid. Eesti keeles on keskseks perfektiivsuse markeerimise vahendiks objektikääne. Perfektiivsust väljendab totaalobjekt (ainsuse või mitmuse nominatiiv, ainsuse genitiiv). Läti keeles väljendatakse perfektiivsust esmajoones verbiprefiksite abil, mida on kokku 11 ning mis kõik võivad (aga ei pruugi) lisaks perfektiivsusele anda verbile ka mõne muu (ruumilise, kvantitatiivse või kvalitatiivse) lisatähenduse. Kõrvutasime näitematerjali abil esmalt neid olukordi, kus eesti täisobjekti vasteks on läti keelde tõlkimisel prefiksverb, ning vaatlesime sama olukorda ka vastupidisel tõlkesuunal. Ilukirjandusnäidete põhjal tuleb neist näidetest lisaks perfektiivsuse vastavusele hästi välja ka läti prefiksi lisatähendus. Teiseks toimivad eesti keeles perfektiivsuse väljendamise vahendina ka verbipartiklid (nt ära), mis võivad kas aidata totaalobjektis juba kajastuvat perfektiivsust kinnitada või on teatud juhtudel ka obligatoorsed. See mehhanism aitab kompenseerida eesti keeles ajalooliste muutuste tõttu vähem eristuvaks muutunud objektikäänete ebaselgust võrreldes nt soome keelega, kus eesti keelest sagedamini piisab perfektiivsuse väljendamiseks pelgalt objektikäändest. Tõlkekõrvutuste põhjal järeldub, et eesti verbipartiklit saab läti keeles väljendada verbiprefiksiga, milles võib avalduda lisaks perfektiivsusele ka lisatähendus (aiz- – ‘kinni’). Lisatähendus võib ka puududa (iz-mazgāt – ‘ära pesema’), viimasel juhul väljendatakse nii partikli kui ka prefiksiga vaid perfektiivsust. Eesti verbipartiklit võidakse aga läti keeles väljendada ka prefiksverbiga, millele lisandub samatähenduslik adverb. Kuna sellist adverbikasutust ei peeta läti keeles aspekti osaks, sest perfektiivsus väljendub juba prefiksis, siis võib neid tõlgendada ruumilist suunda rõhutavatena. Mõlemal tõlkesuunal on näha, et kui prefiksverb on juba olemas, siis sellele läti keeles lisatud adverb eestikeelset vastet ei mõjuta – eesti keeles esineb siis samasugune vaste, nagu oleks adverbita prefiksverbi puhul, kuna ka prefiksverbis on sama ruumilisus juba esindatud. Mõlemad keeled kasutavad siis sel juhul paralleelselt adverbe.Imperfektiivsust saab eesti keeles väljendada osaobjektiga (partitiiv), mis aga võib sõltuvalt kontekstist kanda ka perfektiivset tähendust. Läti keeles on imperfektiivse tõlgendusega osaobjekti vasteks prefiksita verb, mis ilmneb mõlemal keelesuunal ka tõlkematerjalis. Lisaks on läti keeles võimalik imperfektiivsust väljendada konstruktsiooniga prefiksita verb + adverb, milles esinev adverb on prefiksiga samatähenduslik. Nii on konstruktsioonis perfektiivsust väljendav prefiks asendatud samasisulise adverbiga, saavutades imperfektiivse tähenduse. Ka selle konstruktsiooni puhul võib näha tõlkenäidetes eesti vastena osaobjekti partitiivis, mille tõlkevastena võib omakorda eesti-läti tõlkesuunal leida osaobjekti. Läti keele imperfektiivsete (prefiksita verb) lausenäidete vastena võib mõnel harval juhul leida eesti keeles ka progressiivtarindi.Käesolev uurimus tõi perfektiivsuse ja imperfektiivsuse väljendamisel eesti ja läti keeles välja rea omavahelisi paralleele, erinevusi ja ka sarnasusi. Artikkel on mõeldud esmase sissejuhatusena väga laia teemasse, mille käsitlemisel oleks edaspidi tarvilik nii märksa avaram vaatepunkt (nt kaasata intransitiivsed verbid ja laiendada aspekti käsitlust) kui ka põhjalikum ja mitmekülgsem uurimismaterjal.Märksõnad: aspekt; imperfektiivsus; perfektiivsus; verbid; prefiksverbid; adverbid; läti keel; eesti keel

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