The syntax of inner aspect in Hungarian

This paper is concerned with the syntactic representation of inner aspect in Hungarian. We contribute to the extant research on inner aspectual markers by providing an analysis of entailed versus implied telicity as well as the (non)maximality effects with which telic predicates are associated. Although we focus on the grammar of Hungarian, we also draw parallels between typologically different languages like Finno-Ugric (e.g. Hungarian and Finnish) and Germanic (e.g. English) regarding their inner aspectual marking strategies, and the interaction of inner aspect and case assignment.

Root infinitives in Jamaican Creole

This paper addresses the question of the existence and manifestation of Root Infinitives (RI) in the acquisition of a creole language, Jamaican Creole (JC). It examines JC children’s omission of progressive and prospective aspectual markers in the clausal map in order to determine if early JC includes a root infinitive stage. It shows that non-target-consistent bare verb structures in child JC have distributional properties which have been claimed to be hallmarks of RI: in particular, they occur in declaratives (and in yes-no questions), but not in wh-questions, and they typically co-occur with null subjects, whereas subjects are typically overt in clauses with fully specified aspectual markers. It shows that these properties are expected under a truncation approach (Rizzi, 1993/4; De Lisser et al., 2016), and briefly compares truncation and other approaches to RI. Additionally, the paper compares the properties of truncation and the “growing trees” approach introduced in Friedmann, Belletti and Rizzi (this volume), according to which learners’ productions start with minimal structures in a bottom up fashion, and then higher zones get added on top of the structure as development proceeds, following the hierarchical organization uncovered by cartographic work. Finally, the paper discusses the similarities and differences between the two ideas, and argues that they are compatible, and possibly reflect different stages in language development.

Chinese does have independent tense elements

Previous research on Chinese tense indicates that Chinese has either null tense or no tense. However, the present study suggests that the conclusions of previous studies regarding Chinese tense are either against the syntactic truth or illogical. The present study provides new evidence to support that Chinese has two independent tense elements, zai and guo, which clearly indicate present and past tense, contrary to the traditional assumption that they are aspectual markers. From the perspective of grammaticalization, both zai and guo witnessed grammaticalization from the spatial concept to the temporal concept. The semantic evidence shows that zai and guo are semantically different from the aspectual markers zhe and le and convey the meaning of time location. The fact that both zai and guo are allowed in negation but not permitted in non-finite structure provides syntactic evidence that they are tense markers. However, the present study also suggests there can be two different zai and guo; zai and guo used separately and independently and zai and guo used with zhe and le. In the latter case, zai is a time adverbial and guo is an aspectual marker. The existence of independent tense markers in Chinese also shows that Chinese may have at least four different mechanisms to anchor tense.

Operationalizing the Role of Context in Language Variation: The Role of Perspective Alignment in the Spanish Imperfective Domain

We present a cognitively grounded analysis of the pattern of variation that underlies the ​use of two aspectual markers in Spanish (the Simple-Present marker, Ana baila ‘Ana dances’, and the Present-Progressive marker, Ana está bailando ‘Ana is dancing’) when they express an event-in-progress reading. This analysis is centered around one fundamental communicative goal, which we term perspectivealignment: the bringing of the hearer’s perspective closer to that of the speaker. Perspective alignment optimizes the tension between two nonlinguistic constraints: Theory of Mind, which gives rise to linguisticexpressivity, and Common Ground, which gives rise to linguisticeconomy. We propose that, linguistically, perspectivealignment capitalizes on lexicalized meanings, such as the progressive meaning, that can bring the hearer to the “here and now”. In Spanish, progressive meaning can be conveyed with the Present-Progressive marker regardless of context. By contrast, if the Simple-Present marker is used for that purpose, it must be in a context of shared perceptual access between speaker and hearer; precisely, a condition that establishes perspectivealignment non-linguistically. Support for this analysis comes from a previously observed yet unexplained pattern of contextually-determined variation for the use of the Simple-Present marker in Iberian and Rioplatense (vs. Mexican) Spanish—in contrast to the preference across all three varieties for the use of the Present-Progressive marker—to express an event-in-progress reading.

THE TRANSLATION OF ENGLISH TENSES AND ASPECTS IN NARRATIVE MODE INTO VIETNAMESE

Confusion due to ambiguity in tenses and aspects while translating from English into Vietnamese is still a common problem to translators. There are several causes to this problem, but the main cause is the difference in viewing tense and aspect notions in the two languages by researchers or scholars. The existence of tense and aspect identities in English clauses or sentences is a matter of fact whereas in Vietnamese they are the topic of controversy among linguists and educators. This article investigates some of the linguistic means that were employed to translate English tenses and aspects in narrative mode into Vietnamese by three well-known translators, namely Mặc Đỗ, Hoàng Cường and Trịnh Lữ. The results of the study prove the fact that though tenses and aspects are not always recognized in the Vietnamese language, they can be translated from the English language via the use of temporal adverbials, aspectual markers or situation types of Vietnamese verbs.

Development of aspect markers in Arandic languages, with notes on associated motion

Languages of the Arandic subgroup of Pama-Nyungan languages of Australia have developed markers of aspect from a variety of sources, including verb phrases with stance auxiliaries and reduplicated forms. Other origins involve nominalised verb forms and the refunctionalisation of tense suffixes. Some unusual diachronic developments have to do with interactions between aspectual markers and those of the highly developed verbal category of associated motion. There are shifts in both directions – from aspectual to associated motion values as well as extension of associated motion to aspectual meanings. All the posited diachronic changes are inferred by means of reconstruction, since there is virtually no corpus of documents from which changes in real time can be traced.

The grammatical-lexical distinction in Chinese aspectual markers

This paper discusses the grammatical-lexical distinction based on Boye and Harder (2012) in the class of aspectual markers in Chinese and aims to decide whether these markers are grammatical or lexical in a theoretically anchored sense. To accomplish this, the language-general criteria proposed in Boye and Harder (2012) are translated into Chinese-specific criteria for diagnosing grammatical vs. lexical status, and these translated criteria are then applied to Chinese aspect markers in a questionnaire-based survey in order to test whether these markers are lexical or grammatical. Our classification of the Chinese markers tested is then compared with a traditional classification based on grammaticalization features (Lehmann 2015). The results support an integration of the two ways of approaching the grammatical-lexical distinction.

LEXICO-GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS OF BLACK ENGLISH AND WHITE ENGLISH IN THE MOVIE AKEELAH AND THE BEE

This study aims at describing the lexico-grammatical features that differentiate Black English from White English as well as investigating the features of English used by both black people and white people in the movie Akeelah and the Bee. Descriptive design and qualitative approach were used to achieve the research aims. Data were collected through documentation method and analyzed by using qualitative data analysis technique. Data were listed, classified, analyzed, discussed, and summarized at the end. It was found a total of 82 data indicating the features that differentiate Black English from White English. Among those data, 45.1% data showed the use of slang, 24.4% data showed the use of optional auxiliary be, 14.6% data indicated the use of multiple negation, 6.1% data indicated the use of identical singular and plural verb forms, 4.9% data showed the use of aspectual markers: be, BIN, dən, 2.4% data showed the use of specific phrases, and 2.4% data indicated the use of negative inversion. Meanwhile, 11 data were found in regards to the features that were used by both black people and white people in the movie. Among those data, 81.8% data showed the use of slang, 9.1% data indicated the use of specific word, and 9.1% data showed the use of optional auxiliary be. The findings indicated that Black English has its own lexico-grammatical features which make it distinct from White English. However, there were some features of Black English which are used in White English. Keywords: Black English, White English, lexico-grammar