2. CHAPTER10
ASPECT
• 10.1 Generic and specific predications
• 10.2 Stative predicates and dynamic
predicates
• 10.3 Durative and punctual
• 10.4 Telic and atelic
• 10.5 Ingressive, continuative, egressive aspect
• 10.6 Prospective and retrospective
• 10.7 Some grammatical expressions of aspect
3. Aspect is both grammatical and lexical ; it is
expressed in predicates, especially in verb inflections
and collocations of verbs.
Ex : It’s beggining to break, / It’s breaking, / it
broke, / it’s Broken.
However, the expression of aspect may also appear in
certain temporal adverbs and in the choice of
referring expressions.
The Conclusion of Aspect is expressed primarily in
the predicates of sentences.
4. In English grammar, a predicate is one of the two main
parts of a sentence. (The other main part is
thesubject.)
A predicate is usually defined as a word group that
comes after the subject to complete the meaning of
the sentenceor clause.
“Felix laughed”
(1) A predicate may be just a single word: the verb. In this first
example, the verb laughed is the predicate of the sentence:
5. 1. Generic and Specific
Predications
Generic has two types. Generic is the statements about
things that we can not change. Non-Generic is statement
about things or situation we can change.
1a. Two and two make four.
1b. Rabbits are rodents.
1c. The Atlantic Ocean separates Africa and South
America.
1d. A stitch in time saves nine.
Sentences 1a-d are ‘eternal truths,’ statements
about things that we do not expect to change.
They report unbounded situation, or states.
6. 2a. Gregory is here.
2b. I have a headache.
2c. The company manufactures silicon chips.
2d. Stella seems happy.
Sentences 2a-d are about temporary states; they
are bounded. And sentences are certain situations exist at the
present time.
3a. Gregory is ALREADY here.
3b. I STILL have a headache.
3c. The company does NOT YET manufacture silicon
happy.
3d. Stella doesn’t seem happy ANY MORE/... NO LONGER seem
happy.
Sentences 3a-d Contain the same information but the aspectual
modifiers call attention to boundaries.
7. Form :
Verb Previous State Present State
Already - +
Means : May suggest that theb speaker did not expect
gregory so soon.
Still + +
Means : May suggest thought gregory might have left.
Not Yet - -
Means : That the speaker told gregory not yet to come it
is still no reason.
8. 2. Stative Predicates and Dynamic Predicates
Stative Predicates is describe sentence that
exist, whether permanent or temporary in nature.
3a. Gregory arrived here.
3b. I recovered from my headache.
3c. The company started manufacturing silicon
chips.
3d. Stella lost her tired look.
9. Thus the following sentences are stative and have stative predicates:
4a We waited.
4b The children were hungry.
4c Snow lay on the ground.
4d Ellen needed a dictionary.
The following are activity sentences and have dynamic predicates.
5a Something moved.
5b The sun came up.
5c The boat drifted along.
5d They discussed the plan.
A stative predicate is typically durative in aspect. For each of the
sentences 4a–d we can ask ‘How long?’, ‘How long did we wait?’
‘How long were the children hungry?,’ and so on. And we can add
expressions that tell the length of time: for an hour, all day, from
Christmas till New Year’s Day, all during the parade, as long as she
was studying.
10. A stative predication relates a situation that does not
change
during the time when the predication is valid. Thus, if
the sentence
Jesse had a headache all morning is true, then at every
instant during
that morning the sentence Jesse has a headache was
true. To say
this in another way, a stative predication relates a
situation that consists
of homogeneous parts.
11. Stative is typical duration in aspect.
Ex : I needed a rest.
That sentence not yet showing how long I need a rest.
How many time I ned a rest.
If : I needed a rest an hour.
Both of senteces are true because a stative predication
relates a situation than consists of homogeneous
parts.
12. Dynamic is about explaination with duration who was
determined and it was running in accordance with
the time that has been made / as usual.
Ex : Employes are working 8 hours/day.
that we know when the time for the end.
The conclution :
• Stative : The sentences who never know how many
time or the sentence that we do not know how
long the duration is running.
• Dynamic : The sentences that we just know the
timing from begin to ending.
13. 3. Durative and Punctual
They sat in the last row” can be the equivalent
of what is more precisely expressed as They sat down in the last
row (punctual) or of They were sitting in the last row (durative). It
can also have a distributed sense, as in They sat in the last row
every time they went to the theatre. This sentence expresses habitual
aspect, customary occurrence distributed over various occasions.
However, a simple past tense verb can only express habitual aspect
if there is some expression of frequency, that is, some expression
of how the event is distributed in time (every time…, every Saturday,
twice a month, seldom, often, etc.). English has a more specific
way of expressing habitual aspect, one which is used only for customary
events in the past: They used to sit in the last row. With used to the
predication is specified as ‘habitual’ whether there is an expression
of frequency or not.
Habitual aspect in the present can be expressed with the simple
present tense form of a verb.
14. Durative
is Of, related to, or being the verbal aspect that expresses action
continuing unbroken for a period of time.
Punctual
is Of, related to, or being the verbal aspect that expresses momen
tary action or action considered as having no temporal duration.
A number of punctual verbs of this type can be used in the
present tense to express an event planned for a future time.
Ex : Titanic movie was shown in three hours. (Durative)
Ex : Titanic Movie is running on teather from 07.00 pm until
10.00 am (Punctual)
15. TELIC AND ATELIC
Now, what do the terms ‘atelic’ and ‘telic’ mean?
Examine these
sentences.
14a George was waiting. - Sandra was holding the baby.
14b Sandra was swimming. - George was running.
The sentences in 14a are stative and those in 14b are
activities. If it
is true that George was waiting and Sandra was
swimming, for example,
then we can report that George waited and Sandra
swam. The predicates
do not have an end or a goal; they are atelic.
16. Conclution of Atelic is the sentence are carried out and
have a result.
Actually, no sentence or activities that no results. but
here stated that Atelic is something existing activities
have goal but the goal like often activity . but that does
not mean we do things that are included what we like.
17.
18. 10.5.1 Predicates of location
24a The lamp is on the table.
24b Some oranges are in that basket.
24c Donald is at the door.
In these sentences on, in and at are two argument
predicates. Other locative prepositions such as above,
beside, near, next-to, and under are also two-argument
predicates
19. Example :
Ingressive aspect:
1. Donald gets to/arrives at/reaches the door.
Continuative aspect:
1. Donald stays at/remains at the door.
Egressive aspect :
1. Donald leaves/departs from the door.
20. Aspect differs but thematic structure is the same:
Argument, -Predicate, - Argument
Affected Status, Location
Donald Door
21. Causative locative verbs have a valency of three.
1.Someone puts/place the lamp on the table.
2. Someone leaves/keeps the lamp on the table.
3. Someone removes/takes the lamp from the table.
22. Verbs like these have the meaning ‘cause something to
be, to remain, or not to be, in a place.’
Argument₁ - Predicate - S_Theme
Agent Cause Argument₂ Argument₃
Affected Status, Location
23. On the explain above that ;
Argument : someone
Predicate Cause
Argument₂ and Argument₃; can be affected or status and
location.
24. 10.5.2 Predicates of possessionSimilar to locative expressions are expressions of
possession.
27 Ella has/owns a car.
We express the ingressive, continuative, and
egressive aspects of the possessing with the verbs
illustrated in the next group of sentences.
27a Ella gets/acquires a car. [inception]
27b Ella keeps the car. [duration]
27c Ella loses/gives up the car. [termination]
Some 3-argument predicates express a change of
possession.
25. 10.5.3 Predicates of cognition
A third group of stative verbs expresses various aspects
of knowing. They are cognition predicates.
29 Jeffrey knows/is-aware-of the answer.
Again there are ways of telling the beginning, middle
and end of this situation.
29a Jeffrey learns/finds/gets the answer.
29b Jeffrey remembers the answer.
29c Jeffrey forgets the answer.
26. And there are verbs that express the causing of Jeffrey’s
knowing.
30a Someone tells/teaches/shows the answer to Jeffrey.
or, with a slightly different arrangement.
30b Someone informs Jeffrey of the answer.
27. 10.5.4 Event predicates & 10.5.5 Nouns and adjectives as
predicates
These sentences have the
structure Event+Locative
Predicate+ Time.
Ex:
The meeting is at 2:00.
The game was on
Sunday.
These sentences indicate
some role, condition or
status.
Ex:
Philip is a physicist.
We were awfully tired
28. 10.5.6 Aspectual verbs
Aspectual verbs (called aspectualizers
by some scholars) which express some aspect of an
event. An event, by definition, has duration.
Ex:
The meeting is beginning now.
The game went on for hours.
29. That sentences are no other argument but some
expression of time.
The orchestra continued the performance.
The orchestra continued to play until eleven.
These example, the object of the verb is an event noun or
a reduced clause.
30. 10.6 Prospective and retrospective
Fred figured his friends had already started the trip.
Fred figured his friends were starting the trip just
then.
Fred figured his friends would soon be starting the
trip.
31. Prospective verbs; they are
oriented toward later
happenings.
Ex:
1. Tata is thinking of
visiting her
grandmother.
2. We asked Rizal to drive
slower.
retrospective verbs. Are
Verbs like apologize and
deny.
Ex:
Edgar apologized for
missing the meeting.
(or,…for having missed the
meeting)
We denied seeing the
report.
(or,…having seen the report)
32. 10.7 Some grammatical
expressions
of aspect
1). 10.7.1 The prospective
illustrate a prospective form.
They are to leave.
You are not to worry
Are we to wait here?
This form, be+to+verb expresses a ‘looking forward’;
33. 10.7.2 The perfect or retrogressive
They have left illustrates a verb structure which is
traditionally called ‘present perfect.’ A better term
might be present retrospective form. Whatever the
name, for any verb it consists of two parts, a form of
have and the past participle of the verb. The present
perfect, or present retrospective, form, in affirmative
statements, refers to events that occurred in the past
and situations that began in the past and which are
seen as relevant ‘now,’ at the present time. Negative
statements, of course, deny such events and situations
35. 10.7.3 The progressive
The progressive form indicates that the activity
predicated is distributed over a period of time with an
implied endpoint, but it need not be distributed
continuously over that time.
36. progressive form: They’re arriving tomorrow, The shop
is opening next week, Mr Edwards is retiring in May.
The progressive can be used with atelic predicates to
make a more dramatic statement of what is slated to
happen in the near future.
37. We’ll be walking through several rooms and I’ll be
pointing out the
interesting details and telling you the historic facts
associated with them.
You’ll be seeing some valuable art objects and you’ll
be learning why the building has the form it has…
Omission of every be…-ing in this speech would have
no effect on the content.
38. SummaryAspect is the cover name for different ways in which the proposition
contained in a sentence is viewed. Different aspects are fairly easy
to recognize and understand, but any one aspect may be expressed
in various ways. The semantic nature of a predicate often has something
to do with the aspect it expresses, but it is also a fact that some
predicates may occur in sentences with different aspects.
This chapter has drawn a distinction between states and activities,
the former containing stative predicates and the latter dynamic predicates.
Some states express generic propositions, essentially unchanging,
and others express non-generic propositions which have come about
through change and may change again. Relations between a present
state and a previous one can be indicated with the aspectual modifiers
already, still, no longer and not yet. States and activities are durative.
They are also atelic, not expressing any definite endpoint.
39. Suggest readingComrie (1976) is the best general account of aspect in a vast number
of languages. Frawley (1992), Chapter 7, offers a more cogent overview
of the same. Leech (1987) makes an Aktionsart classification of English
verbs, which also appears in Quirk et al. (1984).
Vendler (1967) is a milestone in modern investigation of this subject.
Tedeschi and Zaenen (1981) is a collection of articles on aspect,
including the Dahl and Vlach works mentioned in Section 10.3. Smith
(1991) seeks to develop a unified theory of aspect within Universal
Grammar based on an explication of the quite different aspectual
systems of five languages. Binnick (1991) surveys ancient and modern
theories of tense and aspect and makes his own contribution. Brinton
(1988) traces the historic development of the aspectual system of
modern English.
