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The article discusses writing tips that feature verb tenses, aspects, and conditional sentences. Topics explored include the use of various tenses to orient readers about the time when the action happened, the differences between simple, continuous, and perfect aspects of a verb, and the use of conditional statements to describe possibilities or imaginary actions.

This article is concerned with some features of the tempo-aspectual system of Shumcho, a small West Himalayish (Tibeto-Burman) language spoken in a few villages in the district Kinnaur (State of Himachal Pradesh) in the Indian Himalayas, and provides a descriptive account of the language's strategies to express progressive or habitual action and the effects of the respective markers with various types of predicates. I also consider the semantic (evidential) properties of the copulas and their interaction with the aspect/tense system, and offer some thoughts on the historical development of imperfective and perfective constructions as met in the present-day language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The impact of second language (L2) on first language (L1), known as L2 transfer, has been suggested as a fundamental driving force of L1 attrition. The goal of this study was to test the differential attrition of verb aspect and tense in L1 (Russian) under the influence of L2 (German) grammatical properties. We also investigated whether the age of bilingualism onset and the amount of exposure to L1 modulate this L2 transfer effect. Methodology: We tested sentence processing in 30 adult Russian monolingual participants and 30 L1 attritors - Russian-German bilingual speakers - with early versus late bilingualism onset and with low versus high amounts of exposure to L1. Participants heard grammatically correct sentences, sentences with aspect violations and sentences with tense violations, and were asked to detect errors. Data and Analysis: The accuracy of participants' responses was analysed using generalized linear mixed-effects modelling in R. Findings: The L2 transfer effect was found, but was strongly modulated by the amount of L1 exposure: only bilinguals with little exposure to L1 showed greater attrition of L1 aspect compared to L1 tense. Moreover, the age of bilingualism onset proved to be more critical than the L2 transfer effect: an earlier bilingualism onset resulted in greater attrition of both aspect and tense in L1. Originality: The study provided new evidence about the differential impact of the grammatical similarity between L1 and L2, the age of bilingualism onset and the amount of L1 exposure on aspect and tense processing in L1 attritors. Implications: Our findings suggest that greater L1 use after immigration helps bilingual speakers to be less susceptible to L2 transfer and prevents attrition of L1-specific grammatical categories. Also, a general decline in processing verbal morphology is more likely to occur in speakers with an early rather than a late onset of bilingualism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the existence of translation universals by investigating the use of aspect in modal contexts in translated and non-translated legal Polish and by analysing the observed differences with reference to insights from cognitive linguistics. Corpus analysis highlights significant distributional differences in the use of the two aspectual forms of Polish verbs (imperfective and perfective) in modal contexts. I argue that cognitive mechanisms called 'chunking' (Langacker 1988; Bybee 2006) and 'entrenchment' (Bybee 2010) underlie these differences. I show that what may at first glance seem as behaviour unique to the translation process, is in fact caused by general cognitive processes. The study has implications for both translation studies and cognitive linguistics: it offers support for the basic assumptions about the usage-based nature of linguistic knowledge and highlights the importance of taking these assumptions into consideration when investigating the translation process and translation universals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kiswahili has been presumed to be an SVO language by many scholars (Polome, 1967; Myachina, 1981; Vitale, 1981; Habwe & Karanja, 2004; Jerono 2012, etc.). However, a closer analysis of the Kiswahili clause tends to discount this widely held view. What are normally referred to as subjects and objects in Kiswahili are not subjects and objects per se but they may have other functions. The real subjects and objects in Kiswahili are the incorporated subjects and incorporated objects. This paper uses clause chaining to argue for the basic word order in Kiswahili as being V(O) and not SVO. Clause chaining is the process of linking together many clauses in which it is only the main (independent) clause that is inflected for tense, aspect and mood (TAM) while all the other (i.e. dependent) clauses lack these inflections. The dependent clauses cannot stand on their own but the main (independent) clauses can. The dependent clauses rely on the independent clauses for their tense or aspect and mood markers and hence the term used to refer to them, i.e. dependent clauses. The main clause, which controls the dependent clauses is normally referred to as the controlling clause. Clause chaining, a feature which is traditionally associated with SOV languages, is also found in Kiswahili clauses, a language usually referred to as an SVO language. In this paper, clause chaining, a pragmatic principle, is used to argue for pragmatic word order in Kiswahili as well as to illustrate that Kiswahili is not an SVO language but rather it is a V(O) language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chapter 8 of the book “Grounding in Chinese Written Narrative Discourse" by Wendan Li is presented. It examines the issue of coercion here mainly concerns action verbs followed by the perfective marker -le, although the analysis can apply to other situations. It explores different interpretations of V-le and propose an account along the lines of recent developments in aspectual coercion.

In this paper, the interplay of modal markers with the lexical aspect of the verb in Han period Chinese is at issue. Abraham and Leiss (Modality-aspect interfaces: Implications and typological solutions, 2008) propose a strong and possibly universal relation between the verbal aspect and either the root/deontic or the epistemic reading of a modal verb based on data from the Germanic languages. In this article, this hypothesis will be checked against the data of Late Archaic and Early Middle (Han period) Chinese. It will be proposed that a relation similar to that in the Germanic languages can also be established for Chinese at least for the root modal values, despite the obvious differences between the aspectual and modal system of Chinese and that of the Germanic languages. As in the Germanic languages, root modal verbs in general select verbs/predicates which are compatible with the perfective aspect, i.e. [+TELIC] verbs. Due to the fact that epistemic readings have not developed yet for modal auxiliary verbs, the constraints proposed in Abraham and Leiss for the epistemic reading of modal verbs in combination with imperfective or [−TELIC] verbs cannot be confirmed for LAC and EMC. Epistemic modality is expressed by sentential adverbs which take an entire proposition as their complement. These are less confined in their selectional restrictions than modal auxiliary verbs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under a generative framework, this paper investigates the properties of the AVonly restriction on complementation and how it comes about across many Formosan languages. It is found that the AV-only complements occur as a nonfinite defective vP without any formal feature and that they are tenselss and subjectless--temporal markers must attach to the matrix verb; the embedded object, if any, is required to move to the matrix subject position to get case. The AV-only restriction is attested not only in restructuring constructions but also in non-restructuring ones. In both types, the matrix verbs are highly restricted: in the first type, the matrix verb is restricted to a restructuring verb and in the second type, the matrix verb is limited to a verb that projects an external argument. In restructuring contexts, the matrix external argument, if there is one, is inert and creates no intervention effects for the shifted embedded object; in non-restructuring contexts, the matrix external argument blocks the raising of the embedded object, thereby preventing the embedded verb from occurring in the non-AV transitive form. The AV-only restriction is due to multiple factors, most important of which is a locality condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of pluractionality is less common in Bantu languages than in other language families, such as Chadic (Afro-Asiatic) and various Nilo-Saharan languages. Yet many Bantu languages reveal patterns of habituals, combinations of verbal extensions and reduplication patterns that can function in pluractional-like ways in order to mark 'plurality or multiplicity of the verb's action' (Nurse 2008, Tense and aspect in Bantu. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 314). Bunia Swahili, an un(der)documented variety of Swahili spoken in Eastern DR Congo, has undergone contact-induced change that can be traced back to Central Sudanic languages, and has developed fluid registers of socially motivated realization. It contains different habitual markers expressing deviating semantic concepts, while habitual markers can also be combined in order to express evidentiality. Reduplication patterns as markers for pluractionality and their co-occurrence with habituals as gradual semantic continua are both taken into account in this preliminary overview. It is therefore proposed that 'semantic aspect' plays a predominant role in pluractional constructions in Bunia Swahili. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Language: Meaning & Form / Valoda: Nozime un Forma is the property of University of Latvia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Opportunistic perception verbs ('see', 'hear', as opposed to explorative perception verbs, 'look', 'listen') express the opportunity for perception and are condition- oriented (exposure, i.e. the perceiver's exposure to a percept), not participant- oriented, in their aspectual structure. The Baltic languages, as other languages in Central, East, and Northern Europe, have specific perception verbs, which are a subtype of opportunistic perception verbs, for the expression of restricted exposure. The lexical character of specificity in Baltic--unlike Russian where it is integrated into a rigid grammatical aspect system--is more favorable for uncovering the underlying semantic factors of specificity, which differ across perceptual systems. Restrictedness of exposure is a scale rather than a dichotomy, and cross-linguistic comparison in parallel texts reveals that specificity is a scale with much variation as to where the borderline between specific and non-specific perception verbs is drawn in the languages of the area. Obscured perception verbs, which emphasize difficulty in discrimination, are another set of condition-oriented perception verbs in Baltic and Russian and are closely related to specific verbs synchronically and diachronically. This paper describes non-specific, specific, and obscured perception verbs in the Baltic languages and attempts to capture their variability within six dimensions (morphology, area, diachrony, specificity, modality, obscured verbs). A pre-condition for this endeavor is a critique of earlier approaches to the semantics of perception verbs. Nine major biases are identified (nominalism, physiology, discrete features, vision, paradigmatic modelling, aspectual event types, dual nature models, participant orientation, and viewing activity as control). In developing an alternative, the approach greatly profits from Gibson's ecological psychology and Rock's theory of indirect perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Jezikoslovlje is the property of University of Osijek, Faculty of Philosophy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Antipassive constructions are commonly associated with languages with a predominantly ergative alignment. In this article, we show that antipassive constructions can also occur in predominantly accusative languages such as Cilubà, a Bantu language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is expressed by the verbal suffix -angan-, deriving an intransitive clause from a transitive one by omitting the object noun phrase. This suffix functions canonically as a reciprocal marker and is also used to express sociativity/reciprocity and iterativity. An analysis of the suffix' polysemy is provided on three levels: We argue that (i) plurality of relations is the underlying concept that semantically accounts for its different meanings, (ii) that its use in an antipassive clause is syntactically derived from its use as a canonical reciprocal marker by the demotion and omission of the second participant, and (iii) that the suffix is diachronically bimorphemic and originally consisted of two suffixes that still exist in Cilubà today, with the sum of its individual meanings not straightforwardly reflecting the synchronic polysemy of -angan-. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medieval Greek had three future periphrases making use of a finite verb and an infinitive: μέλλω + INF, ἔχω + INF, θέλω + INF + Given the parallel nature of the periphrases as well as the fact that the infinitive existed in both a perfective and an imperfective version, it might be expected that these future-referring forms developed aspectual distinctions in similar ways. However based on papyrological evidence from AD I and AD VI this article shows that this was not the case. Rather, each future periphrasis seems to follow its own path towards the aspectual distinction which is a hallmark of the Modern Greek verbal system:μέλλω+ INF has a much higher ratio of imperfective infinitives than the two other periphrases especially in AD I, ἔχω+ INF starts out using only the perfective infinitive when referring to the future, and θέλω + INF distinguishes for aspect before it gains future meaning. The difference in aspectual usage is explained both by the semantics of the respective auxiliaries and by different oppositional relations (modal and temporal) that the periphrases enter into. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to highlight the aspect marker in Sihai Language. Sihai Language belongs to the Naga groups of the Tibeto-Burman language Family (Grierson, 1904 vol. iii, part iii). It is spoken in the northern side of Ukhrul District, 32 km away from Ukhrul town. The number of speaker of this language is about 1200 (Census of India 2011). The present paper discusses the following aspect markers in Sihai language: simple aspect, progressive aspect, perfective aspect and irrealis or unrealise aspect. These aspects markers are suffixes which are attached to the verb roots. Simple aspect expresses the habitual or universal truth of an event which is indicated by the morphemes -e and -i. These two morphemes have the following allophones -ke, -mi, -pe, -ye, and -ŋi. Progressive aspect expresses an event which is going on and is indicated by the morpheme -lile. Perfective aspect expresses an event which is completed and is indicated by the morpheme -ne. Irrealis or unrealise aspect expresses an event which will be carried out in the near future and is indicated by the suffix -nuroi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The verb láta 'let/make' in Icelandic provides a unique opportunity to understand the behavior of symmetric versus asymmetric dat-nom constructions, as well as the nature of nominative-accusative case alternations. In this paper, we take a close look at láta and examine a set of cases where dat-nom verbs are embedded under láta, resulting in the otherwise nominative object becoming accusative in some cases and remaining nominative in others. We propose that phase extension of an Appl head underlies both the availability of accusative in an embedded dat-nom verb and the possibility of A-moving a nominative object past the dative to the subject position. We further hypothesize that the base-generated position of the verbal root in the syntax underlies the lexical difference between symmetric and asymmetric dat-nom verbs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a grammatical profiling analysis approach to the verb 'byti' in Old Church Slavonic (OCS). Topics include the work of linguist C. H. van Schooneveld, the issue of whether the verb is a single verb or an aspectual verb pair, and the use of correspondence analysis to understand the verb.

The Finisterre-Huon Papuan language Nungon, like related languages, shows fusion of tense marking with number marking. Nungon is remarkable among Finisterre-Huon languages for an aspectual distinction conflated with evidentiality, and for the development of a formally marked realis Remote Future tense inflection with a formally unmarked irrealis counterpart. This paper presents the entire Nungon verbal inflectional system, including tense, aspect, status, subject and object indexing, referent tracking, and evidentiality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tense is traditionally assumed to express temporal relations between the time of the event and the moment of speech, whereas aspect expresses various views on one and the same event. In Klein (), it was argued that the intuitions which underlie this viewing metaphor can be made precise by a time-relational analysis as well. In his article 'Aspect vs. relative tense: the case reopened', Jürgen Bohnemeyer challenges one important point of this analysis, the equation of aspect and relative tense in the English perfect and in temporal forms of few other languages. In the present comment, it is argued that this is indeed a simplification, which does not speak, however, against a time-relational analysis of aspect in general. The main lines of such an analysis for the English perfect are sketched. It is shown that it naturally accounts for differences between the simple past and the present perfect, as well as for the oddity of constructions such as Einstein has visited Princeton or Ira has left yesterday at five. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The perfect tense-form verb ἀναβέβηκεν in John 3.13 is usually interpreted in light of traditional verb theory, as a ‘past action with present results’. This interpretation introduces an apparent problematic chronology in that the Son of Man ascends before descending; however, recent developments in Greek grammar, particularly verbal aspect theory, provide a viable solution to this grammatical ‘problem’ and indicate that the Son of Man's descent precedes his ascent. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper aims to analyse irregular verbs in Maltese and compares the examples to their counterparts in four Tunisian dialects, mainly the dialect of Sousse, Tunis, Judeo Tunisian Arabic, Tunisian Arabic as described by Stumme and Moroccan. Maltese as any other Arabic dialect has continued to evolve and grow further away from Classical Arabic; the close affinities Maltese shares with the Tunisian dialects are quite obvious as are the several isoglosses attested which distinguish the Maghrebi dialects as a group. It is for this reason that Maltese here is being compared to four Tunisian dialects, with the examples given from Moroccan to often serve as contrast. This paper is partly based on the questionnaire by Dominique Caubet, 'Questionnaire du Dialectologie du Maghreb', as well as another unpublished paper by the same author entitled: 'Towards a dialectological atlas of Maltese; questions to be raised'(2007), the aims of which was to draw a linguistic atlas of the Maghrebi dialects and Maltese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Novitas-ROYAL is the property of Novitas Royal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In Tahlhiyt Berber certain verbs form their imperfective stem by geminating one consonant. Since Dell and Elmedlaoui 1988, accounts of imperfective gemination have been based on syllable structure. Lahrouchi (2010) proposes an alternative analysis based on a binary-branching head-complement structure that regulates the distribution of consonant types in verbal roots. This paper argues that the syllable-based account is preferable and that it makes the head-complement structures advocated by Lahrouchi redundant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel analysis of aspectual verbs is proposed according to which aspectual verbs are heads of functional projections rather than main verbs taking clausal complements. As a case study, four Japanese aspectual verbs are analyzed: those that express inception ( hajime- 'begin'), continuation ( tsuzuke- 'continue'), and termination ( oe- 'finish', and owar- 'end'). Employing data from previous studies, Japanese aspectual verbs are shown to exhibit the following two characteristic behaviors: (i) they occasionally exhibit mono-clausal properties, and (ii) they impose different selectional restrictions on their verbal complements. These behaviors are characteristic of aspectual verbs cross-linguistically. This paper argues that these behaviors of Japanese aspectual verbs are accounted for if they are analyzed as heads of aspect phrases, the functional heads that encode aspectual information about events. In particular, it is proposed that (a) aspect heads occur in two positions in a clause, where they select for syntactic realizations of different event types, and (b) individual aspectual verbs are distributed differently between these two head positions based on the event types they select. The proposed analysis is shown to account for previously unaccounted for correlations between passivizability of the aspectual verbs and the event types of the verbal complements, as well as interactions between the Japanese aspectual verbs, subject honorification, and the focus particle -dake 'only'. Finally, cross-linguistic data from previous studies on aspectual verbs in German, Italian and other Romance languages, and Basque are discussed and shown to provide further support for the proposed analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal for Languages & Literatures of the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad / Zbornik za Jezike i Knjizevnosti Filozofskog Fakulteta u Novom Sadu is the property of Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study suggests that Intermediate High and Advanced speakers produce aspectually valid constructions in Oral Proficiency Interviews (OPIs) in large part because they are doing more than assigning aspect to lexical categories (Lexical aspect hypothesis), but because they are assigning lexicalized meaning to discrete verbs, for example govorit' (imperfective)-'to talk,' but skazat' (perfective)-'to say.' Analysis of the data from 55 OPIs conducted with second language (L2) Russian speakers ranging from Intermediate High to Superior confirms three hypotheses: (a) the proportion of aspectual utterances that owe their correctness to lexicalization decreases as proficiency increases; (b) aspectual competence as demonstrated by the greater number of aspectually non-lexicalized verbs in the speech of L2 Russian speakers rises with proficiency level; (c) a decrease in the proportion of lexicalized verbs in an examinee's speech correlates positively with an increase in the variety of verbs used. Other findings include a relative paucity of unprefixed verbs of motion in the corpus and a high ratio of lexicalized forms of skazat''to say,' and their distribution did not correlate with proficiency levels in either direction. The high ratio of aspectually lexicalized items in the corpus and the aspectual inaccuracies to which they lead have implications for teaching students who are approaching Intermediate High and Advanced levels of proficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses and critiques the philosophical concept of durée (duration), as developed by French philosopher Henri Bergson, from the perspective of Slavic linguistics. Departing from a comparative grammatical analysis of tenses and aspects of verbs in Slavic languages, the author suggests that Bergson's duration concept ought to be replaced with the notion of process as a better way to allow philosophical linguistics to describe time perception and time perspective. Related ideas suggested by philosopher Paul Bolberitz are also discussed.

Copyright of Res Humanitariae is the property of Res Humanitariae and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article examines the close relationship between the Russian-language prefixes "vy" and "iz." Using radial category profiling, the authors are able to examine the relatively abstract meaning of Church Slavic linguistic elements such as "iz," as opposed to the more concrete meanings of East Slavic elements like "vy." The discussion is further connected to the Russian-language aspectual system with its important differences between perfective and imperfective verbs. The authors are able to conclude that when forming prefixed aspectual partner verbs, the meanings of base verbs and prefixes become connected.

Copyright of Studii de Ştiintă şi Cultură is the property of Studii de Stiinta si Cultura and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article explores whether the aspectual cluster model proposed by Janda (2007, 2008) can reflect the differences in the lexical semantics of Russian verbs denoting sound. A corpus of fifty sound verbs, including both sounds emitted by inanimate objects and those produced by animate beings, are divided into two groups: (i) paired verbs marking linguistic action, and (ii) paired verbs marking directional motion. Aspectual clusters for each verb were determined, and the clusters of various groups of verbs compared. Each of these groups was found to be characterized by a specific subset of aspectual cluster types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The toneless aspect mark -guo is generally viewed as a perfective marker with experiential function. It appears to be subject to a number of semantic constraints, such as discontinuity, repeatability or recurrence, reversibility, and indefinite reference. This article demonstrates that ‘experiential’ is only one of the three main local functions of -guo. Crucial to the determination of the local function of a -guo clause is the boundedness of the verb constellation: ‘experiential’ (atelic situation, typically Activity verbs), ‘deresultative’ (telic situation, typically Accomplishment and Achievement verbs), and ‘ex-habitual’ (stative verbs). We will first elucidate these three local functions and clarify various semantic constraints of -guo before examining a small corpus of 300 -guo sentences to ascertain the distribution of its local functions in authentic texts. Then we will analyze how these functions are manifested in other languages. The evidence suggests that -guo is untypical as a perfective marker; rather, cross-linguistically the lexico-grammatical exponents of the experiential, deresultative, and ex-habitual functions suggest that -guo behaves more like a perfect marker, hence the ‘perfective paradox’. This paper is intended to be a contribution to general and contrastive aspectology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents a classification of Zenzontepec Chatino (ZEN) verbs based on which allomorphs of aspect markers they select. The selection depends on several interrelated factors including verbal semantics, valency, derivational morphology, and phonological factors, but it is partly lexically determined. Until now, aspect marking in Chatino has defied concise description (Rasch 2002 and Pride 2004) because previously documented varieties have undergone considerable phonological and morphological reduction, wiping out some of the earlier systematic patterns. ZEN, on the other hand, is conservative in these respects. In addition to describing the ZEN verb classes in synchronic terms, I demonstrate that they line up well with Kaufman's (1987) proposed verb classes for Zapotec and Proto-Zapotec. With slight modification, Kaufman's system applies to Proto-Zapotecan, the parent language of Zapotec and Chatino. The basic system has remained stable through time, despite elaborations and innovations in the individual languages. This study also documents in Chatino several derivational morphemes and a progressive aspect prefix reconstructed for Proto-Zapotec (Kaufman 1993), showing that they are of Proto-Zapotecan vintage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the literature on evidentiality and epistemic modality, semi-copular verbs have hardly been discussed. One of these unstudied semi-copulas is French se faire (‘become’), a pronominal verb taking a subject complement. It can be considered a product of the conjoined action of lexicalization and grammaticalization of the reflexive construction. Although its basic meaning is aspectual, expressing a change of state (‘become’), it is nowadays developing a non-dynamic meaning, involving no change of state at all. This paper addresses two central questions: [(i)] what is the exact meaning effect of se faire compared to other evidential semi-copulas such as sembler and paraître? [(ii)] how does this usage relate to the other usages of this multilayered verb and how exactly is subjectification taking place? As to (i), it will be shown that, although se faire expresses indirect evidentiality based on inference, it does not express appearance, unlike verbs such as ‘seem’. Rather, it has a factive meaning that comes rather close to what has been called direct evidentiality. As to (ii), it will be argued that, in a first stage, se faire has been increasingly used in contexts that display subjective perspectivation of the change of state. Then, it has lost its dynamic meaning by means of the mechanism of virtual change. On the whole, this evolution attests a new subjectification path leading from aspect (change of state) to evidentiality, which, interestingly, is confirmed by the Spanish cognate verb hacerse (‘become’). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Polish and Portuguese languages use different means of representing the category of aspect. Verbal periphrases are some of the most representative exponents of aspect semantics in Portuguese. In the absence of the estar+a+infinitivo periphrasis in the Polish language, the aim of the study was to find means of expressing the values represented by the above mentioned periphrastic structure available in the Polish language. The authors believe that the objective can be successfully accomplished by analysing translations into Polish of authentic Portuguese statements containing the verbal periphrasis estar+a+infinitivo. The analysis shows that the presented verbal periphrasis has its Polish equivalents mainly in imperfecti-ve verb forms. Moreover, the use of imperfective verb forms and adverbial constructs which do not contribute new aspectual values to the overall value of the statement but merely specify what is contained in the verbal form can be observed in the analysed examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The systematic differences between the resultative constructions in Germanic languages and those in Romance languages have posed numerous problems, many of which still constitute the ground for heated debates among linguists from various theoretical backgrounds. Changing the point of view largely adopted in the literature, centered on the existence/non-existence of AP resultatives in Germanic, respectively Romance languages we argue in this paper that there are AP resultatives in Romanian, but only if they are built on accomplishment-type verbs. English resultative constructions can be built on activity, as well as accomplishment-type verbs; whereas Romanian allows only resultatives built on accomplishment verbs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of SLA began around the beginning of the 70s with the emergence of both theoretical and empirical studies. Undoubtedly, the acquisition of tense/aspect, besides other topics, has attracted much interest from. researchers. This study investigated the use of telic and atelic verb forms in the oral production of Turkish speakers of English (non-native speakers or NNSs) and native speakers of English (NSs). To elicit how the foreground and background of narrative formed; which tense/aspect is preferred in the foreground and background, each participant produced one monologue whose topic was retelling a film. The results showed that the discourse of non-native speakers exhibit target-like qualities not only in terms of usage of verbs according to their inherent semantic aspect of verbs only but also in terms of distribution of verb types in the foreground and background of discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an exploration into the teaching and understanding of various linguistic expressions of point-of-view and time relation tenses in the classical Greek language. The author highlights the distinctions between imperfect, perfect, and aorist verb form tenses. Issues of voice and aspect are discussed along with their interrelation to each other. Several teaching methods are examined relating to common forms and expressions used in the English and Spanish languages, both common reference points for classical language students.

Abstract: Theoretical approaches to unaccusativity have placed an emphasis on their derivation from underlyingly transitive predicates, which is assumed to involve argument reduction, possibly triggered by pre-syntactic affixation of some abstract morpheme. This paper presents some data from an aphasic subject who demonstrates a robust effect of grammatical class; he is unable to read any function words, and makes characteristic ‘within-category’ substitution errors. These errors extend to the class of unaccusative verbs, and this leads to a consideration of the potentially functional nature of the morphological trigger for unaccusativity. Existing accounts of unaccusative deficits in aphasia, and of the likely morphosyntactic representation of unaccusative verbs are discussed. The aphasic deficit, as we understand it, seems to provide evidence in support of the functional determination of unaccusativity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study is situated within a growing strand of research on second language acquisition and emotion (Dewaele and Pavlenko 2002). It investigates the perception of emotional intensity associated with verb semantics, tense and aspect forms in the English of 20 native speakers and 33 second language users through a written questionnaire containing 36 utterances. Utterances included simple and complex verb forms with different aspectuo-temporal markers. Statistical analyses revealed significant differences in perceived emotional intensity between native speakers and L2 users. It is argued that while learners may comprehend the aspectuo-temporal values of tense-aspect markers, they have yet to learn the elusive "non-temporal" values of these markers (i.e. semantic-pragmatic functions) in specific contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The articles focuses on the frequent use of stative verbs in progressive forms. Even though the students who learn English as second language (ESL) find it difficult to adjust the usage with what is found in grammar books, the use of stative verbs in progressive forms is acceptable. There are discourse contexts which necessitate the use of stative verbs like resemble, feel, and many others, in progressive forms. The problem for the ESL teachers and learners arises from the perception about the usage of English progressive. The author offers a principled explanation of the usage of progressive form of verbs in discourse. The generalization about the progressive is that progressive form focuses on a change or changes of state. So, when the speaker wishes to focus on a change of state, he uses progressive forms of verbs whether or not the verb is grammatically stative. It is the demands of discourse which justifies the use of stative verbs in progressive forms.

The article presents information on the definition of the sentence and the verb. Various definitions offer the sentence as an expression of complete thought. A complete sentence should have one subject with its predicate verb and it should be grammatically correct. The article states that every sentence should have three parts including subject, predicate and copula. The article offers definitions of the subject of the sentence, the predicate and the copula and all definitions show expression of thought. The logical aspect of the term predicate has been offered in the article. According to professor William Fowler, every grammatical sentence must imply a corresponding logical preposition. The verb and the preposition are words of relation and related to each other. The article suggests that the comprehensive course in grammar should be pure and simple.

This article tends to be the first attempt to use questionnaire method in examining the meanings of Finnish verbal colorative construction, describing laughter, which consists of two verbs: a neutral infinitive verb nauraa (to laugh) and an colorative (onomatopoeic or descriptive) finite verb, e.g. rakattaa (to cackle), which describes or colorizes the denotative meaning. The questionnaire test is based on the cognitive etnolinguistic idea of the linguistic worldview and the assumption, that large and sufficiently heterogeneous population of native speakers individually and collectively knows what is "correct" in their language. In addition, this collective and implicit knowledge was assumed to be measurable to disclose even subtle differences in the various semantic dimensions of given words. The present article aims at the following research questions on verbal colorative construction using questionnaire: Is it possible to get from the informants information pertaining the meanings of colorative verbs and the verbal colorative constructions requesting a test method? What are the meanings of colorative verbs in the verbal colorative constructions? A total of 100 native subjects between the ages of 16 and 66 in Finland participated in the questionnaires. 11 questions were used for the test. All of the tests were made with pen-and-paper in controlled classroom situation. A consistent finding was that questionnaire test discloses very relevant lexical information that could not be gained in other ways, including meaning components of Finnish colorative verbs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]