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Impairment in past tense production as well as interaction between tense and aspect have been found in both fluent and non-fluent aphasia (e.g. Dragoy & Bastiaanse, 2013). Inflection has been found to be relatively preserved in semantic dementia (SD) (Thompson et al., 2012). The aims of the present study are a) to compare the morphosyntactic abilities of patients with aphasia and SD in tense and aspect marking and b) to explore the interaction of lexical (+/- telic) and grammatical (perfective/imperfective) aspect in aphasia and SD. A sentence completion task was administered to 30 native speakers of Greek: 10 patients with aphasia (6 anomic, 2 Wernicke and 2 agrammatic), 10 age and education-matched controls, 5 patients with SD and 5 controls. The material consisted of unergative, unaccusative and transitive verbs (12 of each verb class) and the participants had to apply present (imperfective) and past (perfective) tense. Unergative and unaccusative verbs differ in terms of their aspectual properties with the unergative being [-telic], and unaccusative [+telic]. Transitive verbs vary. A principal distinction between the tested conditions was the standard ummarked combination ([+telic] verbs in past perfective and [–telic] verbs in present imperfective) vs. the marked one ([+telic] verbs in present imperfective and [–telic] in past perfective). Both control groups performed at ceiling in all conditions. Aphasic participants were significantly more impaired than the control group in all conditions. SD participants were significantly more impaired than the controls only in the production of present tense (M-W U= 1.5, p= 0.024). There was no difference between past perfective and present imperfective for neither group, but there was an interaction between verb class and tense for the aphasic participants, as performance in unaccusative verbs in past perfective (unmarked condition) was significantly better than in unergatives in past perfective (marked condition) (Z=2.512, p=0.012) but performance in unaccusatives in present imperfective (marked condition) was significantly worse than performance in unergatives in present imperfective (unmarked condition) (Z=2.680, p=0.004). In sum, aphasic participants performed significantly better in the unmarked than in the marked conditions. Such an interaction was not found for the SD group. Aphasic participants performed significantly worse than the SD subjects in past perfective tense (M-W U= 7.5, p=0.029) in total, and the difference was significant only for unaccusative verbs (M-W U= 6.5, p=0.021), although both groups performed very well in this condition. There was no difference in present, neither for each verb class separately nor for the total score. A general past tense deficit cannot be upheld for either group. Rather, SD participants appear relatively impaired in producing present tense. We argue for slight morphosyntactic impairment in SD, although with a different underlying cause than in aphasia. Moreover, our data suggest an effect of aspectual markedness in aphasia but not in SD. We discuss this finding in the light of the different neuropathology of the two populations.

the periphrasis is widely used by Spanish speakers to express both deonticity and inferential evidentiality, despite the normative prescription of distinguishing these two senses by adding the preposition de after deber in probability statements. This work delves into the possibility that both meanings are already codified in the construction by the presence or absence of certain aspectual features of the predicates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Synergies Pays Scandinaves is the property of GERFLINT (Groupe d'Etudes et de Recherches pour le Francais Langue Internationale) 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 paper presents a semantic analysis of the perfect aspect in Niuean (Polynesian). We argue based on novel data that the Niuean perfect shares many properties with the English perfect, but also several striking differences. The Niuean perfect disallows universal perfect readings, can induce inchoative readings, and with some event-types allows present in-progress readings. We analyze the Niuean perfect as introducing inchoative semantics: it adds an initial change-of-state to the predicate to which it attaches, and places that change-of-state inside the Perfect Time Span. Our findings cast doubt on a model of grammar whereby lexical aspectual operations such as inchoativization are strictly separated from viewpoint aspectual operations such as the perfect. We argue for a flexible approach whereby different components of meaning (inchoativity, a Perfect Time Span restriction, current relevance effects) can be introduced at different levels and combined in different ways by languages to produce surface cross-linguistic variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a cross-linguistic study on the time course of aspectual interpretation in an aspect language (Russian) and a non-aspect language (German). In Russian, mereological semantics led us to expect incremental mismatch detection independently of the presence or absence of the verbal arguments. In German, however, mismatch effects should be delayed until the processor has encountered the complete predication. These predictions were tested in two eyetracking during reading experiments. We investigated the processing of achievement verbs modified by aspectually mismatching adverbials in Russian (Exp. 1) and German (Exp. 2) and manipulated the word order in such a way that the mismatch occurred before or after the predication was complete. The data show that Russian readers immediately noticed the mismatch independently of whether the verb preceded or followed its arguments, whereas German readers showed mismatch effects only after a complete predication. We take this as evidence for cross-linguistically different increment sizes in event interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on an experimental study addressing the second language acquisition of Mandarin temporality. Mandarin Chinese does not mark past, present, or future with dedicated morphemes; the native English of the learners does. It was hypothesized that, in their comprehension, learners would utilize the deictic pattern of expressing temporality, which postulates that bounded events tend to be interpreted as past and unbounded events as present. Twenty-eight bilingual native speakers, 25 intermediate learners, and 23 advanced learners of Mandarin with English as their native language took 3 different interpretation tests. Learners' temporal interpretation choices were highly accurate even at intermediate levels of proficiency, suggesting that obeying the deictic pattern in second language comprehension is not hard. Pedagogical implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Morphosyntax has been well researched in specific language impairment (SLI) and there is general agreement that children with SLI have particular difficulties with tense-marking. Less well researched is the role that aspect plays in the difficulties found in tense-marking, especially as tense and aspect are often confounded in English. Initial investigation of the understanding of aspect in preschool children with SLI suggests that they are less sensitive to aspect and its interaction with tense than typically developing (TD) children. It is unclear, however, what is the developmental trajectory of their understanding of aspect and its interaction with tense and whether these difficulties are still found in older children and adolescents with SLI. Aims To investigate comprehension of the grammatical aspect contrast between completed events using the simple past tense -ed/irregular (perfective grammatical aspect) and ongoing events using the past progressive (imperfective grammatical aspect). The role of lexical aspect was also investigated through the balanced use of verbs that were inherently telic (i.e. have a natural end-point) and verbs that required the addition of prepositional phrase for a telic interpretation when used in the perfective aspect condition. Methods & Procedures A sentence-picture matching task was administered to 10 participants with SLI (aged 12;10-16;8 years) and 30 language ability matched TD children who were split into three groups (mean ages: 5;10, 7;4 and 9;2). Outcomes & Results Adult-like performance was found by all groups on the perfective aspect condition, but only by the oldest group of TD children on the imperfective aspect condition. The performance of the group with SLI was consistent with their much younger language ability matched TD children in their understanding of the progressive -ing when used to describe ongoing events that have taken place in the past. The lexical aspect of the telicity of the verbs was not found to have any significant effect on performance. Conclusions & Implications Although further investigation of the understanding of aspect (both comprehension and production) is needed, the results have implications for therapy. The past progressive -ing construction is important, particularly for providing context and background information in narratives, but it is not explicitly taught in schools. Therefore, some focus on the temporal nature of tense-marking in therapy may be beneficial to individuals with SLI in understanding the temporal nature of events and how aspect interacts with tense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to discuss the functioning of the comparison clitic -džyk in forming the verbal augmentative or intensifying grade and its relation to the inherent properties of the event it modifies in literary Komi. The analysis of an assessment questionnaire proved telicity to be the most prominent factor in determining the gradability of an event. Two semantic types of gradation appeared -- degree gradation and extent gradation. In the case of degree gradation ('faster', 'better', 'stronger'), telicity determines the openness of the event's scale. In the case of extent gradation ('more' or temporal duration), atelic events appear with either a cardinality reading or a temporal duration reading, while telic events appear with a cardinality reading only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The general framework of this study is that of lexigenesis, a concept devised by G. Guillaume to describe the genesis of words. Lexigenesis, also referred to as ontogenesis, is based on a movement which first particularizes (ideogenesis) and then generalizes (morphogenesis). This paper aims at demonstrating how the lexical aspect and the grammatical aspect can be respectively and successively derived from ideogenesis and morphogenesis.

Connectionist models have had a profound impact on theories of language. While most early models were inspired by the classic PDP architecture, recent models of language have explored various other types of models, including self-organizing models for language acquisition. In this paper we aim at providing a review of the latter type of models, and highlight a number of simulation experiments that we have conducted based on these models. We show that self-organizing connectionist models can provide significant insights into long-standing debates in both monolingual and bilingual language development.

The article discusses aspect as a morphological, lexical and syntactic phenomenon, which in turn testifies to its specific nature tied to the particularity of each individual system of language. In the article we discuss aspect in Slovenian.

This article examines the form-meaning correspondences that can be found in Spanish onomatopoeias. It is argued that onomatopoeias can refer to events, and as such, they carry aspectual meaning. In them it is possible to identify a classification in three parts, depending on whether the onomatopoeia has obligatory reduplication or vowel alternation. The reduplication represents the complexity of the internal event, as a bipartite transition or an extended activity; the vowel alternation denotes an internal change of state; it is argued that these two ways of marking iconically represent each one of these two components of aspectual structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the semantic contribution of aspectual verbs in Brazilian Portuguese (BrP), more specifically,começar 'begin', passar, lit. 'pass', parar 'stop', deixar 'quit' and terminar 'finish'. It argues that verbs such as começarand parar both select and compose predicates with stages, whereas others such as passar and deixar compose predicates without stages, although it can also select predicates with stages. Such differences bring some predictions about the environments in which we found these aspectual verbs. Moreover, the present research proposes thatcomeçar composes a predicate which denotes the onset (first stage) of an eventuality. Terminar composes a predicate which denotes the last stage of an eventuality with stages, which explain why it selects accomplishment predicates only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Borealis: An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics is the property of Nordic Council for Reindeer Husbandry Research 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 this paper we offer a study on the interpretation of plural definites in discourse ('the tank engines') and their interaction with spatial adpositions ('to' and 'at'). The novel empirical findings in the paper support the following assumptions on the contribution of spatial adpositions to the interpretation of plural definites. First, the interpretation of plural definites can be influenced by the lexical aspect type of adpositions. While 'to' as 'telic' predicate can license both a 'collective' and a 'distributive' reading for plural definites, 'at' as an 'atelic' predicate only licenses a 'collective' reading. Second, the precise lexical content of adpositions determines which interpretation is accessed. It is claimed that 'at' denotes a 'general location' relation between locatum and landmark object, and thus licenses a collective reading for plural definites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an extensive body of research concerning the second language (L2) acquisition of tense-aspect morphology in relation to an inherent aspectual property of verb predicates (Andersen and Shirai 1994, 1996; Shirai 2009). Specifically, it has been well documented that in an emergent use of tense-aspect morphology, L2 learners tend to use each tense-aspect form according to the inherent semantic aspectual property of verbs (Andersen and Shirai 1994, 1996). Although this phenomenon has been extensively attested in studies examining L2 learners' use of the simple past tense form, the progressive marker, and the present tense form (Andersen and Shirai 1994, 1996; Shirai 2004, 2009), relatively few studies have investigated the use of the English present perfect form in relation to the inherent semantic aspectual property of verbs. This is unfortunate in view of the unique aspectual characteristic the form exhibits (Leech 1970; McCord 1978; Smith 1991). In order to address this issue, the present study examines the L2 use of the present perfect form in relation to the inherent semantic aspectual property of verbs. A cloze test was administered to 29 Japanese learners of English. The results showed that learners associated the present perfect form with particular semantic aspectual properties of verbs, suggesting that L2 use of the present perfect form is constrained by such aspects. This study proposes multiple factors to account for this finding: perceptual saliency (Slobin 1985), cognitive processing principles, (Andersen 1993; Bybee 1985) and learners' prototype formation in the early use of tense-aspect morphology (Shirai and Andersen 1995). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

L'objectif de cette étude est d'examiner le rôle de l'aspect lexical et de la fréquence des formes dans l'input dans la production orale des formes du passé par des enfants suédois (âgés de 4 à 9 ans) apprenants du français langue seconde (L2) en immersion. Le rôle de la fréquence dans l'input est souvent négligé dans les études sur l'influence de l'aspect lexical tout comme les caractéristiques spécifiques des verbes le sont dans les études consacrées à l'influence de la fréquence des formes. L'analyse de 21 verbes dans l'input puis dans la production des cinq enfants durant les deux premières années d'exposition au français montre un recoupement entre les deux facteurs. Bien que les enfants produisent la plupart des verbes selon leur aspect lexical, les fréquences type et d'occurrence dans l'input permettent d'expliquer à la fois le marquage correct du passé ainsi que la variation que l'on trouve dans les groupes de verbes étudiés. Les résultats confirment ainsi les prédictions d'une approche basée sur l'usage selon laquelle les apprenants construisent leur grammaire à partir de leur expérience de l'input. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is devoted to an analysis of near-native speakers’ productions. We presuppose that not only the First Language (L1) influences the productions in the Second Language (L2), but the L2 can also affect the productions in the L1. The oral discourse in French by Russian/French near-native speakers is influenced by the L1 in the area of back-ground composition, and linguistic choices. The productions in the L1, differ from that of Russian monolinguals in the area of event representation and in the organisation of elements in the utterance. The cases of linguistic trasfer are visible in the both languages.

The article discusses some of the meanings of perceptual verbs vidjeti (to see) and gledati (to watch) in Croatian language and their aspectual characteristics. The verb vidjeti in its meanings of physical perception works as prototypical perfective and as a prototypical and non-prototypical imperfective verb in a sentence. The verb gledati in its meaning of physical perception works in the sentence as a imperfective verb, while its aspectual counterpart pogledati works as a prototypical and as non-prototypical perfective verb, depending on the meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Temporal information constrains the availability of discourse concepts. [•] Imperfective aspect enhanced availability of discourse concepts. [•] Imperfective availability advantage was only found for accomplishments. [•] Imperfective advantage for accomplishments was only found after short time shifts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Standard models of aspectual classes focus on event decompositional or featural distinctions. However, such classifications often over- or under-generate, and do not necessarily capture the temporal properties aspectual classifications are based on. I develop a predictive model of aspectual classes based on theories of scalar change, taking two independently motivated properties of scales as key: (a) how specific the predicate is about the theme's final state on the scale and (b) the scale's mereological complexity. The resultant classification accommodates the standard Vendler dynamic classes, plus additional classes that have proved difficult for prior approaches, and makes novel predictions about the relation of aspectual class and argument realization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study addresses a learnability problem in the acquisition of English progressive aspect by Korean learners of English. As Korean and English differ in the way that the lexical aspect of verbs interacts with progressive morphology, we predicted that Korean learners of English would be affected by their L1 aspectual system, accepting non-targetlike combinations of lexical aspect and aspectual morphology. Sixty Korean university students were presented with sentences containing different aspectual classes of verbs in two conditions- the progressive and the simple present-and were asked to judge the naturalness of the sentences. The results showed that the majority of the learners erroneously accepted progressive sentences containing stative verbs. It also showed that the learners accepted simple present constructions containing eventitive verbs for an ongoing interpretation, indicating the pervasiveness of L1 transfer. The findings strongly suggest that Korean EFL learners have difficulty ruling out erroneous form-meaning associations based on their L1 progressive morphology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research findings concerning verb-level influences on past-tense morphology carry implications for the careful selection of treatment targets. Using 6 of the broad criteria for "good verbs to choose" proposed by D. Crystal (1985) more than 25 years ago as a framework, this article summarizes some of the more recent research with a nod toward potential clinical applications. Specific semantic, frequency, developmental, phonological, and syntactic considerations for verb selection are discussed. Information is provided with respect to typical language learners and, when possible, children with language impairment. The article concludes with thoughts on using research findings to inform a guided approach to the selection of past-tense intervention targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Nebrija de Lingüística Aplicada a la Enseñanza de Lenguas is the property of Revista Nebrija de Linguistica Aplicada a la Ensenanza de Lenguas 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 paper proposes an analysis of an aspectual construction in Jaminjung, a non-Pama-Nyungan Australian language of the Mirndi family. At first sight, this looks like construction conveying grammatical aspect, specifically progressive, since it bears both formal and functional resemblances to typical progressive constructions. At closer investigation, however, the two morphemes crucially involved in the construction, a grammatical morpheme = mayan and a ‘semantically light’ inflecting verb, in their combination can be shown to convey lexical rather than grammatical aspect:=mayan, which occurs in a wider range of contexts, can be analysed as a marker of iterativity, and the inflecting verbs -yu ‘be’ and -ijga ‘go’ signal atelicity of different flavours, and are selected as classificatory verbs in analogy to other closed-class verbs in complex predicates in Jaminjung. The findings support a distinction made in the literature between event-internal and event-external pluractionality. Of all pluractionals, only event-internal iterative expressions (which include not only complex predicates but also iterated direct speech) are overtly marked as atelic in Jaminjung, and only those exhibit the functional overlap with a progressive. The study of this construction thus provides an insight into the pathway of grammaticalization between lexical and grammatical aspect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presented here is an analysis of the effect of the Koine Greek preverb eis- on the lexical aspect of the Koine verb erchomai 'go/come'. To determine the effect of eis-, I demonstrate the lexical aspect of the simplex erchomai and its prefixed form eis-erchomai by annotating all instances of both verbs in the Greek New Testament. Methodology for determining the lexical aspect of the two verbs is adapted from methodology used for languages in which native speaker intuitions are accessible. Applying some of these tests to the corpora, I conclude that erchomai is an activity verb and eiserchomai is a telic verb. This result confirms Buist Fanning's (1990) classification of the same verbs, though he used different methodology to come to this conclusion. Additional ways of developing aktionsart tests for corpora are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Haznedar (2007) argues that longitudinal data from a child learner of English who has Turkish as a first language (L1) constitute a counterexample to the Aspect Hypothesis. In this commentary, we show that her argument is not warranted because the Aspect Hypothesis does not presuppose that tense is defective, contra her claim. However, Haznedar’s finding that many achievement verbs in past tense context are left uninflected suggests that refinement of the Aspect Hypothesis may be needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]