Lexical Aspect Classification for Unrelated Languages: A Case Study on Slovenian and Chinese Lexical Aspect

Tina Čok

doi:10.4312/ala.10.2.49-64

Authors

Tina Čok Science and Research Centre Koper https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8925-9419

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4312/ala.10.2.49-64

Keywords:

verbal aspect, lexical aspect classification, verb types, unrelated languages, Standard Chinese

Abstract

The present paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the verbal aspect in general and with special emphasis on the comparison of Chinese and Slovenian lexical aspect. Recognised discrepancies between the conceptualisation and verbalisation of actions in unrelated languages indicate that deeper cognitive differences affect our perception of reality, which is something that should be more widely recognized when learning and teaching foreign languages. The contribution of this article is a comparative analysis of available studies by authoritative linguists, based on which we have formulated a new and more comprehensive proposal that will help classify verb types in unrelated languages, and can be further exploited in the field of applied linguistic research.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Chu, C. C. (1976). Some semantic aspects of action verbs. Lingua, 40, 43–54. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0024-3841(76)90031-0

Comrie, B. (1976). Aspect. An introduction to the Study of Verbal Aspect and Related Poblems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://user.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/~filip/Comrie.Aspect.pdf

Čok, T. (2019). Konceptualozacija in upovedovanje glagolskega dejanja v slovenščini, kitajščini in italijanščini. Doktorska disertacija. Koper: Pedagoška fakulteta, Univerza na Primorskem.

Koenig, J.-P., & Chief, L.-C. (2008). Scalarity and state-changes in Mandarin (and other languages). Empirical Issues in Syntax and Semantics, 7, 241–262. http://www.cssp.cnrs.fr/eiss7/koenig-chief-eiss7.pdf

Krifka, M. (1989). Nominal reference, temporal constitution, and quantification in event semantics. In R. Bartsch, J. v. Benthem, & P. v. Boas (Eds.), Semantics and Contextual Expressions (pp. 75–115). Dordrecht: Foris. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110877335-005

Miklič, T. (2007). Metafore o načinih gledanja na zunajjezikovna dejanja v obravnavanju glagolskega vida. Slavistična revija: časopis za jezikoslovje in literarne vede, 35(1/2), 85–103. https://srl.si/ojs/srl/article/view/COBISS_ID-34762850

Orešnik, J. (1994). Slovenski glagolski vid in univerzalna slovnica. Ljubljana: Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti.

Peck, J., Lin, J., & Sun, C. (2013). Aspectual Classification of Mandarin Chinese Verbs: A Perspective of Scale Structure. Language and Linguistics, 14(4), 663–700. http://www.ling.sinica.edu.tw/files/publication/j2013_4_02_9567.pdf

Petrovčič, M. (2009). Operator Le in Chinese. Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag.

Smith, C. S. (1991). The Parameter of Aspect. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7911-7

Smith, C. S. (1997). The Parameter of Aspect (Second Edition) . Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5606-6

Sybesma, R. (1997). Why Chinese verb -le is a resultative predicate. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 6, 215–62. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/20100721.pdf DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008238319773

Tai, J. H.-Y. (1984). Verbs and Times in Chinese: Vendler’s Four Categories. Papers from the Parasession on Lexical Semantics, (str. 289–296).

Thepkanjana, K., & Uehara, S. (2009). Resultative constructions with ‘‘implied-result’’ and ‘‘entailed-result’’ verbs in Thai and English: a contrastive study. Linguistics, 47(3), 589–618. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/LING.2009.020

Thepkanjana, K., & Uehara, S. (2010). Syntactic and Semantic Discrepancies among the Verbs for ‘kill’ in English, Chinese and Thai. PACLIC 24 Proceedings, (str. 291–300). https://www.aclweb.org/anthology/Y10- 1033.

Vendler, Z. (1967). Linguistics in Philosophy. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7591/9781501743726

Xiao, R., & McEnery, T. (2004). Aspect in Mandarine Chinese. A Corpus-Based Study. Amsterdam; Philadephia: John Benjamin Publishing Company. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.73

Zhao, Y. (2005). Causativity in Chinese and Its Representations In English, Japanese and Korean Speakers’ L2 Chinese Grammars. Doctoral dissertation. Cambridge: Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Cambridge.

Žele, A. (2011). Leksemski in skladenjski vpliv na vidskost (na primeru slovenščine). Opera slavica, XXI, 4, 22–35. https://digilib.phil.muni.cz/bitstream/handle/11222.digilib/117455/2_OperaSlavica_21-2011-4_4.pdf?sequence=1.