Hearer’s real-time aspect recognition in English as a compositional-aspect language vis-à-vis aspect recognition in verbal-aspect languages
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18485/bells.2023.15.1Keywords:
real-time recognition of aspect, compositional and verbal aspect, compositional-aspect languages and verbal-aspect languages, temporal values of situation-participant NPs, biaspectualityAbstract
This paper deals with the way the hearer recognizes in real-time speech the aspect of a sentence or clause in English as perfective or imperfective. Due to the compositional effectuation of aspect in English, the aspect (perfective/imperfective) of an English sentence is explicated through an elaborate interplay between referents of situation-participant NPs and the referent of the verb, plus a possible impact from adverbials. This interplay involves the need for the hearer to wait until the end of a sentence or clause in compositional-aspect languages to identify the aspect of the situation and forms a stark contrast with verbal-aspect languages, where the aspect value of the verb can be clear even from the very beginning of a sentence.
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