Some Critical Remarks on Aspect as a Situation Type

Authors

  • Marek Kuźniak

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18485/bells.2009.1.3

Abstract

This paper discusses some controversies that arise in the treatment of aspect as viewed from the perspective of cognitive linguistics1. More specifically, the paper constitutes a critical review of Radden and Dirven’s (2007) account of aspect as a situation type presented in Chapter 8 of the book. The basic criticism of the category of aspect viewed as a situational type involves, as the author of this paper maintains, unsubstantiated proliferation of the typology of aspectual distinctions, which are hard to account for once the criterion of psychological reality of a conceptual category is considered2.

 

1 Radden and Dirven (2007: 198) quote Vendler (1967), Dowty (1979), and Langacker (2001) as representing significant contributions to the study of situation types (the former two books) and introducing into the literature of the subject matter the conception of “basic aspectual class” (the latter). Both insights constitute the foundation of the framework discussed by Radden and Dirven.

2 See Laurence and Margolis (1999).

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Published

2009-11-16

How to Cite

Kuźniak, M. (2009). Some Critical Remarks on Aspect as a Situation Type. Belgrade English Language and Literature Studies, 1(1), 69–79. https://doi.org/10.18485/bells.2009.1.3

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2009): BELLS - Volume 1

Section

THEORETICAL AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS

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Copyright (c) 2021 Marek Kuźniak

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