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Acta Linguistica Asiatica
Volume 10, Issue 2, 2020
ACTA LINGUISTICA ASIATICA
Volume 10, Issue 2, 2020
Editors: Andrej Bekeš, Nina Golob, Mateja Petrovčič
Editorial Board: Bi Yanli (China), Cao Hongquan (China), Luka Culiberg (Slovenia), Tamara Ditrich
(Slovenia), Kristina Hmeljak Sangawa (Slovenia), Ichimiya Yufuko (Japan), Terry Andrew Joyce
(Japan), Jens Karlsson (Sweden), Lee Yong (Korea), Lin Ming-Chang (Taiwan), Arun Prakash Mishra
(India), Nagisa Moritoki Škof (Slovenia), Nishina Kikuko (Japan), Sawada Hiroko (Japan), Chikako
Shigemori Bučar (Slovenia), Irena Srdanović (Croatia).
© University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, 2020
All rights reserved.
Published by: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani
(Ljubljana University Press, Faculty of Arts)
Issued by: Department of Asian Studies
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E-mail: nina.golob@ff.uni-lj.si
Acta Linguistica Asiatica, 10(2), 2020.
ISSN: 2232-3317, http://revije.ff.uni-lj.si/ala/
DOI: 10.4312/ala.10.2.49-64
LEXICAL ASPECT CLASSIFICATION FOR UNRELATED LANGUAGES: A CASE STUDY
ON SLOVENIAN AND CHINESE LEXICAL ASPECT
Tina ČOK
Science and Research Centre Koper, Slovenia
tina.cok@zrs-kp.si
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.
Keywords: verbal aspect; lexical aspect classification; verb types; unrelated languages;
Standard Chinese
Povzetek
Pričujoči prispevek ponuja podrobno analizo glagolskega vida na splošno in s posebnim
poudarkom na primerjavi kitajskega in slovenskega leksikalnega glagolskega vida. Prepoznana
razhajanja med konceptualizacijo in upovedovanjem glagolskih dejanj pri nesorodnih jezikih so
pokazala, da globlje kognitivne razlike vplivajo na naše dojemanje stvarnosti. Dejstvo, ki ga je
potrebno pri učenju in poučevanju tujih jezikov bolj upoštevati. S pričujočo študijo želimo k
temu prispevati s primerjalno analizo obstoječih raziskav uglednih jezikoslovcev, s pomočjo
katere smo oblikovali nov, bolj obsežen predlog klasifikacije glagolske vrstnosti za nesorodne
jezike, ki omogoča nadaljnjo uporabo na področju raziskav iz aplikativnega jezikoslovja.
Ključne besede: glagolski vid; klasifikacija leksikalnega vida; glagolska vrstnost; nesorodni
jeziki; standardna kitajščina
50 Tina ČOK
1 Introduction
This article is one of the several studies on verbal aspect, however, it is unique in the
respect that it focuses on the category of verbal aspect in languages that are very rarely
compared, not only according to the principles of universal grammar (Smith 1991;
Orešnik 1991), but also according to the contributions of linguistic relativity. The latter
makes this study relevant, because it can throw a new light on how we conceive and
understand verbal aspect. Starting from this small but meaningful linguistic cell, we
continue to explore more general linguistic and pragmatic questions, such as how
lexical and grammatical aspects are verbalised in different languages and how they
reflect the respective models of conceptualisation, assuming that verbs help us
understand the way the world around us is conceived.
This paper presents a small portion of a broader empirical study on verb
conceptualisation and verbalisation in three unrelated languages (Čok, 2019), i.e.
Chinese, Italian and Slovenian
1
. The objective of the study was to draw on the well-
established theory of foreign language learning, which supports the idea of relying on
already spoken languages when learning foreign languages, including the first
language, and on the well-explored assumptions that bilingual and multilingual
speakers develop an increased awareness of language that helps them acquire
additional languages. However, there is a lack of research focusing on cross-language
and metalinguistic awareness in unrelated languages, which are usually taught as a
third or even fourth foreign language. Accordingly, it has been suggested (Ibid.) that
there are significant conceptual differences in the understanding of reality between
native speakers of different languages, and that these differences are greater for
unrelated languages, making it difficult to bridge these diverging points.
2
2 Approaches and method
Part of the previously mentioned empirical study was to thoroughly examine the
already existing verb classifications. By doing this, we found that universal grammar
can only be partially applied in this matter (because it helps to identify the category for
all existing languages), but that different language combinations and comparisons
require different approaches to classification. For this, linguistic relativity has proven
to be very insightful, especially for the cross-linguistic perspective.
1
We use the term unrelated languages for languages that have not evolved from the same language
family (i.e. Indo-European), the pairs of comparison are thus Slovenian – Standard Chinese and
Italian – Standard Chinese.
2
By diverging points, we mean those critical discrepancies between languages, especially of a
syntactic nature, which, without adequate explanation, warning, comparison between languages
and metalinguistic consideration, lead to a negative transfer.
Lexical Aspect Classification for Unrelated Languages: a Case Study … 51
The study is based on the hypothesis that the nature of the Chinese verb, in its
most basic monomorphemic form, allows a broad freedom of interpretation of the
degree of completion, i.e. it is more oriented towards the process than towards the
result of the action performed. Based on our knowledge of aspectual systems and their
functioning in the three languages, we assumed that the Chinese verb emphasises
more the processual phase of an action than the same verb in Slovenian (as well as in
Italian), causing the speaker to respectively transfer this emphasis in the process of
verbalisation of foreign languages as well as in conceiving reality. The empirical study
and its results are not the focus of this paper, so we will not go into further detail on
this matter. For details see Čok (2019).
This paper focuses on the theoretical analysis of the lexical aspect for two
syntactically very different languages: Standard Chinese and Slovenian. For this
purpose, we examined the established aspectual classifications of verbs as proposed
by Vendler (1967), Smith (1991), Xiao and McEnery (2004), Peck et al. (2013) and
Koenig and Chief (2008). Based on these classifications, we developed and proposed a
refined verb classification that could encompass all features of the two investigated
languages. The selected studies on verb aspect were analysed with a comparative
method, by which verb features and proposed classifications were reviewed and
integrated into a new classification according to the objectives of this study.
3 Previous studies
3.1 Verb types and features
In many languages, the verb is inflected and encodes tense, aspect, mood and voice. It
often also helps convey person, gender and number of the subject or object.
Nevertheless, not all of the languages in the world present these features. It has been
previously proposed that different languages take different perspectives on activities
and events. Scholars like Ikegami (1985) have worked on the difference between
Japanese and English, arguing that Japanese is a process-oriented and English is a
result-oriented language. Basically, the perspective on how we understand an action
being focused on the process, which might or might not end up in a change of state or
towards a result made possible by this change, depends on how this action is expressed
through the use of the verb. Nevertheless, not only the verb can be the carrier of this
perspective. Language is full of more or less subtle mechanisms, i.e. implicit references,
word order, pauses between words etc. which even subconsciously convey what is the
conveyer’s standpoint or what segment of the action she or he is focusing on.
Verbs in the Indo-European linguistic tradition have been, following Vendler’s
classification (1967), divided into four main types according to their inherent property
of (semantic) eventuality; verbs which express state, activity, achievement,
52 Tina ČOK
accomplishment and semelfactive as a separate category, subsequently added to
Vendler’s classification by Bernard Comrie in 1976.
This four (plus one) folded categorization represents a long-standing linguistic
standard in the scope of classification of verbal aspect. Only recently, the study of
verbal aspect has flourished due to the increased interest in the subject by linguists
with different linguistic backgrounds. New research and studies on the features of the
Chinese lexical aspect, especially in the cross-linguistic perspective, have proposed new
verb features and consequently new classifications (Smith, 1991; Koenig & Chief, 2008;
Peck et al., 2013; Thepkanjana & Uehara, 2009, 2010; Xiao & McEnery, 2004). For
Chinese especially, the standard division seemed not to fit entirely, especially in terms
of the categories of achievements and accomplishments. On the other hand, when we
try to classify verbs in Slovenian, we are dealing with a great interconnectivity between
verb class and aspectual pairs, which makes it difficult to directly apply Vendler’s
classification. Slovenian presents a pretty elaborate system made complex by the
grammatical aspect of the verb, for which every verb has two forms, the perfective
(dovršnik) and the imperfective (nedovršnik). To translate Vendler’s test phrases used
to classify verbs (in English) to Slovenian, we would need to switch from the perfective
to the imperfective form and vice versa. In Chinese, a single verb is very often not
enough to express completion of an action. In these cases, the Chinese language
employs resultative and compound causative constructions, which are, simply put,
either a combination of two verbs or a verb and an adjective, where the first one
conveys the activity and the second one the realisation that transfers the focus from
the activity in process to its result. We can find more evidence of the lack of real
accomplishment verbs in Chinese in Zhao (2005). Besides the resultative and
compound causative construction, a maybe even more common way of changing
aspect in Chinese is by employing the aspectual marker le. But since it sometimes also
affects only the tense, its reliability in this concern is, so to speak, weak. What can be
deduced from previous studies on the ambiguities and peculiarities in the
interpretation of the expressed completion of some Chinese verbs (Koenig & Chief
2008; Peck et al., 2013; Thepkanjana & Uehara 2009, 2010) is that they comprise a very
wide and ambiguous scale of degree of completion, which is often open to
interpretations.
The methodology employed in our empirical study required a classification of
verbal actions able to comprise as much as possible the features of Chinese, Italian and
Slovenian language and at the same time preserve as high as possible the degree of
universality to keep the features abstract while interpreting the results. We designed
our classification of lexical aspect on the basis of Smith (1991), Xiao and McEnery
(2004), Peck et al. (2013) and Koeing and Chief (2008). While all of these classifications
contributed a great deal to ours, they did not entirely fit the language combinations of
our choice. Hence the need for a newly adjusted categorisation, which, in our opinion,
best comprises the features of verbal actions in general.
Lexical Aspect Classification for Unrelated Languages: a Case Study … 53
Before presenting the revised classification, we will examine the features and
approaches of previous proposals, for it is a revealing and useful diachronic
developmental process, that can help to better understand the linguistic implications
of lexical aspect and justify our adjustments.
3.2 Approaches to classifications of verbal actions for unrelated languages
How we understand whether an action focuses on the process that ends in a change of
state or with a result that represents that change of state, depends on how that action
is verbalised or expressed through another argument. To express this bias with the verb
means to do so explicitly, whereas it is not always the verb that defines the perspective
of an activity. Language is full of more or less subtle mechanisms, sometimes even
unconsciously reflecting our perspective on activities. In addition to verbs and
arguments, such mechanisms may include the syntactic structure of the sentence,
noun properties, the presence or absence of the subject, and some language-specific
mechanisms of expression.
When studying the focus of verbal actions in different languages, we must, first of
all, consider the two basic aspectual components of the verb, its verbal aspect (also
known as grammatical aspect) and the nature of the verbal action (also known as
Aktionsart or lexical aspect)
3
, each language having a very specific way of functioning
and using the two components. In Miklič, for example, we find that "unlike the situation
in the Romance languages, the Slavic aspectual opposition shows certain
interdependence with the nature of the verbal action". (Miklič, 2007, p. 92)
In the Indo-European tradition, the inherent semantic property of verbal action
(lexical aspect) is most often defined according to Vendler’s classification (1957) in four
main types, namely verbs expressing state, activity, accomplishment and achievement.
Vendler’s classification was supplemented with the category of semelfactives
4
in 1967
by Bernard Comrie and further refined by Smith (1991). Although Vendler’s
classification is perfectly suited to provide the basic framework for classification, it is
too loose for cross-linguistic studies, especially when comparing unrelated languages
that show large linguistic discrepancies.
In the following pages, we will outline five main classifications of verbal actions,
emphasizing aspects that are in our opinion unsuitable for classification in a cross-
linguistic perspective.
3
Smith (1991) uses the terms situation aspect for grammatical aspect and viewpoint aspect for
lexical aspect. In the present paper, we will use the terms grammatical and lexical aspect.
4
Semelfactives comprise one-time atelic actions that last a very short time, a moment. They are also
found in some classifications as a subcategory of achievement verbs.
54 Tina ČOK
The first of its kind is Vendler’s distribution of verbs (1957), which is based on
sample questions (for English) and is intended to help classify verb types according to
how they occur within a time interval.
5
(1)
I.
For how long did he ...? (activity)
II.
How long did it take to ... ? (accomplishment)
III.
At what time did you ... ? (achievement)
However, when these sample questions are applied to languages other than
English, they show certain weaknesses. Vendler’s tests for the classification of
Slovenian verbs, for instance, are not directly transferable due to the strong interaction
between lexical and grammatical aspects. In order to make the sentences meaningful,
the verbs must actually shift between the perfective and imperfective form, which also
means shifting between unmarked and marked usage.
(2)
a)
Koliko časa je potiskal voziček? (activity)
‘For how long did he push IMPRF the cart?’
b)
Koliko časa je porabil, da je narisal krog? (accomplishment)
‘How long did it take him to draw PERF the circle?’
c)
Ob kateri uri je dosegel vrh gore? (achievement)
‘At what time did he reach PERF the top of the mountain?’
As can be seen in the above examples, the Slovenian language is specific because
of its elaborated verbal system, in which grammatical properties of the aspect are
recognized in two separate verbal forms: dovršnik (perfective) and nedovršnik
(imperfective). Since the verbal aspect is expressed lexically, the same verbal action can
occur in several categories of the verbal aspect by transforming the perfective into an
imperfective verb form and vice versa. This is also the reason why Slovenian, with the
exception of biaspectual verbs (Žele, 2011), does not allow such ambiguities in the
interpretation of the verbal aspect.
Chinese verbs can also be applied to Vendler’s sample questions (3) but there are
some divergencies between how these are employed in Standard Chinese compared
to other languages.
5
We only include the verb types that are relevant to this study.
Lexical Aspect Classification for Unrelated Languages: a Case Study … 55
(3)
I.
他看了电视多长时间?
T kàn-le diànshì du chng shjin?
‘For how long did he watch TV?’
II.
他花了多长时间画一个圆圈?
T hu-le du chng shjin huà yī ge yunqun?
‘How long did it take him to draw the circle?’
III.
他什么时候到达了山顶?
T shénme shhou dàod-le shndǐng?
‘When did he reach the top of the mountain?’
To express the difference in the grammatical aspect (between perfective and
imperfective verbs) in Standard Chinese, a lexically independent (monomorphemic)
verb often does not suffice. In cases where it must be clearly stated that the action has
reached its goal or endpoint, in Standard Chinese we must employ resultative verb
compounds (RVC), which, simply put, are a combination of two verbs or a verb and an
adjective, the former expressing the activity and the latter the result. The problem of
the inconsistency of verbs in Standard Chinese with Indo-European languages is also
found in Zhao, who states that “Chinese does not have accomplishment verbs (Chu,
1976; Smith, 1997; Sybesma, 1997; Tai, 1984). Since all predicates, except states, are
activities, which are dynamic and have an open range, an accomplishment that denotes
a bounded event is always a complex consisting of an activity/cause predicate, and a
result/state predicate.” (Zhao, 2005 pp. 65–66). In Zhao, we see accomplishment verbs
being considered as RVC. Similar to Zhao, Tai (1984) does not distinguish between
accomplishment and achievement verbs, but considers them as actions expressed by
resultative verb compounds. In fact, Tai suggests that all monomorphemic verbs in
Chinese are either state verbs or activity verbs, whereas if we want to express a result,
we must use RCV, which always conveys a completed or finished action. We argue,
however, that there is a fundamental difference between achievement and
accomplishment verbs on the one hand and RCV on the other. In addition to what
previous studies (Petrovčič, 2009; Xiao & McEnery, 2004) have shared on this topic,
namely distinguishing between the two verb types by using them as the complement
of stop, which sounds normal with accomplishments but odd with achievements, and
that RCV do not function in the same way as accomplishment and achievement verbs
because RCV are incompatible with imperfective markers zai and -zhe, while the use of
the two markers for accomplishment and achievement verbs, followed by the
perfective marker le, is perfectly grammatical, our empirical research has shown that
there is a fundamental difference in the degree of completeness expressed by activities
and accomplishments or achievements. RCV as a language category should therefore be
considered as a feature of the grammatical aspect, just like the perfective marker le.
56 Tina ČOK
3.3 Verb types and classifications of the lexical aspect
A breakthrough with regard to the aspectual studies following Zeno Vendler is the work
proposed by Carlota S. Smith (1991). Her contrastive analysis of the verbal aspect in
English, French, Russian, Chinese and Navajo laid the foundation not only for further
research on the verbal aspect, but especially for cross-linguistic research. Although
Smith based her study heavily on Vendler’s (1957) and Comrie’s (1976) classification of
the lexical aspect, her parallel comparison of several language systems enabled her to
put forward new potential interpretations of the functioning of verbal actions, also by
applying the principles of linguistic relativism.
Smith takes verbal actions and classifies them into five types or categories
according to their inherent semantic nature. Unlike Vendler, Smith analyses not only
the bare verb, but also the entire situation in the sentence. Therefore, she divides
situation types into states, activities, accomplishments, semelfactives, and
achievements, based on the specific characteristics that the corresponding verb types
possess. Smith identifies three basic features, by which she classifies the verbs into
categories of lexical aspect: [± static], [± durative] and [± telic].
[± Stative] is a property that divides verbs into two major sub-groups: states and
others (activities, accomplishments, achievements and semelfactives). “States are the
simplest of the situation types. In temporal schema they consist only of a period of
undifferentiated moments, without endpoints […]. ” (Smith, 1991, p. 28).
[± Telicity] connects a subset of actions that differ according to whether or not they
are aimed at achieving a goal or a result. "... when the goal is reached, a change of state
occurs and the event is completed [...]. The goal is intrinsic to the event, constituting
its natural final point.” (Smith, 1991, p. 29). Therefore, telic events can either be only
completed or completed and at the same time accomplished.
The [± duration] property divides events into those that start and end at the same
time in an internal time structure and those that have at least a minimum unit of
duration to make the start and end points stand-alone events.
If we apply these features to the verb situations, states are defined as [+ static],
[-telic] and [+ durative]. Activities are actions that are [+ durative], but their duration is
homogeneous, so they are [-telic]. Accomplishments are also [+ durative], which unlike
activities are [+ telic], as they are defined by a succession of different phases that
progress to the end point when the goal is reached and, consequently, a new situation
arises. Achievements are instantaneous [- durative] actions, their starting and ending
point overlap, which leads to a new situation, so they are also [+ telic]. Semelfectives
differ from achievements only in that their realization does not bring about any change
or new situation, and therefore they are [-telic] and [-durative] actions.
Lexical Aspect Classification for Unrelated Languages: a Case Study … 57
For studies dealing with the Chinese verbal aspect as is the case of this paper, the
findings of Richard Xiao and Tony McEnery (2004) are extremely valuable. The authors
base their findings on authentic corpus data, which they interpret using statistical
analysis. They also refine the categorization of the lexical verbal aspect. Instead of the
three basic features of the verb situation as suggested by Smith (1991), Xiao and
McEnery (2004) propose a five-way classification system; in addition to [± dynamic1],
[± durative] and [± telic], they also recognise the features of [± bounded] and [± result].
By adding these two features, Xiao and McEnery try to solve ambiguities and class
overlaps, because verbs that are telic have at most the potential to elicit the result or
not, they therefore suggest a model in which, "[t] he feature [± telic] is associated with
the presence or absence of a final spatial endpoint." (Xiao & McEnery, 2004, p. 46).
Moreover, unlike Smith (1991), who addresses lexical aspect through a verb
situation, Xiao and McEnery establish it using the so-called two-level model, "in which
situation aspect is modelled by ‘verb classes’ at the lexical level and as ‘situational
types’ at the sentential level." (Xiao & McEnery, 2004, p. 33).
The main contribution of Xiao and McEnery, which is also relevant for the present
study, is the fundamental difference between the accomplishment and achievement
verbs. The authors argued that this divergence reflects “mainly in whether they do or
not encode a result. [...] By the [± result] criterion, accomplishment verbs place
emphasis on the process leading up to a result [...], but verbs themselves do not provide
any information concerning the success in the achieving of the result; they imply but
do not encode a result. […] In contrast, achievement verbs encode a result themselves.”
(Xiao & McEnery, 2004, pp. 55–56). The main difference between the achievement and
accomplishment verbs is thus seen in the fact that the temporal and spatial ends are
encoded in the verb itself. For achievement verbs, these two points are said to already
exist in the verb itself, whereas in the case of the accomplishment verbs, the endpoint
is to be defined by verb arguments or complements.
The importance attached to the feature of [± telicity] and how much it is lacking,
especially with regard to the properties of the Chinese verb, was again acknowledged
in a study proposed by Peck et al. (2013). For this reason, the authors introduce a new
feature called [± scalarity], whose characteristics are closely related to those of [±
telicity]. The verb has the property of [+ scalarity] when it conveys a scalar change. This
scalar property of a verb can be defined as open/closed, which corresponds to the
feature of telic/atelic, for it tells us whether an action has an endpoint or not. In
addition, they suggest that for durative and punctual actions, these should be defined
as multi-point and two-point actions respectively. Finally, they propose four binary
features for the Chinese verb (± dynamic, ± scalar, ± telic in ± punctual) and identify six
classes, among which the so-called class of multi-point closed scalar verbs, equivalents
of accomplishment verbs displaying [+ dynamic], [+ scalar], [+ telic] and [- punctual]
features.
58 Tina ČOK
For Peck et al. (2013), the need to introduce the feature of [± scalarity] was
motivated by the difficulty of defining telicity for verbs that exhibit a measurable scalar
change (i.e. cool, darken, lengthen ...), often referred to in the literature as degree
achievement verbs. However, we have also encountered similar classification problems
with other verbs that cannot be classified with the standard test for telicity, such as in
one hour for telic actions and for one hour for atelic actions.
For us, employing for- and in- adverbials to test [± telicity] for three very different
languages has proven unreliable in several cases, which shows that the analysis of a
verbal action alone is sometimes deceptive, so that a broader sentence situation should
be examined or that the same verbal actions in different languages comprise some
fundamental intrinsic semantic discrepancies. For example, the Italian verb to choose
(scegliere) allows the use of both adverbials in the case of achievement verbs.
(4)
Caterina ha scelto i vestiti per / in un’ora.
‘Caterina chose the dresses in / *for an hour.’
Due to the unreliability of the test with for- and in- adverbials for cross-linguistic
studies, the introduction of the feature of [± scalarity] to distinguish between verbs of
activity, accomplishment and achievement has proven to be extremely valuable. In
order to use a unified classification for more different languages with divergent
syntactic and semantic properties, applying the feature of [± scalarity] resolved the
ambiguities that arose during verb type analyses.
However, we did not fully follow what Peck et al. (2013) proposed in their study.
Instead of subdividing verbs into scalar closed/open actions and scalar multi-
point/two-point actions and replacing the traditional features for the lexical verb
aspect, namely [± telic] and [± durative], we propose a compromise, namely the
preservation of the two features and the introduction of a new distinguishing feature
of [± scalarity]. Unlike Peck et al. (2013), we do not consider scalarity in its strictly
mathematical meaning as a series of stages, points or intervals that indicate
measurement values on a particular dimension, but as a change that occurs gradually,
step by step, over time and causes a certain visible change, even on an object on which
an action is performed, or a general change in the situation. By introducing scalar
change, we not only solve the classification of degree achievement verbs, but we can
also better define and distinguish between activity and accomplishment verbs, since it
is in the latter pair that most disagreements and inconsistencies are found in previous
studies.
Another important study on scalarity and the change of state for Chinese aspect
was proposed by Koenig and Chief (2008). The authors offer an interesting explanation
for cases in which cross-linguistic analyses of certain actions did not show semantic
correspondence in achieving the result and onsetting a change of state. They explain
Lexical Aspect Classification for Unrelated Languages: a Case Study … 59
their findings using examples they found online with the search engines Google and
Baidu:
(5)
须眉和孙码字把老罗杀了没杀死。
Xméi hé Sn Mzì b Lo Lu sh-le méi shsǐ.
‘Xu Mei and Sun Mazi killed Lao Luo, but didn’t make him die (lit.).’
Intended meaning: Xu Mei and Sun Mazi tried to kill Lao Luo, but he didn’t die.
(6)
我盖了新房子，房子还没盖完。
W gài-le xīn fngzi, fngzi hi méi gài-wn.
‘I build a new house, but it is not finished.’
(7)
托尔斯泰的战争与和平我不喜欢，读了几次都没读完。
Tursītài-de Zhànzhng y Hépng w b xǐhun, dle jīcì du méi d-wn.
‘I don’t like Tolstoy’s War and Peace, I read it several times, but never finished reading
it.’
For the examples above where the verb is used with the aspectual marker le,
Koenig and Chief note that they are read “as if, in those languages, there are described
killings in which no death occurred, repairs in which nothing gets fixed, persuasions in
which nobody was persuaded… We call this phenomenon the Incompleteness Effect (in
short, the IE), meaning that the described killings, repairs or persuasions need not be
completed.” (Koenig & Chief, 2008, p. 243).
Besides the three verbs in the examples, they gave a full list of verbs which in their
opinion display similar properties in regard to the IE: (jiǎn 剪 ‘to cut with scissors’, xiū
修 ‘to repair’, quàn 劝 ‘to persuade’, shā 杀 ‘to kill’, guān 关 ‘to close’, niàn 念 ‘to read’,
chī 吃 ‘to eat’, hōng 烘 ‘to dry (clothes)’, xǐ 洗 ‘to wash’, zhǔ 煮 ‘to cook’, dú 读 ‘to
read’, xiě 写 ‘to write’, bèi 背 ‘to recite (memorize)’, chàng 唱 ‘to sing’, xiàzài 下载 ‘to
download’, jiāo 教 ‘to teach’, gài 盖 ‘to build’, zhì 治 ‘to cure’, zhuā 抓 ‘to catch’, diǎn
点 ‘to light up’ ...).
In analysing the effect, Koenig and Chief relied on three already established
hypotheses about 1) the influence of one or more sentence arguments on the
understanding of the verb aspect, 2) the actual meaning and effect of the le aspectual
marker, and 3) the influence of the inherent meaning of the verbal action. On the basis
of online examples related to the three hypotheses, they rejected the first two and
confirmed the third one. They identify the third hypothesis as the most plausible, but
argue that all existing studies have failed in proving it. What is most troubling is the fact
that neither study succeeds in answering two important questions: "(1) How can the
60 Tina ČOK
class of incomplete stems be defined in Mandarin (or Hindi or Thai)? and (2) Do
incomplete stems belong to a natural semantic class?” (Koenig & Chief, 2008, p. 251).
In addition, Koenig and Chief (2008) supplement the confirmed hypothesis of
intrinsic semantic differences between languages with the scalar hypothesis, which is
very similar to the theory presented by Peck et al. (2013), but is presented in much
more detail and extended to all verbs that somehow involve an incremental change of
properties.
The identified degrees of change are defined as the highest degree on the scale,
such as for the verb 杀 ‘to kill’, where the threshold represents the lowest possible
degree of health or the highest possible degree of wounding. In other cases, the degree
is defined culturally or individually, such as for the verb 煮 ‘to cook’, which can
represent the highest degree at different levels, depending on the type of food, culture
or individual taste. Based on the findings, Koenig and Chief propose: "Only those stems
that denote the induced normative gradable changes can lead to the IE." (Koenig &
Chief, 2008, p. 252).
In the proposed classification of change, the relation between change and the unit
of time is crucial. In this, they followed Krifka (1989), who emphasizes the interplay
between the change of state and the progression of the event over time, so that the
activity can progress to different stages over time, which in turn affects the state of
completion of the action. Koenig and Chief distinguish between actions where there is
a correlation between the change in degree and the progression of the event over time
(the longer we read the book, the more pages have been read) and actions where there
is no such correlation (the longer we repair the computer, the more it is repaired).
These changes are referred to as "non-incremental (non-IC), as the degree of change
does not incrementally follow the temporal progression of the event." (Koenig & Chief,
2008, p. 254).
In addition to considering the progression of the event over time, Koenig and Chief
(2008) also emphasise the fundamental distinction between the scales used. They also
distinguish between three types of scales according to three types of incremental
change, depending on whether the degree of change includes the affected object part-
whole structure, the distance traversed by the theme since the event’s inception, or
the degree to which the affected object has a dimensional property (such as being tall,
long, or hot).
In their study, although they allow the existence of incomplete stems in other
languages, such as English and French, they conclude that "the main difference would
be that in Mandarin, but not English, induced non-incremental gradable change of state
stems (e.g. sh ‘kill’), are incomplete.” (Koenig & Chief, 2008, p. 259).
The classifications of verb types studied above and the identification of new
features that define the intrinsic nature of the verbal action are by no means exhaustive,
Lexical Aspect Classification for Unrelated Languages: a Case Study … 61
but they are most relevant in cross-linguistic research because they help to establish a
classification that can encompass, as far as possible, the characteristics of several
languages at once, while maintaining the highest possible degree of universality in its
interpretation.
4 Proposed classification and conclusions
Below, we present an adapted classification of lexical aspect, a proposal that we
consider to be the most optimal encompassing of properties of verbal actions in
different languages. We agree with those experts whose classification of the lexical
aspect is based on lexemes as the main carriers of the meaning of the verbal action,
even in the context of a broader sentence situation, although we are aware that
different arguments can, under certain conditions, cause a change in the verb type. In
the table below, the proposed features mainly consider the meaning of the verb as a
lexeme, although they can also be applied to a broader sentence situation.
Table 1: Proposed features of verb types and their classification
Verb type6
[±dynamic]
[±scalar]
[±bounded]
[±telic]
[±result]
Example
activity
+
-
-
-
-
play
semelfact./iter
semelfactive
+
-
±
-
-
sneeze
accomplishment
+
+
+
+
-
build
achievement
+
+
+
+
+
find
The proposed classification is mainly based on that proposed by Xiao and McEnery
(2004) and adapted to the feature of scalarity as defined in Peck et al. (2013) and
Koenig and Chief (2008). Furthermore, we propose to divide the semelfective verbs
into punctual and iterative readings according to the duration of the action, but we
reject the idea of considering repetitive semelfective actions as activities.
At the sentence level, where arguments must be taken into account, there are two
distinctive situations. The first relates to the accomplishment verbs, which in most
studies are defined as derived activities when they are not directly related to the object
and therefore do not have a final spatial endpoint.
6
State verbs differ in their features from other classified verbs - they are relatively static and they
show no progressive changes through time - for which they are not relevant and have been excluded
from the present study.
62 Tina ČOK
(8)
Mati kuha, oče in sin pa čakata na hrano.
‘Mother is cooking, father and son are waiting for food.’
(9)
V kuhinji mama kuha mineštro in peče palačinke.
‘In the kitchen, mum is cooking a minestrone and making pancakes.’7
The second relates to achievement verbs, where at the sentence level we have
identified two types of viewpoint toward the action. An achievement that we see in its
entirety is seen as a punctual action, where the point of onset of the action coincides
with the point of completion and the onset of a new state (‘to fall’). However,
achievement verbs can also be expressed through the prism of their progression as it
takes place (‘falling’). Considering that, in the progressive viewpoint, achievement
verbs do not change the feature [+telic] but only the [-result], we have not chosen to
follow Xiao and McEnery (2004), who see the change in the telicity and therefore place
it among the derived activities at the sentence level.
(10)
爸爸正在杀鸡。
Bàba zhngzài sh jī.
‘Father is right in the middle of killing the chicken.’
(11)
我在关门。
W zài gun mén.
‘I’m just closing the door.’
(12)
Zaradi njih padajo stvari z mize.
‘Because of them, things are falling off the table.’
(13)
Fant pada s stola.
‘A kid is falling off the chair.’ 8
Much more could have been explored and reported in regard to the
conceptualisation and verbalisation of the verbal aspect in unrelated languages, but
due to space constraints, we focused mainly on the principles of the lexical aspect in
two languages that display very different properties and structural discrepancies,
because of which they are very difficult to compare or consider with standard
7
The examples have been acquired by native speakers with language tests in the empirical study
Čok (2019).
8
See Čok (2019).
Lexical Aspect Classification for Unrelated Languages: a Case Study … 63
classifications. We therefore suggest a reconsideration of the existing classifications,
by proposing a revised one, which is particularly helpful when unrelated languages are
compared with ambiguous conceptualisation and verbalisation of actions. In our study,
the verbal aspect is the main research category, but the results obtained can be applied
to broader linguistic and cognitive research, as in our opinion verb is one of the most
fundamental language categories and its verbalisation appears essential for
understanding the creation and conception of meanings and behaviours as ongoing
processes in the person’s mind. Also, we identify this category as one of the more
semantically abstract categories, which is why mastering semantic discrepancies
between a target and a native language represents one of the biggest challenges for
foreign language learning.
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