|
The Parameter of Aspect for Odia| old_uid | 2233 |
|---|
| title | The Parameter of Aspect for Odia |
|---|
| start_date | 2007/02/12 |
|---|
| schedule | 14h30-16h30 |
|---|
| online | no |
|---|
| summary | A standard assumption in the study of aspect is that situation types (aktionsarts) are internal to the lexical meaning of the predicate. However, contrary to such an assumption, Odia marks situation types (aktionsarts) morphologically, with a closed set of auxiliaries. So far as viewpoint aspects are concerned, Odia grammatically marks the imperfective; it shows a temporal focus marker, with a neutral viewpoint; but, it does not show a perfective viewpoint marker. The present analysis shows that perfectivity in Odia is marked by the sequence of an eventive verb and a copular auxiliary; that is, when an event is followed by a state. The present analysis proposes that if events are juxtaposed they are either in a temporal sequence or they are concomitant. Their being in a sequence presupposes their event boundaries to be discrete, hence the perfectivity of one with respect to the other. If they are concomitant, they overlap; and one has the manner function for the other. The language marks the concomitance of events by reduplicating one of the verbs. Theoretically, the situation types are universal for their semantic values do not change from language to language. However, Smith (1997: 2) assumes that viewpoint categories have a parameterized structure in the sense that they may deviate from their universal content in a particular language. Thus, parametric differences between languages are tuned to viewpoint aspects. As per Smith (op. cit.), the universal content of the viewpoint aspects are as follows:
Perfective: “focuses on the situation as a whole”
Imperfective “focuses on part of a situation”
Neutral: “provides a flexible point of view”
However, Odia facts suggest that the morpheme responsible for imperfective viewpoint has the underlying function [+Dynamic] and triggers the binary feature distinction [±Dynamic]; examined from the same perspective the English imperfective has the underlying function [-Telic] and triggers the binary feature distinction [±Telic]. Assuming that underlying functions tend to be universal, universally the grammatical aspects, labelled as viewpoints, trigger the binary features either [±Dynamic] or [±Telic] as the primary aspectual distinction. By choosing one of the binary features as the primary aspectual distinction, a language sets the aspectual parameter for its grammatical aspect. |
|---|
| responsibles | Copley |
|---|
| |
|