Verbal Aspect in Discourse

Editorial page......Page 3
Title page......Page 4
Copyright page......Page 5
Table of contents......Page 6
Preface......Page 8
List of contributors......Page 18
Introduction......Page 20
Verbal aspect in discourse: on the state of the art......Page 22
Introduction......Page 23
1 Preliminaries on the distinction between aspect semantics and verb (phrase) semantics......Page 24
2 The basic conceptual fallacy of Dowty's VP-semantic aspectology......Page 27
3 Influences of the VP-semantic approach on viewpoint aspectology......Page 29
4 'The imperfective paradox' and other consequences of the confusion of aspect and terminativity......Page 32
5 The proper interdependence between situation/discourse and aspect semantics......Page 37
6 Towards a deductive situation/discourse-based analysis of aspect......Page 41
7 States as non-phasal situations and the aspectual distinction totality vs. partiality......Page 48
8 Truth conditions, intervals and possible worlds: treating the progressive as aspect par excellence......Page 54
9 Intervals, gaps and moments of time: towards the partiality understanding of the aspectual meaning of on-going process......Page 59
10 The problematic symbiosis of intervals, VP-semantics and aspect: one instructive example......Page 62
11 Language-specific conditions of aspectual polysemy vs. the traditional concept of markedness: a universal approach to situational-perspecti-val analysis......Page 65
12 'Generic readings' and the short-comings of interval semantics: on the discourse-perspectival status of iteratives and habituais......Page 67
13 Why Cooper's situation-semantics goes wrong, or, the case of the 're-portive' present......Page 73
14 The aspectual distinction ±TIME and the temporal-perspectival organisation of discourse: NARRATIO/foreground vs. DESCRIPTIO/ background......Page 79
15 Aspect and 'theme-rheme' conditions......Page 81
16 The aspect-semantic basis for foreground sequencing......Page 82
17 Aspect and textual consistency: 'syntagmatic' (immediate') and 'paradigmatic' ('mediate') coherence......Page 83
18 'Paradigmatic' ('mediate') coherence and the differentiated concept of background......Page 84
19 Aspect, focus, old and new information......Page 87
20 Aspect and negation......Page 88
21 From temporal-perspectival coherence to temporal-causal coherence, and the balance between NARRATIO and DESCRIPTIO......Page 89
22 On the temporal status of the perfect in discourse......Page 90
23 Narrative vs. conversational discourse......Page 92
Conclusions......Page 94
REFERENCES......Page 97
1. Developmental properties of aspect and tense......Page 108
1 Time, eternity, and the distinction definite: indefinite......Page 110
2 In the footsteps of St. Augustine......Page 114
3 The perceptual-conceptual hierarchy of matter, space, and time: localist prerequisites for a theory of aspect and tense......Page 121
4 The development of temporal distinctions......Page 123
5 Modem aspectology and the concept of time with Bergson, Cassirer and Heidegger......Page 135
Concluding remarks......Page 139
APPENDIX: Indo-European expressions of the aspect feature -TIME......Page 140
NOTES......Page 143
REFERENCES......Page 144
0 Introduction......Page 150
1 Grammatical categories......Page 152
2 Historical evolution of Russian aspect......Page 155
3 Summary......Page 168
4 Conclusions......Page 170
REFERENCES......Page 173
Introduction......Page 178
Classical usage......Page 180
Avant-garde usage......Page 183
Conclusion......Page 198
NOTES......Page 201
REFERENCES......Page 202
2. Ideo-pragmatic and conceptual-semanticcorrelates of aspect and the perspectivalorganisation of discourse......Page 208
Notes on the "Metaphysics" of Russian aspect......Page 210
NOTES......Page 229
REFERENCES......Page 230
0 Introduction......Page 232
1 Theoretical and empirical underpinnings......Page 233
2 Aspect in Discourse......Page 240
3 Saliency in a non-sequential text......Page 244
NOTES......Page 248
REFERENCES......Page 251
0 Introduction......Page 256
1 Theoretical preliminaries......Page 257
2 French 'passé simple' and Bulgarian aorist......Page 263
3 Imperfect......Page 270
4 Conclusion......Page 277
REFERENCES......Page 278
Narrative context and Russian aspect......Page 282
NOTES......Page 300
REFERENCES......Page 301
SOURCES......Page 302
1 Introduction......Page 304
2 The Problem......Page 305
3 Assumptions......Page 306
4 Situational Temporal Perspective......Page 308
5 Aspect Use in Questions......Page 309
6 Discussion......Page 316
7 Who-Questions......Page 322
NOTES......Page 323
REFERENCES......Page 324
1 Theoretical overview......Page 326
2 Aspect in questions......Page 332
3 Conclusion......Page 336
NOTES......Page 337
REFERENCES......Page 338
3. Aspect, case and discourse......Page 342
The aspectual case of predicative nouns in Lithuanian texts......Page 344
NOTES......Page 363
REFERENCES......Page 365
0 Introduction......Page 368
1 On Finnish procedural verbs......Page 369
2 The direct object case opposition......Page 370
3 The Finnish accusative and NSV......Page 373
4 The Finnish partitive and SV......Page 375
5 Conclusions......Page 380
REFERENCES......Page 381
4. Aspect in Russian literary discourse......Page 384
Aspectin textual deep structure (On the message theme of Puskin's The Bronze Horseman)......Page 386
NOTES......Page 397
REFERENCES......Page 399
LITERARY SOURCES......Page 401
Preliminary remarks......Page 402
Čechov and aspect......Page 403
"A Dreary Story": An aspectual minus-device......Page 405
"The Bishop": An aspectual surplus-device......Page 412
Imperfective telling: A new aspectual blend......Page 414
Discussion......Page 420
NOTES......Page 422
REFERENCES......Page 423
APPENDIX I. "A Dreary Story"......Page 426
APPENDIX II. "The Bishop"......Page 427
Index of proper names......Page 430
Index of languages......Page 435
Index of topics......Page 437