Thinking for speaking in the right aspect
On whether modern English grammars can do more
In this article we focus on the category of aspect and examine modern English grammars to see whether they give sufficient guidelines to the learner on how aspectual meanings are decoded and encoded in English. More precisely, we check whether the grammars reflect the abundant linguistic research on aspectual construal in English. Out of a number of components that play a role in the shaping of aspectual meaning, we look at the following four: lexical aspect, arguments, grammatical aspect, and tense. An overview is first made of the key theoretical findings on the impact of these four components on aspectual interpretation, followed by an analysis of the grammar content on the given components. Our conclusion is that only two comprehensive grammars we examined take into account the results of linguistic research on aspect to a certain extent and that there is a lot of room for improvement.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.
Literature on CA in English
- 2.1CA in linguistic theory
- 2.1.1Lexical aspect
- 2.1.2Arguments
- 2.1.3Grammatical aspect
- 2.1.4Tenses
- 2.2CA in the literature on second-language acquisition (‘SLA’)
- 3.Grammars on CA in English
- 3.1Group one: Comprehensive grammars of English treating aspect as a tense/aspect category
- 3.2Group two: Comprehensive grammars of English addressing aspect more systematically
- 3.2.1Overall approach to aspect
- 3.2.2Lexical aspect
- 3.2.3Arguments
- 3.2.4Grammatical aspect
- 3.2.5Tenses
- 3.3Group three: Specialised grammars
- 4.Discussion
- 5.Conclusion
-
Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
References
References (73)
References
Aish, F., & Tomlinson, J. (2012). Grammar for IELTS. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Arad, M. (1998). VP-Structure and the Syntax-Lexicon Interface. MIT Occasional Papers in Linguistics 16. London: University College.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bach, E. (1986). The Algebra of Events. Linguistics and philosophy, 91, 5–16.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Reynolds, D. W. (1995). The Role of Lexical Aspect in the Acquisition of Tense and Aspect. Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, 29(1), 107–131.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (1999). From morpheme studies to temporal semantics. Tense-aspect research in SLA. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 211, 341–382. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bertinetto, P. M., & Lentovskaya, A. (2011). Degree Verbs. A contrastive Russian-English analysis. Proceedings of the conference on “Verbal Aspect: Grammatical meaning and context”, Padova 30/IX-4/X, 2011.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bybee, J., Perkins, R., & Pagliuca, W. (1994). The Evolution of Grammar: Tense, Aspect and Modality in the Languages of the World. Chicago: University of Chicago.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bulatovic, V. (2013a). Modern theories of aspect in English and Serbian EL2 learners. Belgrade English Language and Literature Studies, V1, 65–79. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bulatovic, V. (2013b). Leksički aspekt i engleski sadašnji perfekat. Filološki pregled, 401, 177–187.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bulatovic, V. (forthcoming). Aspect semantics and ESL article use. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Comrie, B. (1976). Aspect. An Introduction to the Study of Verbal Aspect and Related Problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Carter, R., & McCarthy, M. (2006). Cambridge Grammar of English, A Comprehensive Guide. Spoken and Written English Grammar and Usage. Cambridge: CUP.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Comrie, B. (1975). Tense. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dahl, O. (1984). Perfectivity in Slavonic and Other Languages. In C. de Groot & H. Tommola (Eds.), Aspect Bound: A Voyage into the realm of Germanic, Slavonic and Finno-Ugrian aspectology (Proceedings from the First Scandinavian Symposium on Aspectology in Vaasa, Aug. 26–28, 1983). Dordrecht-Holland/Cinnaminson: Foris Publications, 3–22. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dahl, O. (1985). Tense and Aspect Systems. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Declerck, R. (2006). The grammar of the English tense system. A Comprehensive Analysis. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dimitrova-Vulchanova, M. (1999). Verb Semantics, Diathesis and Aspect. LINCOM Studies in Theoretical Linguistics, 8. Munich: LINCOM Europa.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Downing, A., & Locke, P. (2006). English Grammar. A University Course. The second edition. London and New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dowty, D. R. (1977). Toward a Semantic Analysis of Verb Aspect and the English ‘Imperfective’ Progressive. Linguistics and Philosophy, 11, 45–78. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dowty, D. (1979). Word Meaning and Montague Grammar. Dordrecht: Kluwer (Reidel). ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dowty, D. R. (1988). Thematic Proto-Roles, Subject Selection, and Lexical Semantic Defaults. Paper presented at the 1987 LSA Colloquium. San Francisco.
Dowty, D. R. (1991). Thematic Proto-Roles and Argument Selection. Language, 671, 547–619. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Eastwood, J. (2006). Oxford Practice Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Filip, H. (2001). Nominal and verbal semantic structure: analogies and interactions. Language Sciences, 231, 453–501. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Galton, A. (1984). The logic of aspect. An axiomatic approach. Oxford: Clarendon Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Garey, H. B. (1957). Verbal aspects in French. Language, 331, 91–110. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Glasbey, S. R. (1994). Event structure in natural language discourse. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Edinburgh.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hewings, M. (2005). Advanced Grammar in Use. 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ionin, T., Ko, H., & Wexler, K. (2004). Article semantics in L2-acquisition: the role of specificity. Language Acquisition, 121, 3–69. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ionin, T., & Montrul, S. (2010). The role of L1-transfer in the interpretation of articles with definite plurals in L2-English. Language Learning, 601, 877–925. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hlebec, B. (1990). Aspects, Phases and Tenses in English and Serbo-Croatian. Grazer Linguistische Monographien 8. Graz.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hopper, P. J. (1979). Aspect and Foregrounding in Discourse. Discourse and Syntax, 213–241.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hopkins, D., & Cullen, P. (2007). Cambridge Grammar for IELDS. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Huddlestone, R., & Pullum, G. (2005). A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar. Cambridge: CUP. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kabakčiev, K. (2000). Aspect in English: A “Common-Sense” View of the Interplay between Verbal and Nominal Referents (Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy 75). Dordrecht: Springer. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kabakčiev, K. (2017). An English Grammar: main stumbling blocks for Bulgarians learning English. Stuttgart: Mariana Kabakchiev Verlag.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kenny, A. (1963). Action, Emotion, and Will. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ko, H., Perovic, A., Ionin, T., & Wexler, K. (2008). Semantic Universals and Variation in L2 Article Choice. In R. Slabakova, J. Rothman, P. Kempchinsky & E. Gavruseva (eds.), Proceedings of the 9th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference (GASLA 2007), (pp. 118–129). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Krifka, M. (1986). Nominalreferenz und Zeitkonstitution. Zur Semantik von Massentermend, Individualtermen, Aspektklassen. PhD thesis, The University of Munich, Germany.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Krifka, M. (1989). Nominal Reference, Temporal Constitution and Quantification in Event Semantics. In R. Bartsch, J. van Bentham & P. van Emde Boas (Eds.), Semantics and Contextual Expressions (pp. 75–115). Dordrecht: Foris. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Krifka, M. (1992). Thematic Relations as Links between Nominal Reference and Temporal Constitution. In I. A. Sag & A. Szabolcsi (Eds.), Lexical Matters (pp. 29–53). Stanford: CSLI Publications, Stanford University.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Krifka, M. (1998). The Origins of Telicity. In S. Rothstein (Ed.), Events and Grammar (pp. 197–235). Dordrecht/Boston/London: Kluwer Academic Publishers. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Langacker, R. W. (2008). Cognitive Grammar. Oxford: OUP. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Leech, N. J. (1971). Meaning and the English Verb. London: Longman.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Maslov, J. S. (Ed.). (1985). Contrastive Studies in Verbal Aspect. Studies in Descriptive Linguistics, vol. 141. Heidelberg.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Morales-Reyes, A. (2016). Transfer and semantic universals in the L2 acquisition of the English articles system by child L2 learners. Language Acquisition, 231, 57–74. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mourelatos, A. P. D. (1978). Events, Processes and States. Linguistics and Philosophy, 21, 415–434. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Muñoz, C., & Gilabert, R. (2011). More evidence concerning the Aspect Hypothesis: The acquisition of English progressive aspect by Catalan-Spanish instructed learners. IRAL, 491, 241–263. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Murphy, R. (2012). English Grammar in Use, 4th edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Quirk et al. (1985). A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Longman.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Reinhart, T. (1984). Principles of Gestalt Perception in the Temporal Organization of Narrative Texts. Linguistics, 221, 779–809.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rothstein, S. (2001). What are Incremental Themes? In J. A. Gerhard, S. Strigin, S. Wilder & N. Zhang (Eds.), (2001). Papers on predicative constructions: Proceedings of the workshop on secondary predication, October 16–17, 2000, Berlin (ZAS Papers in Linguistics 22) (pp. 139–159). Berlin: ZAS.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rothstein, S. (2004). Structuring events: A Study in the Semantics of Lexical Aspect. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ryle, G. (1949). The Concept of Mind. London: Barnes and Noble.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Slobin, D. (1996). From “thought and language” to “thinking for speaking. In J. Gumperz & S. Levinson (Eds.), Rethinking linguistic relativity (pp. 70–96). Cambridge. MA: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Smith, C. (1991/1997). The Parameter of Aspect. Dordrecht: Kluwer. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Swan, M. (2005). Practical English Usage. Oxford: OUP.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Talmy, L. (2000). Toward a Cognitive Semantics. Volume 11. Concept Structuring Systems. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: A Bradford Book, The MIT Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tenny, C. (1987). Grammaticalizing Aspect and Affectedness, Ph.D. dissertation, MIT, Cambridge, MA.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tenny, C. (1994). Aspectual Roles and the Syntax-Semantics Interface. Dordrecht: Kluwer. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Thelin, N. B. (1990). Verbal Aspect in Discourse: on the State of the Art. In N. B. Thelin (Ed.), Verbal Aspect in Discourse. Contributions to the Semantics of Time and Temporal Perspective in Slavic and Non-Slavic Languages (pp. 3–88). Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Co. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Thomson, A. J., & Martinet, A. V. (1986). A Practical English Grammar. 4th edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Trenkic, D. (2007). Variability in second language article production: beyond the representational deficit vs. processing constraints debate. Second Language Research, 23(3), 289–327. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Vendler, Z. (1957). Verbs and times. Philosophical Review, 561, 143–160. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Vendler, Z. (1967). Verbs and times. Linguistics in Philosophy. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 97–121. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Verkuyl, H. J. (1972). On the Compositional Nature of Aspects. Reidel, Dordrecht. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Verkuyl, H. J. (1989). Aspectual Classes and Aspectual Composition. Linguistics and Philosophy, 39–94. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Verkuyl, H. J. (1993). A theory of Aspectuality. The interaction between temporal and atemporal structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Vlach, F. (1981). The Semantics of the Progressive. In P. I. Tedeschi, & A. Zaenen (Eds.), Syntax and Semantics. Vol 14: Tense and Aspect (pp. 271–292). New York, San Francisco: Academic Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Zdorenko, T., & J. Paradis. (2008). The acquisition of articles in child second language English: fluctuation, transfer or both? Second Language Research, 24(2), 227–250. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
Kabakčiev, Krasimir
2023.
On the temporal values of situation-participant NP referents mapped from Bulgarian perfects with aorist and imperfect participles.
East European Journal of Psycholinguistics ![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.