Chapter 8

Situation types: Aspect

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Correspondence between types of things

and types of situations

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bounded unboundedmultipliable non-multipliableheterogeneous homogeneous

Types of things: objects substances

count nouns mass nouns

car traffic

Types of situations: events states

perfective verbs imperfective verbs

read know

Conceptual recategorization of things and situations

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Things

unbounding: objects > substance

(grinding) car a lot of car

bounding:: substance > object

(packaging) wine three wines

Situations:

imperfectivizing: perfective event > imperfective event

I read a book. > I was reading a book.

perfectivizing?? (imperfective) state > perfective state

I know him. > ??

“Conceptual recategorization” of situations

by means of the progressive aspect

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Bounded (perf) events: maximal viewing frame: external view

Ann cuddled the baby.

Unbounded events withimplicit boundaries: restricted viewing frame: internal view

Ann is cuddling the baby.

Unbounded (imp) states: maximal viewing frame: infinite view

Ann lives with her parents.

Unbounded states withimplicit boundaries: restricted viewing frame: internal view

(temporariness) Ann is living with her parents.

ASPECTUAL CLASS

EXAMPLE

ASPECTUAL FORM

MEANING

SITUATION TYPES: ASPECT

dynamic situations = events (changing)

static situations = states (unchanging)

VIEW OF SITUATIONViewing frame

Maximalexternal view

Restrictedinternal view

Viewing frame

Maximalinfinite view

SITUATIONS

bounded event unbounded eventswith implicit boundaries

unbounded states with implicit boundaries

unbounded state

closed event(entirely contained)

event in progress temporary state lasting state

non-progressive non-progressiveprogressive progressive

Ann cuddled the baby. Ann is cuddling the baby. Ann is living with her parents. Ann lives with her parents.13/04/23 5Cognitive English Grammar

Progressive vs. non-progressive (Matlock 2011)

(1) a. John was painting houses last summer.

b. John painted houses last summer.

How many houses did John paint in (1a) and how many houses did he paint in (1b)?

(2) a. John was driving last weekend.

b. John drove last weekend.

How long (number of minutes or hours) did John drive in (2a) and how long did he drive in (2b)?

 

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Responses

(1) a. John was painting houses last summer.

b. John painted houses last summer.

The average number of houses painted in the progressive sentence (1a) was estimated to be 22, in the non-progressive sentence (1b) almost 14.

(2) a. John was driving last weekend.

b. John drove last weekend.

The average driving time in the progressive sentence (2a) was estimated to be about 21 hours, in the non-progressive sentence (2b) about 12 hours.

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Explanation

Descriptions in the progressive aspect provide an internal perspective of the situation, focus on its ongoingness, and are felt to involve more and longer action than the corresponding descriptions in the simple form.

Descriptions in the non-progressive aspect provide an external perspective and focus on the situation’s boundedness.

These inferences are also reinforced by our ability to simulate descriptions of actions, i.e. we tend to revive experiences that we have been told.

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Accomplishments - tests

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How much time did it take X to do Y?

a. Ann changed the diapers in 30 seconds. / *for 30 seconds

b. It took Ann 30 seconds to change the diapers.

c. Ann finished changing the diapers.

d. Ann changed diapers / *in 30 seconds (= activity)

Accomplishments and accomplishing activities

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I have cleaned the cellar. / I have been cleaning the cellar. I have written a detective novel. / I have been writing a detective novel.The Chinese have been making cars, solar panels, electronics and furniture that outcompete U.S. alternatives. Now they are creating better bank accounts.The developed world is slowly giving up tobacco even as the developing world is falling in love with it.Women are having children later -- and men and women are marrying later.

Activities - tests

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Duration can be asked by How long did X last?

a. Ann rocked the baby for an hour. / *in an hour

b. Little Philip drank milk / bottles of milk.

c. Ann stopped rocking the baby. / *finished rocking the baby.

Bounded and unbounded activities

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Last summer I travelled through Marocco. /

I was travelling through Marocco.

What did you say? / what were you saying?

Who has been drinking from my mug?

The federal debt is as high as it has ever been in the post-1945 period and is growing uncontrollably.

More people are behaving as if they’ll never grow old.

I am looking for somebody perfect.

Beggars are operating on this train.

Achievements and culminating activities

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The wall is falling down – we must shore it up.

The old Europe is ending.

Halloween is approaching.

Yankee Stadium is being sold.

After 42 years, the rule of Lybia’s Muaninar Gaddafi is collapsing.

India and China: Those 2.5 billion people are getting richer by the day.

Privacy issues are getting more urgent and complicated.

Whereas Japan’s middle class was reaching its peak when its economy rivaled the U.S., China’s rising middle class has only begun to emerge.

Achievement verbs in the progressive (1)

He caught a bird. He is catching a bird.

Jennifer was (just) reaching the finish [when she slipped].

Our team was winning until the very end, [when the opposing team scored two goals and won the game].

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Viewing frame

He caught a bird He is catching a bird

Achievement Activity

TERMINAL EVENT FOR ACTIVITY

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Override principle

If a lexical item is semantically incompatible with its morphosyntactic context, the meaning of the lexical item conforms to the meaning of the structure in which it is embedded.

(Laura Michaelis, 2004)

Achievement verbs in the progressive (2)

Our guests arrived. Our guests are arriving.

The Queen is arriving.

Uncle Joe is arriving.

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Viewing frame

Our guest arrived.

Achievement Activity

Our guests are arriving.

TERMINAL EVENT FOR MULTIPLE TERMINAL EVENT

Acts and iterative activities

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He was glancing at me.

Murray just got a new camera and is constantly snapping pictures.

Indefinitely lasting and temporary states

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Two trees stand in the field. /

After the fire, two trees are still standing.

I miss you terribly. / I am missing you terribly.

Americans love their smart phones and Internet television.

I have been wanting to talk to you.

They are doubting your word.

I am actually liking the play.

Afghans are hoping for more security and prosperity.

I was hoping upon hope that that would be the last drama for the weekend.

People are living much longer.

Habitual and temporary habitual states

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I sleep with a gun under my pillow.

I used to sing my children to sleep.

History rarely runs in straight and predictable lines.

I constantly receive junk mail. /

I am constantly receiving junk mail.

Americans are constantly being told the benefits of good health practices, yet we get fatter year by year. Is there hope?

Everlasting states

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Bad news travel fast, good news comes in small packages.

RESULT FOR ACTION: Win this car!

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Potential actions to be carried out

in order to win somethingSome potential actions bringing about the result of winning:

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Telic events

Achievements: punctual, telic (e.g. win)

Accomplishments: durational, telic (e.g. change)

24

Win this car: Blend of situation types

win

achievementpunctual

telic

accomplishmentdurational

telic

Situation types

winco

erce

dblend

accomplishmentaction

result

RESULT FOR ACTION

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Chapter 9

Grounding situations in time: Tense

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Orientation of the time line

1. Horizontal orientation: determined by frontal vision, unbounded, normal direction of motion:

the weeks ahead, the worst behind us

2. Vertical orientation: defined relative to gravity, bounded by the earth:

This football game went down in history.

3. Lateral orientation: defined relative to the front:apparently no time metaphors

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Vertical time in Chinese

Earlier times (events) are ‘up’, later times (events) are ‘down’

shang-ban-tian upper-half-day ‘morning; forenoon’

xia-ban-tian lower-half-day ‘afternoon’

shàn-yuè up-month ‘last month’

xià-yuè down-month ‘next month’

yue-tou month-head/top ‘the beginning of the month’

yue-di month-bottom ‘the end of the month’

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Vertical time in Japanese

jou-jun up-ten ‘first third of a month, UP earlier

chuu-jun middle-ten ‘second third of a month’

ge-jun down-ten ‘last third of a month’ DOWN later

kami-han-ki up-half-period ‘first half of the year’

shimo-han-ki down-half-period ‘second half of the year’

jou-kan up-volume ‘volume 1 of two volumes’

ge-kan down-volume ‘volume 2 of two volumes’

jou-dai up-generation ‘ancient history’

ueno no namae top of name ‘last name’ (written at the top)

shita no namae down of name ‘first name’ (written below)

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Present time in Chinese

The present time sphere coincides with the observer’s position on the time line.

Chinese expressions for present time (Yu 1998):

‘just at-front’, ‘eye-front’, ‘eye-face-front’

‘eye-below’, ‘eye-underneath’

‘foot-under’

‘on hand-existing’

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THE FUTURE IS IN FRONT or BEHIND,

THE PAST IS BEHIND or IN FRONT in Thai

future days:

wan na ‘day face, ahead’

wan lang ‘day back’

next year:

bhee na ‘year face, ahead’

bhee lang ‘year back’

next time, another time:

kraow na ‘time face, ahead’

kraow lang ‘day back’

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Bounded present situations (S = E):

Simple present Performatives: I admit that was a mistake. Deictic present: Here comes the bride. Demonstrations: I beat two eggs like this… Live commentaries: Joe steps up, swings the bat,…

Unbounded present situations (S incl E):

Present progressive and simple present Activities: I am fixing dinner now. It’s raining.

Temporary states: I am living in Olsztyn. Indefinitely lasting states: I like my new job. Everlasting states: Water boils at 100 degrees celsius. Stage direction: Hamlet turns to the ghost…

Bounded past situations (deictic shift):

Simple present Narrative present: Forrest Gump dies and goes to Heaven. Historic present: 135 million years BC: Dinosaurs roam the

land; 70 million years BC: woolly rhinoceros,… Scientific present: Reichenbach (1947) claims that… Summary present: Husband vanishes in the middle of the

night (headline)

Exercises: Simple present

I claim that reason is a self-developing capacity. Kant disagrees with me on this point. He says it’s innate, but I answer that’s begging the question.

(scientific and narrative present)

Rioters stab 2 police. Two policemen were stabbed yesterday when an anti-police march exploded into violence.

(summary present in the headline and past tense in the story)

A guy walks into the local welfare office, marches straight to the counter and says, “Hi, I just hate drawing welfare.”

(narrative present)

Dee comes out of the bedroom. The door closes behind him. (stage direction)

Anterior situations viewed from the present: Present perfect

Anterior bounded telic events:Resultative perfect: Grandpa has repaired the truck.

Anterior bounded atelic situations:Inferential (experiential) perfect: The nurse has cuddled

the baby. Anterior recent situations:

Recent perfect: I’ve just talked to my lawyer. Anterior phase of states or habits:

Continuative perfect: I have known Smith for 10 years. I have studies at the University of Warmia and Mazury for

10 years.

Exercises: Present perfect I have broken my leg.

(anterior bounded telic event: resultative perfect)

Man has been a land-based creature for the past 15 million years.(anterior phase of state: continuative perfect)

I have studied Chinese for a year.(anterior bounded atelic event: inferential perfect)

I’ve just read about the earthquake in the paper.(anterior recent event: recent perfect)

Since 1948, all of the world chess champions have been Russians. (Bobby Fischer was champion from 1972-75. When was the sentence said?)

(anterior phase of habit: continuative perfect)

Exercises: Present perfect progressive

I have been waiting for you since last night.(anterior unbounded event: inferential perfect progressive)

I have been wanting to marry you.(anterior phase of temporary state: continuative perfect progressive)

For 500 years teachers have been standing in front of their classes, writing with chalk on a blackboard.

(anterior phase of habit: continuative perfect progressive)

What have you been doing all these years?(anterior unbounded event: inferential perfect progressive)

I have been consulting many doctors.

(anterior unbounded event: inferential perfect progressive)

Bounded past situations: Simple past

Succession of events: I grabbed his arm and I twisted it up … and there was a knife on the table and he just picked it up.

Exercises: Simple past

Tom borrowed $100 from me. (vs. Tom has borrowed …)(bounded past event: detachment from the present)

When I turned off the light, it was pitch-dark around me.(bounded past situations seen as sequence: narrative)

It was four o’ clock when the ceremony was over and the carriages began to arrive.

(bounded past situations seen as sequence: narrative)

Did you see the mailman today? – Yeah, I just saw him. (American English, in BE recent present perfect)

Would you like some supper? – No thanks, I already ate. (American English, in BE recent present perfect)

Unbounded past situations: Past progressive and simple past

Incidence schema: background event: How fast was the car going when it crashed?

I was in New York when the earthquake started.

Inconclusive event: I was talking to Mr Green.

Exercises: Past progressive

Eye witness Richard was driving behind the coach when the accident happened.

(unbounded past situation; incidence schema)

Paddy was walking down the by the canal when he saw a man throw himself in the water.

I was coming in the back door when I was stuck on the forehead.

There I was, sitting in my swing on my front porch on a warm spring evening, when a young man comes creeping up on the porch and sat down beside me.

(unbounded past situation, incidence schema, shift to narrative present, and back to narrative past)

Anterior situation viewed from the past:

Past perfect and past progressiveRetrospective stance to anterior situation:

When I got to the station the train had already left.

Incidence schema: background event: They had been drinking, That’s why they didn’t find their way home.

Future time: Future tenses

Predicted future: We’ll have a little sunshine tomorrow.

Matter-of-course future: We’ll be handling everything tomorrow.

Deictic shifts:

Intentional future: I’m going to get married.

Contingent future: It’s going to rain.

Planned future: We’re getting married this summer.

Scheduled future: The summer school ends on Wednesday.

Background future: If I see your sun, I’ll send him home.

Exercises: Future tense forms The tile over there is going to fall off the roof.

(contingent future)

The tile over there will fall off the roof.(predicted future)

We are getting engaged in the course of the spring. (planned future)

When I pass the exam I’ll throw a gigantic party.(background future)

You’ll be hearing from me. (matter-of-course future)

Chapter 10

Grounding situations in potentiality: Modality

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Modality

Modality is concerned with the speaker‘s assessment of, or attitude towards, the potentiality of a state of affairs.

Sue must/should/may/might be at home. Her car is parked in front of her house.

Time of modal situations

Epistemic modality applies to present or future situations:

Juliet may be home already.

Juliet may be home by tomorrow.

Deontic modality applies to future situations only:

You may sit down now.

Central modals of English lack of non-finite forms (infinitive *to must, present participle

*musting, past participle *musted) because of their grounding function;

lack of 3rd person singular present tense inflection (*He mays); lack of past tense forms, except can of ‘ability’, as in She could

already play the piano when she was five; The “distal forms” might, could, and should do not refer to past time but convey tentative modal meanings;

no use as a main verb (*I can English); no co-occurrence with another modal (*I must may show you), except

in certain dialects, e.g. in Texas, Arkansas (You might could be right) and in Scottish English (You shouldn’t ought to have done that).

Force dynamics of modality

(4) a. You must go home. (deontic) obligation

‘The force of my authority compels you to go home.’

b. This must be right. (epistemic) necessity

‘The force of available evidence [evolutionary momentum] compels me to conclude that this is right.’

(5) a. You may go home. (deontic) permission

‘I relinquish the force of my authority that could bar you from going home.’

b. This may be right. (epistemic) possibility

‘I relinquish the force of potential counter-evidence that could bar me from inferring that this is right.’

Types of modality

1. Epistemic modality is concerned with the speaker’s assessment of the potentiality of a state of affairs, as in You must be right.

2. Root modalities

a) Deontic modality is concerned with the speaker’s directive attitude towards an action to be carried out, as in You must go now.

b) Intrinsic modality is concerned with potentialities arising from speaker-external sources, i.e. from intrinsic qualities of a thing or circumstances, as in The meeting can be cancelled ‘it is possible for the meeting to be cancelled’.

c) Disposition modality is concerned with a thing’s or person’s intrinsic potential of being actualised; in particular abilities, as in I can play the guitar.

Compelling modalities

(6) a. You must lock the door. [deontic obligation]

b. The door must be locked.

‘it is necessary for the door to be locked’[intrinsic necessity]

‘it is necessarily the case that the door is locked’[epistemic necessity]

Compelling modalities

obligation intrinsic necessity epistemic necessity

subjective external to speaker subj. external

strong: must, have (got) to, must, have to have got to must have got to

neutral: need to will

weak: should, should, should, ought to (ought to) (ought to)

Obligation: must is stronger than have to.

Necessity: have to is stronger than must.