english tense-aspect constructions and the aspect conceptual space

8/13/2019 English tense-aspect constructions and the aspect conceptual space

1/33

2. English tense-aspect constructions and the aspectconceptual space

2.1. The English TA constructions that define aspectual classes

Any linguistically valid classification of linguistic units, such as classes of predicates,must be based on the occurrence of members of the categories in constructions of thelanguage, and their interpretation in those constructions. This is the fundamental principleupon which Radical Construction Grammar (Croft 2001) is built. Therefore, a classificationof predicates in aspectual terms must be developed by examining the occurrence of thosepredicates in the relevant constructions of the language. The relevant constructions are thosewhose meaning involves the temporal and qualitative structure of the situations denoted bythe predicates, that is, the TA constructions of the language.

The English TA constructions used for the aspectual classification presented in thischapter are summarized below (more detailed definitions of (i)-(iii) are found in 2.5).

(i) Present Tense, as used for present time reference. This is only the simple Presenttense, inflected on the predicate (or copula, if present). It does not include the PresentProgressive or the Present Perfect.

(ii) (Present) Progressive. The Progressive is assumed to behave the same way in past aswell as present time reference.

(iii) Past Tense, as used for past time reference. This is only the simple Past tense,inflected on the predicate (or copula, if present). It does not include the PastProgressive or Past Perfect.

(iv) Durative Adverbial. This is the temporal adverbial of the form [for

TimeInterval], asinfor three hours. The Durative Adverbial describes the length time occupied by therelevant part of a phase of the situation. The Durative Adverbial profiles the phasewhose temporal length is measured.

(v) Container Adverbial. This is the temporal adverbial of the form [inTimeInterval], asin in three hours. The Container Adverbial describes the length time occupied by therelevant part of a phase of the situation. The Container Adverbial profiles the phasewhose temporal length is measured.

(vi) Interval Locative Adverbial. This is the temporal adverbial of the form [on/inTimeLocation], as in on Mondayor in 1975. The Interval Locative Adverbialdescribes an interval on the t dimension which includes the profiled phase of the event

takes place.

(vii) Punctual Locative Adverbial. This is the temporal adverbial of the form [atTimeLocation], as in at three oclock. The Punctual Locative adverbial describes thepoint on the t dimension at which the profiled phase of the event takes place.

I have been deliberately evasive about more precise semantic definitions of the TAconstructions of English, particularly (i)-(iii) but also (iv)-(v). This is because a generalsemantic definition of these TA constructions can only be justified by observing the behaviorof predicates of different siotuation types in those constructions. I will argue that for the mostpart, a general semantic definition is possible for the TA constructions in (i)-(vii). Thearguments for these definitions will be given in the rest of this chapter.

The constructions in (i)-(vii) are not the only TA constructions in English. Certain otherTA constructions will be discussed in 2.2 and 2.5.5. These constructions are profile-

19 8/2000


2/33

2 English tense-aspect and the aspect conceptual space

changing constructions, such as the inceptive, completive and terminative; and the EnglishPerfect, whose semantics is particularly challenging but is only sketchily analyzed here.

Finally, we must also introduce two important semantic interpretations that are foundwith certain situation types, the habitual and generic interpretations. The habitualinterpretation of a sentence like I eat cheesedescribes a repeated sequence of events that is

characteristic of a particular individual. Thus, the regular occurrence of the event is in effectconstrued as an inherent state of the relevant individual under a sufficiently coarse-grainedscalar adjustment on both the t and dimensions. The generic interpretation of the samesentence directly describes an inherent state of the individual. For example, the predicatephrase eat cheeseinI eat cheesecharacterizes an inherent property of the Subject referent: itmeans that I am not allergic to dairy products, or my religious beliefs are not incompatiblewith eating cheese.

In other words, both the habitual and generic readings are construals of the situation as aninherent state of an individual; however, the construals are based on different experientialfacts. In other words, the analysis in the preceding paragraph is a conceptual explanation ofthe semantics of predicates in constructions which permit or require a habitual or generic

interpretation.

The two-dimensional analysis of aspect allows us to describe the range of aspectual typesof situations in English (and other languages) with a relatively simple model of aspectualstructure. The representation of the aspectual semantics of situations as contours of thehistories of participants in a two-dimensional t/ space also allows us to give perspicuousdefinitions of a wide range of TA constructions in English and other languages. This chapterwill briefly propose definitions of TA constructions in English. The definitions proposed herewill be largely monosemous. This may be a too simplistic approach to the definitions of TAconstructions (see Croft 1999, 2001 [chapter 3] for arguments questioning monosemousanalyses). Polysemy analyses may prove to be more fruitful in the long run, especially forextending the aspectual analysis to other languages (see for example 2.5.5).

In this chapter, I will offer analyses of relatively straightforward constructions in 2.2-2.4, and turn to the more complex problem of the basic TA constructions of EnglishPresent, Progressive and Pastin 2.5.

2.2. Profile-changing constructions

The simplest sort of conceptualization processes are those that merely shift the profile ofthe situation to some other phase of the aspectual contour. They require relatively fewalterations of the aspectual contour itself.

Most profile-changing constructions profile a transition. Inceptive constructionssuch asstart/begin to VERB or become VERB profile the inception of the event; the rest of the

aspectual contour is in the base.9 The following diagram illustrates the inception of anactivity as in She started to dance(the light gray outlined box represents an unprofiledschematic process; see the Appendix for the notation):

9Becomeis used with Nonverbal predicates (those that require the Copula be in English). There appear to be

subtle semantic differences between startand begin; I will not attempt to identify those differences here.

20 8/2000


3/33


Figure 1. Aspectual type of inceptive constructions

t

The hatching indicates that the phase following the inception is schematic for any type ofprocess (directed or undirected), and the absence of an outline indicates that the schematicprocess is not part of the constructions profile.

This and all following diagrams of the aspectual types of constructions should beinterpreted as follows:

Predicate construal: a predicate can be used in the construction if the aspectual type ofthe construction is available as a construal (conventional or nonconventional) for thatpredicate in that construction.

Inceptive constructions are compatible with all aspectual classes in English except thoseconstrued only as original inherent states:10

(1) Ethnicity: *She started/began to be Ukrainian.

Completive constructionssuch as succeed in VERB-ing or manage to VERBprofile onlythe completive phase; again, the rest of the aspectual contour is in the base. Figure 2illustrates the completive of the reversible directed accomplishment construal in example 2:

(2) I managed to wash the floor.

Figure 2. Aspectual type of completive constructions

t

10In this and most subsequent examples, I have labeled the example with the situation type of the relevant

predicate (see 6). The situation type labels are capitalized since the categories are English-specific, defined interms of their distribution and interpretation in English TA constructions. However, the names themselves arechosen to evoke the semantic situation type associated with the language-specific category.

21 8/2000


4/33


Completive constructions are compatible with all predicates construed as events (boundedprocesses). For at least some normally unbounded situation types, the inception phase can beconstrued as the completion of a runup process:

(3) Performance: She finally succeeded in singing.

The completive constructions also require a subject that is construed as responsible forthe outcome:

(4) Change of Possession:I succeeded in losing my umbrella.(5) Directed Motion: ?The ball managed to slip out of his hands.

Terminative constructions, such as stop/quit VERB-ing, add and profile a terminativephase; the rest of the contour after the termination is eliminated. Figure 3 illustrates aterminative construction with an activity construal such as She stopped dancing(the emptybox is schematic for any aspectual type of situation, including states):

Figure 3. Aspectual type of terminative constructions

t

The constructionfinish VERB-ing profiles a completive phase in the verb stems aspectualcontour if there is one; if there is no completive phase, it adds a terminative phase:

(6) a. Consumption:11I finished reading the book.b. Performance:I finished singing.

Inceptive, completive, and terminative constructions andfinishall require the event to beextended in both t and :

(7) a. Fracture: *I finished breaking the window.b. Attainment: *I finished reaching the summit.

c. Bodily State: *I finished being ill.d. Ethnicity: *I finished being an American.

Finishis itself a runup achievement:

(8) Completion:John is finishing washing the dishes.

If a terminative construction is applied to an accomplishment aspectual type, then itsubstitutes a termination for the completion:

(9) Consumption:I stopped reading the book.

11I analyze reading as metaphorical consumption of the information in the thing read. This categorization maynot be appropriate in other analyses, but it suffices to characterize the aspectual behavior of readwith respect to

the aspectual constructions considered here.

22 8/2000


5/33


When I stop reading the book, I have returned to the rest state, that is, not reading thebook. The resulting aspectual contour represents a directed activity (followed by an r-transition) rather than an accomplishment:

Figure 4. Aspectual type ofI stopped reading the book

t

not reading

reading

One might wonder what happens to the aspectual contour after the termination. There isnothing preventing me from eventually taking up the book again from where I left off, andfinishing it. This would require a new inception phase up to the point where I left off. Such anew inception would be profiled by a resumptive construction, as inI resumed reading thebook.

One can also use a resumptive construction with activities (unbounded processes) as wellas accomplishments: I resumed singing.The difference between the two is that when oneresumes an accomplishment, one can continue where one left off, because even a terminated

accomplishment is a directed activity; but when one resumes an undirected activity, there isno measurable verbal scale to designate where one left off. So the terminative constructionwith an accomplishment prunes off the rest of the aspectual contour, but the resumptiveconstruction has the original process in the base. Hence, the proper diagram for I resumedreading the bookis Figure 5:

Figure 5. Aspectual type ofI resumed reading the book

t

read

not reading

reading

The resultative adjective construction, as in be broken, be terrified, be purified, etc.,profiles the result state phase alone; the rest of the aspectual contour is in the base. Theresultative adjective construction is illustrated in Figure 6 for a reversible directed

achievement such as She was terrified:

23 8/2000


6/33


Figure 6. Aspectual type of resultative adjective construction

t

Finally, an iterative adverbial (once, twice, X times) bounds an situation (includingtransitory states) and multiplies its occurrence the requisite number of times. The bounding isnatural with accomplishments or achievements (I read the book twice, The light flashed

twice). If the situation type is unbounded, then a termination is added, as in She danced twiceor She was mayor of San Rafael twice: The iterative adverbial construction is represented inFigure 7 (Figure 7 should be interpreted as representing a final phrase of each unit schematicover completion and termination, even though the representation is as a termination):

Figure 7. Aspectual type of iterative adverbial construction

t

An iterative adverbial cannot be applied to situations construed as inherent states, or asirreversible achievements or accomplishments:

(10) a. Ethnicity: *He was Polish three times.b. Dying: *She died twice.

If an iterative adverbial induces a reversible interpretation to an irreversible process (as inThe washing machine broke three times last year), this should be treated as a boundingconstrual, profiling inceptive and terminative phases to each occurrence, analogous to thecontextually provided bounding found with coercions of mass nouns in the countingconstruction (e.g. Two soups, please).

2.3. Temporal adverbials

A temporal locative adverbialspecifies that the profiled part of the situation is includedin the part of the time dimension profiled by the temporal adverbial. Temporal locativeadverbials can specify a time point or a time interval. Thus, for point temporal locations, the

profile of the situation must be construable as a point. As noted in 1.2.2, transitory states canbe so construed but inherent states cannot. Transitory states can be true of a point of time, but

24 8/2000


7/33


inherent states can only be true of an entire history of an individual.12 Figure 8 indicateslocative adverbials as a region in the t/ space within which the profiled part of the aspectualcontour must occur:

Figure 8. Aspectual structure of temporal location adverbials

t tIntervalPoint

Unbounded transitory situations (that is, transitory states and activities) may undergo aprofile shift to their inception with point temporal locations:

(11) Performance:At 5:00 they danced.[they started dancing].

This is a widespread construal (see 2.5.4). Accomplishments, on the other hand, must bereconstrued as achievements, otherwise they are uninterpretable with point temporal locativeadverbials:

(12) a. Consumption:At 5:15 she read my message.b. Consumption: *At 5:15 she read War and Peace.

Inherent states are incompatible with temporal locative adverbials:13

(13) a. Physical Property: *She was tall on Tuesday.b. Ethnicity: *She was an American at 2:15pm.

The reason for this is that the full extent of the situationfrom inception to terminationor completionmust be included in the temporal interval, and an inherent state cannot be soincluded. That is, temporal locative adverbials require an inception and a termination orcompletion in the aspectual contour of the situation, and inherent states lack an inception ortermination.

A durative adverbialmeasures a profiled temporal interval after the first transition phasein the situations aspectual contour for the relevant tense. The aspectual type of a durativeadverbial is given in Figure 9:

12There is the past habitual/generic construction used to Verb, in which a situation is construed as inherent

during a past era, but is not necessarily inherent now; see 2.4 for discussion.

13These sentences can be acceptable only if they are construed as transitory states, e.g. if she was tall onTuesday because she had platform shoes on that day, or if they are construed as achievements, e.g. she becamean American at that moment because the judge declared her to have become a US citizen.

25 8/2000


8/33


Figure 9. Aspectual type of durative adverbial

t Interval

In most cases, the first transition phase is the inception phase. Achievements do notprofile the phase after the transition, so they are unacceptable with durative adverbials (14).

(14) Disintegration: *The glass shattered for five minutes.

Inherent states do not have any transition phase in their aspectual contour, so areunacceptable with durative adverbials (unless construed as transitory states):

(15) Physical Property: *She was tall for six months.

Many situation types usually construed as directed achievements or cyclic achievementscan be construed as activities with a durative adverbial (see 2.5.3):

(16) a. Sound Emission: The mouse squeaked for thirty seconds, then ran away.b. Winning: They were winning for the first half of the game.

The representation of a typical locative adverbial expression is given in Figure 10 for Iwas ill on Tuesday:

Figure 10. Aspectual contour forI was ill on Tuesday.

t Tuesday

be ill

An apparent problem arises with the interpretation of temporal locative adverbials anddurative adverbials in combination with a transitory state or process (the usual combinationfor the latter type of adverbial). The sentence I was ill on Tuesdayusually implies that I wasill only on Tuesday. But the durative adverbial can be used in a context in which perhaps Ifell ill before Tuesday and didnt recover until after Tuesday; but all that is relevant to thepurposes of the conversation is what happened on Tuesday. Likewise,I ran from 3pm to 4pm

usually implies that I began running at 3pm and stopped at 4pm, but one can imagine

26 8/2000


9/33


contexts in which only what happens during that hour is relevant, and it may be that I beganrunning before 3pm and/or stopped running after 4pm.

I adopt an analysis in which the semantic representation of the durative adverbial profilesonly the time interval that is specified by the durative adverbial (see Figure 8 as well asFigure 10). In this analysis, the contexts in which the inception and completion are not

entailed are the result of the construal operation of relevanceor selection(Langacker 1987),in which only the profiled part of the aspectual contour is asserted, and the unprofiled part ofthe contour, in this case the inception and termination of the transitory state or activity, iseliminated.

These examples are identical to the classical Gricean example ofI drank two pints, whichnormally means only two pints were consumed but can be used in contexts where more thantwo pints were consumed. One argument in favor of the selection analysis is that there is nocontext in which the speaker intends the meaning of a sentence like I drank two pintsto beunderstood as at least two; if the semantic representation of twowere at least two, thenthis should be possible.14The contexts whereI drank two pintsappears to mean at least twoare in fact contexts in which it is asserted that two pints were drunk, and any additional pints

are deemed to be irrelevant to the situation. Likewise, there is no context in which the speakerintends the meaning of I was ill on Tuesday to be understood as I was ill for at leastTuesday.

The fact that transitory states are acceptable with point locative adverbials, e.g. She wasin the railway station at 10amunder the noninceptive reading, should also be explained asdue to the relevance construal: the point in time indicated by the point locative adverbial isthe only one relevant to the conversation, and it does not matter that she may have been (andprobably was) in the railway station for some time before 10am and some time after 10am.Durative processes, however, are not acceptable with point locative adverbials, because asingle point in time is insufficient to represent the nature of a durative process; only aninterval of time will do.

A container adverbialmeasures the temporal interval up to last salient transition phasein the aspectual contour. This interval is always a process, directed in the case ofaccomplishments, undirected in the case of runup achievements. The schematic processspecified by the container adverbial is indicated by a dark gray outlined box:

Figure 11. Aspectual type of container adverbial

t Interval

In other words, the container adverbial requires construal of the situation as an event,either an accomplishment or a runup achievement. The distribution of the container adverbialwill be described in more detail in the analysis of the English Past tense in 2.5.4.

14I am grateful to Esther J. Wood for pointing this out to me.

27 8/2000


10/33


2.4. Constructions with a projected course of events

One of the motivations for a semantic representation that does not explicitly include thetermination phase in the aspectual contour of unbounded situations is to capture thegeneralization that the inception and completion transitions are the only ones relevant to thedefinition of the container adverbial. This generalization is not restricted to container

adverbials; it is relevant to a number of different constructions, in English and in otherlanguages. In English, the Prospective (be about to), Conative (try to Verb) and AlmostVERB constructions profile a portion of the event just before the inception or completionphase. The standard example is the Directed Motion predicate cross:

(17) a. Sarah almost crossed the river.b. Sarah was about to cross the river.c. Sarah tried to cross the river.

The sentences in 16 could used to describe a process which halted before Sarah steppedinto the river (inception) or before Sarah reached the other side (completion). The aspectualtype of the Prospective, Conative andAlmostconstructions is given in Figure 12:

Figure 12. Aspectual type of Prospective, Conative and Almostconstructions

t

The Prospective, Conative andAlmostconstructions all illustrate an important facet of theinterpretation of events. A sentence like He is about to jump off the bridgedoes not implythat in fact he did jump off the bridge; perhaps he was persuaded not to. Similarly, Theyalmost ate the entire roast pigdoes not imply that they finished it (in fact, the past tensecombined with almostimplies that they did not do so).

One might argue that there should not be an unprofiled aspectual contour extending intothe future beyond the profiled yet not-quite-carried-out part of the aspectual contour becausewe do not know what will happen beyond the present moment. However, these possible(though avertable) outcomes do fit the definition of a semantic frame: information necessaryfor understanding the meaning of the profiled concept, in this case the profiled part of theevent. For example, there is a big difference in meaning between He is about to jump off thebridge and He is standing on the bridge, and that difference is clearly due to the expectedcourse of events implied in the former sentence but absent in the latter.

Our understanding of the difference in meaning of the two sentences necessarily requiresour understanding of the different projected course of events in jumping off a bridge and

just standing on it. Hence, the expected course of events in jumping off a bridge must berepresented in the semantic frame for He is about to jump off the bridge, even if he iseventually persuaded not to.

The resolution of this paradox is that any description of events in time necessarily has anirrealis or hypothetical modal component for a situation beyond its profiled (asserted) part,

28 8/2000


11/33


even when that assertion is in a positive, indicative, declarative sentence. My statement thathe is about to jump off the bridge is of course based on my perception of what I think willhappen, possibly guided by his declaration of intention; but the anticipated (feared) event isnot a fact. This is also true in past time reference, where the irrealis modality is epistemic (Iknow that he almost jumped off the bridge at some past time, but I dont know if hesubsequently did jump off the bridge).

Another, better known example of this fact is the fact that the future tense also has anirrealis modal component: a declarative assertion of a future event is always a prediction ora declaration of intention on the part of the agent of the action. A proper analysis of futuretense and projected courses of events would be a full-fledged mental space model(Facuonnier 1994) elaborating the time dimension.

As a matter of fact, Fauconnier argues that times are themselves mental spaces. Eachtemporal mental space would be a vertical slice in the t/ diagram, and would include allsituations in the time slice. Such an analysis would be an elaboration of the simplerepresentation of time as a linear dimension used here. However, the mental space model oftime can easily be extended to account for the aspectual behavior of irrealis contexts, such as

a future projected course of events that may not actually take place, or negative propositionswhich Fauconnier also analyzes in mental-space terms.

Another example where a mental space analysis of time is necessary is in the analysis ofthe past habitual/generic construction used to VERB, in which some situation is construed asinherent during a past era, but is not necessarily inherent now. The best way to analyze pastvs. present habituals is by utilizing mental spaces to represent a past era mental space inwhich the state of affairs is construed as inherent, which is different from the present era.

The irrealis character of the contour of an event beyond its profiled part will be taken forgranted for the rest of this analysis; the reader should remember that the semanticrepresentation does not imply that the unprofiled part of an aspectual contour after theprofiled part actually took place or will take place.15

2.5. The basic tense-aspect constructions of English

2.5.1. A conceptual space for aspect in English

The characterization of the basic tense-aspect inflections and periphrastic constructions ofEnglish pose the most interesting and complex set of construals in the analysis of Englishaspect. There are an enormous number of different aspectual classes of English predicates,based on their acceptability and interpretation in the Present, Progressive and Past tenses.And this is only part of the whole story. Clearly, one would like to organize the aspectualclasses in a coherent fashion in accordance with their aspectual behavior.

The analysis of the distribution patterns of aspectual classes of predicates is presentedhere in a Radical Construction Grammar framework (Croft 2001). Radical ConstructionGrammar is a model of syntactic representation that marries the distributional method ofsyntactic analysis with the cross-linguistic method of analysis found in typological theory. InRadical Construction Grammar, constructions, such as the English TA constructions, are theprimitive units of syntactic representation, and categories, such as aspectual classes ofpredicates, are derived from the roles they play in various constructions. It is expected thatdistribution patterns (i.e. categories) will vary from construction to constructionand theyalways do, in any careful analysis. Hence, the mapping between constructions and the units

15Note that the Terminative constructions differ from the Prospective, Conative andAlmostconstructions in that

termination entails that the situation is abandoned and the participants return to the rest state, and this state of

affairs can change only with the resumption of the process/transitory state. The Prospective and Conativeconstructions do not entail termination. (Almostimplicates termination because it is combined with the simple

past, which requires a state including the present time point in the base; see 2.5.3.)

29 8/2000


12/33


filling roles in constructions is many-to-many. As a consequence, the coherence ingrammatical organization must emerge from outside purely syntactic distribution patterns.

Coherence in grammatical organization is largely established by the semantics of theconstructions and the categories that are defined by the constructions. The meanings ofconstructions and distribution classes (categories) are organized into a conceptual space.

Distribution patterns are mapped onto regions of conceptual space, yielding semantic maps,used more and more widely in typology. Semantic maps of constructional categories inconceptual space are also used for different constructions in a single language. In fact,Radical Construction Grammar argues that this is the only proper way to represent language-internal grammatical categories.

The central principle governing the structure of conceptual space is the Semantic MapConnectivity Hypothesis (Croft 2001, 2.4.2): maps of particular categories must occupy aconnected region in conceptual space. In practical terms, this means that the analyst lays outthe structure of conceptual space in such a fashion that all (or almost all) categories definedby construction roles occupy connected regions in conceptual space.

The conceptual space for verbal aspect, based on the English Present, Progressive andPast constructions, is given in Map 1 (after page 49). Map 1 includes 44 different situationtypes. The 44 classes are mostly intransitive verbs, although some transitive verbs andambitransitive (intransitive and transitive) verbs are included. (Since multi-participant eventsinvolve causal as well as aspectual structure, their aspectual analysis is deferred until laterchapters on aspect and causal structure.) The situation types are named and one or twoexamples are given for each type. In fact, one should not generalize too far beyond theexamples given in Map 1. Careful grammatical analysis will almost certainly reveal differentpatterns of grammatical behavior even for very similar predicates. For example, even in Map1, some situation types such as Disintegration must be split up into more than one aspectualclass.

There are letter codes found under the class names for each situation type. Each lettercorresponds to a particular sense of each of the three constructions found with the situationtype of the predicates. The individual letter codes will be explained in 2.5.2-2.5.4, in thedescription of the three constructions. The first set of codes refers to the Present, the secondto the Progressive, and the third to the Past. As the reader can observe, a particular predicatemay have more than one interpretation in a given construction.

The lines connect neighboring situation types in the conceptual space that share at leastone distribution pattern, as described by the letter codes under the situation type names. Thelines differ in thickness depending on how many distribution patterns are shared by theneighboring types, and represent a somewhat crude measurement of nearness in theconceptual space. A single-thickness line linking two situation types means that they share atleast one sense in one of the three constructions (Present, Progressive, Past). A double-

thickness line indicates that the types share at least one sense in two of the threeconstructions. A triple-thickness line indicates that the types share at least one sense in allthree constructions. If all senses in all three constructions are shared, the situation types aregrouped together in a box.

Ideally, the structure of conceptual space will make conceptual sense. That is, meaningsthat are aspectually similar will be contiguous in conceptual space, and meanings that areaspectually dissimilar will not be contiguous in conceptual space. Map 1 does appear to makeconceptual sense, on the whole. The following sections first give an overview of the differentsenses or uses found with each construction, and how they are mapped onto the conceptualspace of Map 1. In 2.6, I will use the conceptual space for a more nuanced description of theaspectual structure of events.16

16I have left out predicates construed as point states from Map 1. Point states are unique in that they either havea point state construal or are largely uninterpretable.

30 8/2000


13/33


Before continuing with the presentation, we must set out principles by which differentuses of the Present, Progressive and Past constructions are individuated. I being by delimitingthe semantic intepretations of the three TA constructions, and then turn to general principleson individuating the uses of three TA constructions to be mapped onto the conceptual space.

The Present tense uses considered here include fixed present time reference only. The

Futurate Present, as in The plane LEAVES at 10am on Tuesday, is excluded because it hasfuture time reference. The Historical Present, as in I was in the park yesterday and this guyCOMESup to me and SAYS, is excluded because it has past time reference. The SportscasterPresent, as inHeRUNSdown the fieldHe KICKSthe ballHe SCORES!, is excluded becauseit involves a moving present time reference, proceeding with actions being described (it issort of like the Historical Present as the narrative unfolds).

All uses of the Progressive are considered. I have even included cases such as Hisbehavior is annoying, since the adjectival -ing can be analyzed as an inherent stateconstrual, and I have allowed differences in argument structure (cf. His behavior annoyedme). The Present and Past Progressive have the same delimitation as the simple Present andPast tenses. Thus, for example, the Futurate Present Progressive use, as in The plane IS

LEAVINGat 10 oclock, is excluded.

The Past tense uses considered her include realis past time reference only. Thus, theSubjunctive Past, as inHe wishes he was in California, is excluded because it is irrealis (andnot even counterfactual past time reference as well).

In the identification of acceptual construal of the predicate in a particular TAconstructions, referent specificity is fixed, but argument structure, referent type and adverbialsupport are allowed to vary.

The argument referent of each argument in the TA construction is allowed only to be asingle, specific referent. This excludes accomplishment construals based on derivedincremental theme/verbal scale. For example, *We visited the fair in six daysdoes not allowthe accomplishment construal, but the holistic theme may be quantified and thus allows anaccomplishment construal, as in FIVE MILLION TOURISTSvisited the fair in six months. Thisconstraint also excludes directed activity readings of accomplishment verbs withindeterminate holistic theme arguments. For example, *?I wrote A LETTER all afternoon isonly marginally acceptable, but I wrote LETTERSall afternoon is perfectly fine, because ofthe indeterminate holistic theme. Finally, this constraint also excludes the habitual construalof irreversible directed processes with the role interpretation of an argument. For example,one could say that MY LEMMING drowns every weekis acceptable under an interpretation inwhich every week I buy a lemming from the pet shop and every week the lemming that Ibought drowns (Bernard Comrie, pers. comm.). This is due to the fact that the noun phrasemy lemmingallows a role reading, i.e. whatever lemming fills the role of my pet at thetime in question. The specific referent reading requires that it be one and the same lemming,

and under that reading, the habitual construal of drownis impossible.

The argument structure is allowed to vary for a given predicate, as long as the situationtype (semantic frame, in Fillmores terms) remains the same. Thus, I allow a genericconstrual for sleep because of sentences like This soft SLEEPS two, even though it has adifferent argument structure than I SLEPTon the sofa, because the situation type is the same,namely a person engaged in sleeping at a location. On the other hand, The catRANawayisdistinguished from This car RUNSperfectly, since they describe different situations (animallocomotion vs. mechanical operation)

The referent type is allowed to vary for a given argument. Thus, I consider be dryto haveboth an inherent state and a transitory state construal, even though the inherent state construal

is only possible when the subject is a geographical region or climate (The Mojave Desert isextremely dry), and the transitory state construal is possible with a wider range of referenttypes (The clothes are dry).

31 8/2000


14/33


Finally, if a construal is possible with a predicate only with adverbial support, it istreated the same way as predicates that do not require adverbial support. Some aspectual typeconstruals are available for a predicate in a TA construction only with the support of anappropriate adverbial. For example, while one can give a generic construal to I eat diary

productswithout any adverbial phrase to coax the construal, a generic construal can be givento predicates like read as in This book reads easily only with the support of the adverb

easily(cf. *This book reads). Construals available only with adverbial support are consideredvalid instances of the construal.

These choices can vary, of course: one could differentiate between optional and requiredadverbial support, fix argument structure variation, and allow referent specificity to vary, forexample. I made these choices to maximize the distinguishability in terms of aspectual classfor the predicates examined.

With these assumptions made explicit, we may now turn to the principles used todistinguish different senses of an English TA construction.

If the construction interpretation represents a distinct aspectual type, then the

interpretation is classified as a distinct constructional sense. For example, in the Past tense,some predicates such as was illare construed as transitory states and others such as dancedare construed as undirected activities; hence these are treated as two distinct senses of thePast. In the case of the Progressive, the aspectual type is defined by the input to theProgressive, since the resulting construal is always a transitory state (i.e. being in the middleof a durative process).

On the whole, however, I did not differentiate the three types of resulting state phases ofachievements and eventspoint state (cyclic), transitory state (reversible) and inherent state(irreversible). This is because for the most part, the aspectual type of the resulting state phaseis fixed for each predicate. If the state is not fixed for each predicate, as with statesthemselves, the types of state involved are distinguished.

If there are two apparent interpretations that have the same aspectual type, then they aredifferentiated only if their distributions partially overlap. For example, the generic andhabitual senses of the Present are both inherent state construals, but their distributions (maps)partially overlap. That is, some but not all predicates are ambiguous between an inherent anda habitual reading. For example, She is hungry every two hours is acceptable, but She ishungrycannot be conventionally construed as an inherent state. This contrasts with I eatdairy products (every day/I am not allergic to them). So the habitual and genericinterpretations are treated as distinct senses of the Present. For the same reason, inherent andtransitory states are distinguished, because there is partial overlap in the Physical Statesituation type (be dry, cool, etc.; see above)

If there is perfect, complete overlap, the two senses are not distinguished. For example, if

we had not assumed referent specificity, then every predicate that allows an accomplishmentconstrual in the Past (I wrote a letter) would also allow a directed activity construal in thePast (I wrote letters), and vice versa. Hence the directed activity construal due to lack ofreferent specificity cannot be empirically differentiated from the accomplishment construalwhen the referent is specific. For this reason, I do not differentiate these two senses (that is, Ihave assumed referent specificity).

If there is no overlap between two similar construals, then those construals are grouped asa single sense.For example, the iterative interpretation of the Progressive, as in The light is

flashing, is an undirected activity construal, just like the normal undirected activity construalof verbs such as swim, as in She is swimming. But these two undirected activityinterpretations are in complementary distribution. The iterative interpretation is found only

with those predicates that also have a cyclic achievement (semelfactive) interpretation in thepast (The light flashed once). Hence the iterative interpretation of the Progressive is groupedunder the undirected activity sense of the Progressive.

32 8/2000


15/33


2.5.2. The English Present tense construction.

The Present tense construes the event denoted by the verb stem as a state, that is, asunextended on the dimension. The profiled part of the reconceptualized verb stem includesthe present moment; the present tense profiles that point only.

Figure 13. The aspectual type of the Present tense

tPresent

The Present tense has four different construals, which define four different subtypes ofthe Present construction. The first construal is as an inherent or generic property of anindividual (coded as 1I in the maps; 1 refers to Present as the first construction in the codingof the situation types). For some predicates, this is the most common construal of thatpredicate:

(18) a. Natural Kinds: The bracelet is silver.b. Biological Kinds: Thats a lizard.

c. Ethnicity:He is Persian.d. Physical Properties:He is tall.e. Similarity: She resembles her mother.f. Disposition:Randy is nice.g. Phsyical State:Death Valley is extremely dry.

For other predicates, the inherent property construal is not the prototypical construal;these are the generic interpretations referred to in 2.1:

(19) a. Manner of Motion:He swims.[he has the ability and knowledge to be able to swim]b. Consumption:I eat diary products.c. Performance: She sings beautifully.d. Disintegration: This wood splits; This glass shatters.e. Opening: The back door opens.[it is not nailed shut]f. Mechanical Operation: This car runs.g. Physiological Processes:A fish breathes through its gills.h. Increase/Decrease: This material shrinks a lot.i. Posture: The statue stands at the top of the square.[construed as its permanentlocation; see Goldsmith & Woisetschlaeger 1982]

j. Blooming: This tree blooms and then dies.k. Covering: ?Conifers cover only the southern slopes of mountains in higherlatitudes.

For still other predicates, the inherent property construal requires a different argumentstructure construction than the most common construal, the patient Subject or middle

pattern in 20, the instrumental Subject pattern in 21, or the locative Subject pattern in 22:

33 8/2000


16/33


(20) a. Creation: These muffins bake quickly.b. Consumption: This book reads easily.c. Create Mark/Defect: This paper tears easily.d. Fracture: These toys break easily.e. Dismantling: The tent doesnt dismantle very well.[Mary Ellen R., 17.6.00]

(21) a. Opening:My key opens this door.b. Create Mark/Defect: This thing punches holes in paper.c. Killing: This stuff kills anything that moves and quite a few things that dont.

(22) a. Physiological Process: This sofa sleeps two.b. Posture: This table seats six.

One might argue that the construals in 20-22 should be divided into subtypes based on therelation of the argument linking patterns in 20-22 to the construals of the predicates in otherconstructions. Nevertheless, for all of these classes, the present tense construal is as aninherent property of the individual. However, there is a grammatical constraint in English thatthe individual to which the inherent property is attributed must be the Subject. The possibility

of a participant being encoded as Subject in the Present is a consequence of being able toconstrue the predicate as pertaining to an inherent property of the participant in question. Aswill be seen, the different predicate classes in 20-22 are differentiated by their aspectualbehavior in other constructions.

For at least some of the predicates in 20, the inherent state construal is available for thesedynamic predicates only with support from adverbials such as easily, quicklyand so on. Thisis in contrast to other predicates, which naturally have a generic construal in the Presentwithout any adverbial support. The phenomenon of construal only with adverbial support iswidespread, and will be encountered again in the following sections.

I have not distinguished between predicates requiring adverbial support for a particularconstrual in a particular TA construction and predicates not requiring adverbial support. Thisis solely due to the desire not to rendering the semantic maps unreadable. The situation typesthat do require adverbial support would define peripheral regionsin the semantic map forthe construction construal in question.

A second construal associated with the Present tense is the transitory state construal(labeled 1T). This is the commonest construal for certain predicates:

(23) a. Bodily States:Im ill.b. Cognition:I know the answer.c. Perception:I see Mount Fuji.d. Social Role: She is the mayor of San Rafael.e. Physical State: The clothes are dry now.

Since the Present is used for transitory states and pointstates, Goldsmith &Woisetschlaegers definition of the simple present as a structural property of the individual(Goldsmith & Woisetschlaeger 1982)i.e. construed as inherentis incorrect, although itdoes capture the inherent/generic and habitual senses of the Present.

A third construal associated with the Present tense is the habitualconstrual (labeled 1H),also referred to above. The habitual construal is possible for an event which recurs on aregular basis over time. The habitual construal is a coarse-grained scalar adjustment on ,which reduces the event to a point (unextended on ), and on t, which runs together themultiple regular occurrences of the situation to an extended state on t. The habitual construalis available for events which in the real world occur regularly, particularly if the regularity is

controlled by an agent:

(24) a. Performance: She dances every Tuesday.

34 8/2000


17/33


b. Manner of Motion:I swim once a year.c. Creation:He builds houses as a hobby.d. Light Emission: The light flashes every hour.e. Sound Emission: The hamster squeals when the cat comes by.f. Disposition:Randy is nice only when he has to be.g. Blooming: The cherry trees blossom every April.

h. Dismantling:Every morning we dismantled the tent before making breakfast.i. Covering: Clouds cover the peaks every afternoon.

j. Attachment: This stuff sticks to your hands when the temperature is hot.k. Physiological Process: You breathe through the whole exercise; dont hold yourbreath!l. Cause Emotion: This sonata surprises me every time I hear it.

Many of the predicates that are construable as transitory states in the Present may alsohave a habitual construal in a context where the transitory state holds on a regular basis.

(25) a. Bodily States: She is ill whenever she has to take an exam.b. Social Roles:He is master of ceremonies at the Christmas party every year.

c. Perception:I see bats every evening after sundown.d. Cognition:I remember her whenever I go through the park.

This construal is available for these transitory state predicates only with adverbial supportfrom adverbials such as every year, whenever S and so on. This is in contrast to otherpredicates, which naturally have a habitual construal in the Present without any adverbialsupport.

The fourth construal of the English Present tense is actually uninterpretabilityof thePresent tense (labeled 1*). Certain predicates are uninterpretable, because they areirreversible achievements which cannot be repeated and hence cannot be given a habitualconstrual, nor can they be construed as inherent properties of the Subject referent:

(26) a. Disintegration: *The post office collapses.b. Dying: *My lemming drowns every week.

The semantic map of the English Present tense is given in Map 2 (the choice of colors onthe map will be explained in 2.6). The semantic map presents the distribution pattern of thedifferent senses or construals of the Present tense organized by the conceptual structure of theconceptual space. It can be seen that this map conforms to the Semantic Map ConnectivityHypothesis.

As I noted above, the interpretation of predicates in aspectual constructions is oftendifficult to pin down, since context can induce nonconventional construals and there may besome variation between speakers as to the interpretation, or even interpretability, of a

particular sentence. The conceptual space representation is intended to capture this fact: itpredicts that flexibility or variation are associated with the boundary of a semantic map. Forexample, some might consider a Present tense sentence with collapseto be interpretable, forinstance in describing an inherent property of a collapsible tent. This construal can becaptured by extending the boundary of the inherent sense of the Present (sense 1I on Map 2)to include collapse, or by representing a fuzzy boundary in that region of conceptual space.Either way, including this usage of collapse would not violate the Semantic MapConnectivity Hypothesis.

2.5.3. The English Progressive construction

The English Progressiveconstruction takes an interior part of the profile of an event that

is extended on both t and and construes it as a transitory state. As a transitory state, theprogressive verb be itself does occur in the Progressive form (*She is being running). TheProgressive structure is represented in Figure 14:

35 8/2000


18/33


Figure 14. The aspectual type of the Progressive

t

The original construal is represented by the striped box and the striped lines indicate thereconstrual of the durative process as a transitory state.

The Progressive construction has five senses. Unlike the Present and Past tenses, theProgressive construction senses are based on the aspectual type of the situation type withwhich it combines (otherwise all Progressives would be uniformly transitory states).

The first subtype is a Progressive derived from an undirected activityconstrual (labeled2U in Map 3). For some predicates, the undirected activity construal is the normal construal:

(27) Manner of Motion:Look! Its flying!

Another class of predicates is construable as an undirected activity when intransitive:

(29) a. Performance: Shes dancing.b. Consumption:Im eating right now.c. Creation: Shes baking at the moment.[i.e. engaged in the activity of baking];Hesbeen writing all afternoon.

The examples in 29a-d represent an alternative construal of the situation type as anundirected activity rather than as an accomplishment (as they would be construed with adirect object): dancing as repeated steps, rather than progress through the sequence of thedance, eating as repeated acts of ingestion, rather than progress through the meal, and so on.

Another undirected activity construal is to be currently acting in the way appropriate tosomeone who inherently possesses the disposition:

(30) Disposition:Hes being a jerk again.

Yet another undirected activity construal of the Progressive is from an iterativeinterpretation of a cyclic achievement :

(31) a. Light Emission: The lights are flashing.b. Sound Emission: The pigs are squealing again.c. Contact:He was tapping his fingers on the table.d. Create Mark/Defect: The cats were scratching the furniture.e. Bodily Motion:It was flapping its wings but it couldnt fly.f. Cause Emotion: The clown was amusing the children with his tricks.

There is a close connection between these iterative construals and undirected activities.Undirected activities such as Manner of motion can be construed as iterated cyclic

36 8/2000


19/33


achievements: walking involves taking repeated steps, flying involves repeated wingflapping, etc. I will call verbs with cyclic achievement and undirected activity construalscyclic actions. Cause Emotion verbs are not clearly cyclic, however (see below). It appearsthat Cause Emotion verbs in constructions such as 31f can be best analyzed as repeatedtransitory achievements whose repetition maintains the emotional state or attitude of theObject referent.

A second construal of the Progressive is from a directed activity:

(32) a. Increase/Decrease: The crack in the ceiling is widening.

The Progressive construal as a directed activity is also found with verbs traditionallyclassified as accomplishments when a bounded direct object is present:

(33) a. Consumption:Hes smoking a joint.b. Performance: Shes singing a Schubert song.c. Opening:Hes opening the window.[where open is all the way open]d. Create Mark/Defect:Im punching a hole in the leather.[as in pounding on a metal

punch which is gradually working its way through the leather]e. Cover: The clouds are covering the sky.f. Dismantling: The technical people are dismantling the stage.

Likewise, a directed activity construal is found with certain intransitive verbs when theytake resultative complements:

(34) a. Disintegration: The board is splitting apart.b. Manner of Motion/Directed Motion:John is swimming across the Channel.

The Progressive gives rise to the so-called imperfective paradox. For an unboundedprocess, the Past Progressive entails the Past: She was eating entails She ate. But for anevent, the Past Progressive does not entail the Past: She was eating the pizzadoes not entailShe ate the pizza. The difference in behavior follows directly from the semanticrepresentation of (transitory) processes, which can hold for an interval of time of any size,and that of accomplishments, which hold only if the completion transition is also profiled.The completion transition is profiled in the Past tense (see 2.5.4), but it is not profiled in thePast Progressive, because the Progressive construes the situation as a directed activity.

One might suggest that the aspectual construal of accomplishment verbs in theProgressive include a projected course of events beyond the end of the profiled d-processphase, as in Figure 15:

Figure 15. Representation of Hes smoking a joint with a projected course of events.

t

37 8/2000


20/33


Such an analysis would require the embedding of the aspectual representation in a mentalspace representation, to indicated the irrealis status of the unprofiled part of the aspectualcontour beyond the profiled d-process. In this book, however, I will largely restrict myself torepresenting solely the realist part of the aspectual contour of a situation. The realis part ofthe aspectual contour for examples in 33, up to and including the profiled d-process, is adirected activity.

A directed activity construal is also found with certain states that change gradually overtime:

(35) a. Similarity: She is resembling her mother more and more every year.b. Cognition:Im understanding quantum mechanics better and better.

These construals are possible because there is a coarse-grained scalar adjustment on t andwhich reveals directed change on of an otherwise stative situation. It can be likened to

the perception of the earths horizon, which looks flat in local view but whose curvature canbe seen in a wide view available in the desert or over the ocean. This construal is available forthese stative predicates only with adverbial support from degree adverbials such as more and

moreand better and better. This construal is also another example of a construal operation(coarse-grained scalar adjustment) operating simultaneously on the t and dimensions, andtherefore provides further evidence of the utility of the two-dimensional representation forcapture cognitive semantic generalizations.

A third construal of the Progressive is from the process in a runup achievement(labeled2R):

(36) a. Dying:Help! Shes dying!b. Disintegration: The building is collapsing.c. Fracture:Look out! The branch is breaking!d. Killing:Dont look; shes killing a chicken for dinner.e. Winning: The Koreans are winning.f. Attainment: They are reaching the summit just now.

Since runup achievements are also bound processes, they also partake of the so-calledimperfective paradox, and their analysis is the same: the Progressive profiles an internalsegment of the situation as a (unbounded) transitory state, while the Past profiles the wholebounded event.

The last two construals do not fit well into the schematic definition of the Progressivegiven at the beginning of this section. A number of predicates, which I have called inactiveactions(Croft 1991, 1998b), appear not to involve any overt activity at all, even though theyoccur in the progressive:

(28) a. Mechanical Operation: The car is running.b. Posture:Marys sitting on the sofa.c. Direct Attention:I was thinking about you.d. Physiological Process:Hes breathing again; Shes sleeping right now.e. Blooming: The irises are blooming.f. Covering: The fog is covering the valley.

Although there is no overt change of state, none of the states of affairs in 26a-d are force-dynamically neutral. Most of them are examples of what Talmy (1988) calls extendedcausation of rest: effort is being expended to maintain the state of affairs. A car may not bemoving, but the engine is maintaining its running state (if the car ran out of gas, it would stoprunning). A person must maintain his/her bodys position (this is more obvious with standing,

and less obvious with lying). A person must also hold his/her attention to a particular objectof perception, cognition or emotion. The last category, physiological processes, can be

38 8/2000


21/33


likened to a car running; even sleeping is a certain active state, different from death, whichwould be the absence of all physiological activity.

These predicates have an inherent state construal in the Present (see 2.5.2) but atransitory state construal in the Progressive. If the inherent state construal is take as basic,then inactive actions violate the requirement that the input to the Progressive be extended on

. I will call this the transitory stateconstrual of the Progressive.

The Emotional Affect verbs also have a transitory state construal in the Progressive:

(29) Emotional Affect: The movie was exciting (interesting, boring, fascinating, surprisingetc.)

The forms in 29 are usually analyzed as deverbal adjectives. However, they may also beanalyzed as intransitive inactive action Progressives: the stimulus (the Subject referent) isable maintain the emotional effect over time and across different experiencers (theObject/Oblique referent, when present as in The movie was exciting to me).

The analysis of the resulting state as transitory requires some justification. One couldargue that a movies being exciting is an inherent property of the movie, and hence EmotionalAffect verbs violate the requirement that the output of the Progressive is a transitory state.However, a movies being exciting is specific to the experiencer: an exciting movie to oneviewer may be a boring one to another viewer. In fact, a movie may be exciting at the firstviewing and boring at another viewing by the same person. The state characteristic of thestimulus does persist beyond the time of the experience: I can hand a book to you and sayThis book is interesting, even though I finished reading it the day before. However, anotherreading of the book could change its emotional affective character. It seems best to analyzethe resulting state of Emotion Affect verbs in the Progressive as a transitory state lasting fromone experience of the stimulus until the next experience of the stimulus.

The emotional affect verbs have the range of interpretations characteristic of situationsconstrued as achievements in the Past tense (as well as a habitual reading in the Present,which is also acceptable for achievements). If we assume that the input type to theProgressive is an achievement, then the Progressive construal is a resulting transitory state ofthe achievement, and so I will call this the result state construal (2V). The result stateconstrual is represented as a subtype of the transitory state construal found with inactiveactions (that is, there is one semantic map, labeled 2T, but it includes the 2V construal, whichis coded by the label). If we make this assumption, however, then Emotional Affect verbsviolate the requirement that the input to the Progressive be extended on t.

Finally, some situations are uninterpretable in the Progressive. These fall into twoclasses. One class is uninterpretable because they are stative: the Progressive requiresextension on , and states are not extended on :

(37) a. Natural Kinds: *The ring is being silver.b. Biological Kinds: *Its being a lizard.c. Ethnicity: *Im being Polish.d. Physical Properties: *Im being fat.e. Social Role: *Im being a professor.f. Bodily States: *Im being hot.g. Cognition: *He is knowing the answer.h. Perception: *Theyre seeing the Empire State Building.i. Physical States: *The coffee is being cool.

I label this type 2*. Another class, labeled 2**, is uninterpretable because they are only

construable as punctual: the Progressive requires extension on t, and punctual events are notextended on t:

39 8/2000


22/33


(38) Disintegration: *The bomb is exploding.

These two classes are only an apparent exception to the Semantic Map ConnectivityHypothesis of the aspectual conceptual space. Both exclude the Progressive, but for oppositereasons. In fact, this is not an exception, because it is the absence of occurrence in aconstruction that links the classes in 34 and 35. Only the occurrence of two unconnected

classes in a construction, not absence, would constitute an exception to the Semantic MapConnectivity Hypothesis.

The semantic map of the subtypes of the English Progressive construction is given in Map3.

2.5.4. The English Past tense construction

With the Past tense, the profiled part of the aspectual contour precedes the presentmoment, and the aspectual contour includes an unprofiled state in the present. Figure 16represents the aspectual type of the Past tense, indicating a phase schematic as to extensionon t or again with an open box:

Figure 16. The aspectual type of the Past tense

tPresent

The past tense can profile an interval, not just a point in the past, because it is compatiblewith durative adverbials: She was ill for two weeks. This argument is valid under theassumption that durative adverbials do not coerce a pointlike past tense time reference into aninterval. Evidence that durative adverbials do not coerce a point in time into a temporalinterval is that durative adverbials are incompatible with the present tense, whichundoubtedly profiles only a point in time (the present):

(39) Bodily States: *She is ill for a week.

The motivation for specifying a Present state in the English Past tense will be given in thesurvey of subtypes of the Past construction in this section.

The analysis of the English Past tense is the most complex of the constructions consideredso far. In part, this is due to the fact that it imposes the least conceptual constraints on thepredicates which occur with it. In part, it is due to the fact that some interpretations arepossible if supported by the appropriate adverbials. I will begin with the least problematicuses of the Past tense, the more perfective uses, and then turn to the other uses.

One construal allowed by the Past tense is as an accomplishment(labeled 3P), with orwithout a container adverbial supporting the accomplishment construal:

(40) a. Performance: They danced the kopanica in three minutes flat.

40 8/2000


23/33


b. Consumption:I read War and Peace (in a week).c. Creation: We built a shed (in a couple of days).d. Motion:I walked to the store in five minutes.e. Disintegration:The board split in half in a few seconds.f. Opening: The door slowly opened all the way.g. Increase/Decrease: The balloon shrank in a few minutes.

h. Covering: The fog covered the city in a couple of hours.i. Dismantling:I dismantled the shed in two hours.

j. Directed Motion: They ascended the slope in an hour.

A second construal allowed by the Past tense is a (directed) achievementconstrual (3V).The achievement construal is the prototypical construal for a number of situation types:

(41) a. Disintegration: The window shattered; The house of cards collapsed.b. Fracture: The vase fell and broke.c. Winning: The Koreans won the game.d. Attainment: We reached the summit.e. Opening: The door opened. [just a crack]

f. Cause Emotion: The explosion frightened me.

An achievement construal profiling the inceptive phase is available to transitory statesand some inactive actions. This construal is aided by adverbial support from suddenly, atonce, in an instantetc.:

(42) a. Perception:I went around the corner and saw John.b. Cognition:I suddenly remembered the answer; I suddenly realized what the answerwas.c. Posture: The congregation stood at once when the bishop entered.d. Attachment: The goo stuck to my hands in an instant.e. Blooming: On Sunday the iris bloomed.f. Bodily State: ?He suddenly was hungry.g. Physiological Process: ?Suddenly he breathed again[began to breathe].h. Physical State:In an instant, my clothes were thoroughly wet.

In fact, describing the achievement construal as a profile shift to the inceptive phase isAnglocentric: in Japanese for example, the stative construal is marked by overt derivationalmorphology while the achievement construal is not so marked.

A third construal is a cyclic achievement construal, found with cyclic actions. This is thesemelfactive interpretation of these predicates:

(43) a. Light Emission:A light on the tower flashed (once).b. Sound Emission: The lion suddenly roared.

c. Contact: She slapped my knee (once); He touched the screen.d. Create Mark/Defect: The cat instantly tore the curtain.e. Bodily Motion:I snapped my fingers (once).f. Physiological Process:He breathed deeply (once).

The semelfactive interpretation can be supported by punctual temporal adverbials such assuddenlyor the unitizing adverb once.

A fourth construal found with the Past tense is a runup achievement construal (3R). Thisconstrual is found with those predicates that allow a runup achievement construal in theProgressive:

(44) a. Dying: Without medical support, she died in an hour.b. Killing: The snakebite killed him in minutes.c. Winning: The Korean won the match in thirty-five minutes.

41 8/2000


24/33


d. Attainment: We reached the top of the mountain in four hours.

In addition, the runup achievement construal is possible with many other classes ofpredicates, if a container adverbial (particularly a preposed one) supports it:

(45) a. Social Roles:In three years, she was the chief financial officer.

b. Bodily States:In a few minutes, he was chilly.c. Cognition:In a couple of minutes I understood what was going on.d. Perception: ?He took his sunglasses off and in a couple of minutes he saw theanimal in the bushes.e. Attachment:In a couple of minutes, the leeches stuck to his calves.f. Physiological Processes:In a few minutes, he breathed again; In a couple of hourshe slept again.g. Create Mark/Defect:In just a short time, the cat scratched the furniture again.h. Direct Attention:In a couple of minutes, he thought about her again.i. Mechanical Operation:He worked on the car and in a half an hour it ran again.

j. Light Emission:In a couple of minutes, the light flashed.k. Sound Emission: ?In just a short time, she screamed.

l. Contact: ?In a couple of minutes, he slapped his thigh and laughed; ?In just aminute he touched the button.m. Bodily Motion: ?In a few minutes, the children waved goodbye and disappeared.n. Blooming: ?In less than a week, the tree blossomed.o. Physical State:In a few minutes, the muffin was hot.p. Cause Emotion: ?

Some of the examples in 45 are only marginally acceptable. This is particularly true of theinactive actions. These are much better in the Past Progressive; but this is because transitorystates are easier to construe as runup achievements ending in the transitory state. If onetravels farther out in the conceptual space, it is extremely difficult to get the runupachievement reading:

(46) a. Manner of Motion: ??In two minutes the horse galloped.b. Manner of Motion:In two minutes the horse was galloping.

I have probably been too generous with my judgements of the runup achievementconstrual in the Past tense, but a shrinking of the map for this subsense should conform to theConnectivity Hypothesis. In particular, the boundary should perhaps be moved rightwardfrom its leftmost extension in Map 4.

A fifth construal of the Past construction is as an undirected activity(3U). This is foundin a narrower range of predicates than the undirected activity construal of the Progressive,and is helped considerably by support from the durative adverbial:

(47) a. Performance: She sang for half an hour.b. Consumption:I ate for about ten minutes, but then felt sick.c. Creation:I wrote through the whole afternoon.d. Manner of Motion:I hiked for nine hours.e. Mechanical Operation: The car ran for a few days, but then broke down again.f. Physiological Processes: She slept for an hour.g. Directed Attention:I looked at the painting for a long time.

An undirected activity construal result from iteration for cyclic actions and also CauseEmotion predicates. In other words this construal is available to cyclic actions in the Past aswell as in the Progressive:

(48) a. Light Emission: The light flashed for seven days.b. Sound Emission: The man yelled for half an hour.c. Contact: She tapped the table for two whole minutes.

42 8/2000


25/33


d. Bodily Motion: The bird flapped its wings for a minute or so and then soared out ofsight.e. Create Mark/Defect: The cats scratched the furniture all day.f. Cause Emotion: The clown interested the children for about fifteen minutes.

Adverbial support helps to disambiguate the iterative sense from the semelfactive

achievement sense.

The undirected activity construal in the Past has the same distribution as the undirectedactivity construal in the Progressive. A sixth construal of the Past, as a past time habitual(3H), appears to have the same distribution as the Present habitual construal. The past timehabitual construal is also expressed by the English Past Habitual construction with used to,which is not further discussed here.

A seventh construal of the Past construction is as a directed activity(3D):

(49) Expand/Contract: The clothes shrank.

The directed activity construal in the Past is also allowed for some verbs usually thoughtof as accomplishments, if it is supported with a durative adverbial:

(50) a. Consumption:I read War and Peace for two hours (and then fell asleep).b. Directed Motion: They ascended the slope for half an hour (and then stopped).c. Performance: She sang the aria for about a minute (and then stopped whensomeone booed).d. Dismantling:I dismantled the shed for an hour (and then stopped because it wastoo hot).e. Opening: The door opened for a few seconds (and then closed again).

[opening all the way; see below for transitory state reading]

In these sentences, the durative adverbial measures a profiled temporal interval that doesnot include the completion phase. (This profile shiftexcluding the completionisessentially the same found with terminative constructions applied to accomplishments.) Thisconstrual is easily available for vertical Direction Motion, but is only found in a restricted setof contexts for other situation types typically construed as accomplishments. The directedactivity construal cannot occur with derived verbal scales:

(51) Consumption: *I read two books for an hour[I intended to read them in sequence butonly read, say, the first book and half of the second].

Nor can it be used with holistic themes of accomplishments that are measures of the event in(for instance) the spatial dimension:

(52) Manner of Motion: *I ran a mile for three minutes.

It appears that the directed activity construal of the Past tense is possible only withsingular holistic themes without a measure meaning. Hay, Kennedy & Levin (1999) arguethat in fact the accomplishment construal is an implicature, not an entailment, of verbsusually thought of as accomplishments. The implicature is cancelled by the use of thedurative adverbial. However, if there is an overt phrase expressing the completion point ofthe situation, such as a numerical measuring of the effect of the action on a participant (51) orthe introduction of an explicit measure phrase (52), then the accomplishment meaning is anentailment, and hence is not cancellable (ibid.).

Hay, Kennedy & Levins analysis supports the analysis of the Past tense as including

specification of a state phase containing the present moment. However, we must allow for thepossibility that the state phase represents the state where a directed process left off (availableto directed activities and accomplishment construals, but not to runup achievement

43 8/2000


26/33


construals), as well as the rest state (not available to directed activity construals) and thecompletion state (only available to event construals).

The motivation for an unprofiled state phase including the present moment in thesemantics of the English Past tense is because Past situations construed as activities cannot bethought of as continuing through the present:

(53) Performance: She sang,(*and still is [singing]).

The same constraint is found with the undirected activity construal of cyclic actions (54),and the directed activity construal of the Past tense (55):

(54) a. Light emission: The light flashed, (*and still is [flashing]).b. Sound Emission: She cried, (*and still is [crying]).c. Contact:I tapped the table,(*and am still tapping it).d. Create Mark/Defect: The cat tore the curtains, (*and still is).

(55) Increase/Decrease: The clothes shrank,(*and still are shrinking).

In this respect, the undirected activity construal of the Past tense contrasts with the eighthPast construal, the transitory stateconstrual (3T), which allows the state to continue into thepresent (with adverbial support):

(56) a. Bodily States: She was ill yesterday, and still is.b. Bodily States: She was ill yesterday, but shes fine today.

This is accounted for by the analysis of the Past tense as possessing an unprofiled state inthe present tense. For the transitory state construal, the state at the present moment may bethe result state (57a) or the rest state (57b). Likewise, for an achievement construal, either theresult state or the rest state may hold in the present:

(57) a. Create Mark/Defect: The curtain tore yesterday (and still is torn).b. Create Mark/Defect: The curtain tore yesterday, but I sewed it up and its fine now.

However, activities have no result state, and hence the present state can only be the reststate.

Certain situation types are prototypically construed as transitory states in the Past:

(58) a. Bodily States: She was cold, and put another blanket on.b. Cognition:I knew the answer once, but not any more.c. Perception:I saw Ronald Reagan at his inauguration.d. Social Role: She was mayor for six years.

e. Physical State: The soup was hot a few minutes ago, but not now.

However, for me at least, the inactive actions and Cause Emotion class may beconstruable as transitory states; that is, they may continue into the present:

(59) a. Disposition:He was nice to her (?and still is being nice to her).b. Attachment: The tape stuck to the paper(and its still sticking there).c. Posture: Your student sat waiting for you,(?and may still be sitting there).d. Contact: The car touched the curb,(?and still is there).e. Blooming: The iris bloomed yesterday (and still is blooming today).f. Covering: The fog covered the valley this morning, (?and still is doing so now).g. Cause Emotion: The book excited me about linguistics, (?and I am still excited

about it).

44 8/2000


27/33


This may be too generous an interpretation. It is also possible that the acceptability of 59a-g,to the extent that they are acceptable, is due to an achievement construal of the situationsexpressed by the Past tense construction, and thus represent the result state of theachievement in an unremarkable way. For now, I have included them as part of the transitorystate construal of the Past (3T).

The most complex example of those discussed so far is open. When open refers to theprocess of becoming wide open, it allows the accomplishment and directed motion senses.When openrefers to the transition from closed to not closed, it allows the achievement andthe transitory state senses (this is a second intepretation of example 50e above). If we take theachievement sense as basic, then openwould represent yet another construal of the Pasttense, as referring to the result state. If we take the transitory state sense as basic, the openrepresents another example of the inception construal. For reasons of simplicity, I use thelatter analysis in the semantic maps; this problem must be explored more carefully.

Finally, there is the category of predicates that are ininterpretable in the Past tense,because they are construed as inherent states only (3*). Even in this case, however, it is notstrictly true that the Past tense construction is uninterpretable. The Past tense can be used if

the individual no longer exists (60), or the past tense is used for a distal perspectival construal(61):

(60) a. Ethnicity:My grandfather was Ukrainian.[he is dead now]b. Natural Kind: The bracelet was silver.[its lost/stolen now]

(61) a. Ethnicity:I met an interesting man last night. He was Persian.b. Natural Kind:I found a bracelet in my office last week. It was silver.

The semantic map of the subtypes of the English Past construction is given in Map 4.

2.5.5. Perfective and Perfect

A perfective construction profiles the inception phase, the central phase and thecompletion or termination phase of the event. Truly perfective constructions are onlyderivational in English, e.g. certain particles such as up in I ate up my dinner. Even theEnglish past tense does not always entail completion (see 2.5.4, example 45). The past tensedoes entail termination of a process however: I read the book for a while entails that Istopped reading it after that point.

Finally, the Present Perfect takes a bounded event (bounded by inception andcompletion or termination) preceding the present moment and construes it as an achievement.The achievement construal of the present perfect redefines the rest state as event notoccurred and the result state as event occurred. The present perfect then profiles theresulting state such that the profile includes the present moment (this latter part is the

contribution of the present tense of have).

45 8/2000


28/33


Figure 17. The aspectual type of the Present Perfect

tPresent

occurred

notoccurred

The present relevance interpretation of the Present Perfect is a consequence of describingthe subject as being in the state of the situation having taken place: one would not describethe present state as such unless the occurrence of the event was relevant to it.

Relevance must pertain to the Subject of the English Present Perfect. Examples 62a-bwould be appropriate in different contexts:

(62) a. The dishes have been washed.b.I have washed the dishes.

Sentence 62a would be more appropriate if what is relevant is whether or not the dishes areready to be put away. In other words, it is the state of the dishes that is relevant. Sentence 62bwould be less appropriate in that situation. Instead, 62b would be more appropriate when

what is relevant is whether or not I have carried out the tasks I am expected to carry out.Likewise, 63a is more natural than 63b because the place of the vase is defined with respectto it and not the person placing it.

(63) a. The vase has been put back where it belongs.b. ?I have put the vase back where it belongs.

The existential reading of the Present Perfect also follows from this interpretation. Theexistentialreading is an assertion that the present is such that the event occurred on at leastone occasion in the past. That is the state profiled in the Present Perfect construal. It isillustrated in 64:

(64) I have been to Romania. [There exists a past situation of my being in Romania]

However, in other languages (such as Japanese), the existential construal of the PresentPerfect construction is only possible with adverbial support. Hence, it cannot be concludedthat the existential construal follows automatically from the semantics of the Perfect. Instead,it represents a language-particular conventionalized construal of the existential situation.Nevertheless, the conventionalized construal of the existential situation as describable by thePresent Perfect construction is conceptually motivated for the reasons presented in thisparagraph.

The same is true of the continuing resultconstrual of the Perfect:

(65) I have lived in England for over six years.[I came to live in England in the past, and I am still living in England]

46 8/2000


29/33


In the continuing result construal, the present state of the past event having occurred isprofiled because the result state of the event continues into the present. However, otherlanguages (such as Spanish) do not construe continuing results with the Present Perfect, usingthe Present instead. Hence the construal of continuing result as belonging to the Perfectaspectual type is an English-specific conventionalized construal.

The Present Perfect differs from resultatives in that it can be used for resulting states thatare not directly perceivable.17This distinction can be best observed with situations normallyconstrued as achievements, whose aspectual contour already possesses the aspectual contourrequired by the Present Perfect construction. For instance, the Resultative The window isbrokenis true only if the window is currently in a broken state. But the present perfect Thewindow has been brokencan be true even if the window has since been repaired; it simplyreports that the present state is such that the window broke at some point in the past. (In fact,it is likely to be used precisely when the window has been repaired, since if the window isstill broken, an English speaker would use the simple Resultative construction.)

The description of the English Past tense given in 2.5.4 more closely resembles thedescription of the Present Perfect than is usual in analyses of the Past tense, which treat it as

purely a matter of past time reference. However, it is well known that perfect constructionsevolve into past tenses. The analysis given here suggests that this grammaticalization processis a result of a shift of profile from the present resulting state to the past event, a weakeningof the construal of the past event as an achievement, and possibly the eventual loss of thespecification in the frame that the aspectual contour must be a state at the present moment.

2.6. Aspectual classes revisited: finding patterns in the semantic maps

The semantic maps presented in 2.5 illustrate 18 different subtypes of the EnglishPresent, Progressive and Past constructions, each defined by a different construal of thesit

english tense-aspect constructions and the aspect conceptual space

Documents