aspect 1 The relation of form and meaning within the verb phrase

Structures and Varieties of Modern Spanish
Aspect 1
Verbs and their meaning: aspect
1 The relation of form and meaning within the verb phrase
inflection
TENSE
MOOD
(GRAMMATICAL)
ASPECT
paraphrase
lexicon
Periphrastic
tense: ir a + inf,
acabar de + inf,
etc.
Modal
auxiliaries:
poder + inf,
tener que + inf,
etc.
Lexical aspect
Aspectual
auxiliaries:
(see 4 below)
soler + inf and
see 3 below
adverb
Temporal
adverbial: ayer,
mañana, hace
pocos días, etc.
Modal
adverbial:
probablemente,
quizás, etc.
Aspect
adverbial:
durante muchas
horas, en
seguida, etc.
other context
meaning
TIME
REFERENCE
Sentence type:
imperatives,
questions as
commands, etc.
MODALITY
Objects, subjects
ASPECT
Some examples:
(1)
Me marcho mañana
([PRESENT] tense, [FUTURE] temporal adverbial)
Overall interpretation is FUTURE time-reference.
(2)
Iba a decírtelo ayer
([PAST] tense, [FUTURE] periphrastic tense, [PAST] temporal adverbial)
Overall interpretation is FUTURE IN THE PAST time reference.
(3)
Tal vez no le convenga
([POSSIBILITY] modal adverbial, [SUBJUNCTIVE] mood, [PRESENT]
tense)
Overall interpretation is POSSIBILITY modality.
(4)
¿Me da un kilo de azúcar, por favor?
([INDICATIVE] mood, [PRESENT] tense, [INTERROGATIVE] sentence
type, [POLITE] modal adverbial?)
Overall interpretation is POLITE IMPERATIVE modality
Traditional grammar typically assigns a unique name to each inflectional category which
reflects a predominant temporal, aspectual or modal characteristic, e.g.
· ‘Imperfect’ (reflects imperfective aspect)
· ‘Future’ (reflects future time-reference)
· ‘Conditional’ (reflects hypothetical modality)
· ‘Subjunctive’ (reflects a range of modalities which contrast with the ‘assertive’ or
‘declarative’ modality)
There are few established labels apart from those traditionally applied to the inflectional
categories.
Aspect.doc
Last printed 15/01/04
Structures and Varieties of Modern Spanish
Aspect 2
2 Grammatical aspect
2.1 PERFECTIVE/IMPERFECTIVE
(5)
(6)
Leía el artículo cuando llegué
Había leído el artículo cuando llegué
2.2 IMPERFECTIVE/PUNCTUAL
(7)
(8)
Sabía qué hacer
Supe qué hacer
3 Periphrastic aspect
3.1 CONTINUOUS
(9)
Estoy leyendo
3.2 GRADUAL
(10) El tiempo va mejorando
(11) Ya voy viendo
3.3 REPETITIVE
(12) Vengo diciéndolo desde hace mucho tiempo
(13) Ya te tengo dicho que no hagas eso
(14) Tienen viajado mucho por el extranjero
3.4 COMPLETIVE
(15) Lo tengo bien pensado
(16) Tengo escritas dos cartas
3.5 STAGE
(17)
(18)
(19)
Lleva dos meses estudiando en Madrid
Llevamos publicados tres libros de la serie
Van publicados tres libros de la serie
3.6 STATIVE
(20) El pan está vendido
(21) Estamos preparados para un fracaso
4 Lexical aspect
PUNCTUAL: nacer, morir, llegar,...
DURATIVE: oír, ver, quedar,...
REPETITIVE: girar, centellear,...
TELIC: ahogarse, levantarse, firmar,...
ATELIC: jugar, dormir, escribir,...
Aspect.doc
Last printed 15/01/04
Structures and Varieties of Modern Spanish
Aspect 3
STATIVE: saber, poder,...
DYNAMIC: leer, mirar,...
5 The interaction of grammatical aspect, lexical aspect and aspect adverbial
(22)
(23)
(24)
(25)
(26)
(27)
(28)
(29)
Llegó a las dos (llegar [PUNCTUAL], [PUNCTUAL] inflection, a las dos
[PUNCTUAL])
Durmió a las dos (dormir [DURATIVE], [PUNCTUAL] inflection, a las dos
[PUNCTUAL])
?Llegó toda la tarde (llegar [PUNCTUAL], [PUNCTUAL] inflection, toda la
tarde [DURATIVE])
Durmió toda la tarde (dormir [DURATIVE], [PUNCTUAL] inflection, toda
la tarde [DURATIVE])
No trabajó hasta las seis (trabajar [DURATIVE], [PUNCTUAL] inflection,
hasta las seis marks PUNCTUAL end-point of a DURATIVE process)
No llegó hasta las seis (llegar [PUNCTUAL], [PUNCTUAL] inflection, hasta
las seis marks PUNCTUAL end-point of a DURATIVE process)
?Jugó al fútbol en dos horas (jugar... [ATELIC], [PUNCTUAL] inflection, en
dos horas [TELIC])
Se ahogó en un minuto (ahogarse [TELIC], [PUNCTUAL] inflection, en un
minuto [TELIC])
6 The interaction of periphrastic aspect, lexical aspect and aspect adverbial
(31)
?Estaba sabiendo que tienes razón (saber [STATIVE], [CONTINUOUS]
paraphrase)
Estaba jugando en la calle (jugar [DYNAMIC], [CONTINUOUS] paraphrase)
(32)
(33)
La puerta está abierta (abrir [DYNAMIC], [STATIVE] paraphrase)
*El secreto está sabido (saber [STATIVE], [STATIVE] paraphrase)
(30)
7 The interaction of grammatical aspect, periphrastic aspect and aspect adverbial
(34)
Este señor estuvo entrando y saliendo de hospitales hasta que murió (entrar,
salir [PUNCTUAL], [CONTINUOUS] paraphrase, [PUNCTUAL] inflection,
hasta que... marks PUNCTUAL end-point of a DURATIVE process)
Overall interpretation is REPETITIVE
Reading
Comrie, Bernard, 1976. Aspect (Cambridge: UP)
De Mello, G., 1989. ‘Some observations on Spanish verbal aspect’, Hispania, 3, 123-9
Gómez Torrego, Leonardo, 1988. Perífrasis verbales (Arco, Madrid)
Pountain, Christopher J., 1983. Structures and Transformations: the Romance Verb , Chapter 2 (London: Croom
Helm)
Aspect.doc
Last printed 15/01/04