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