Click here for the schedule
of presentations, which includes downloadable handouts and readings.
Handouts will
be in doc format, while readings (when
downloadable) will generally be in pdf format.
Aspectual meaning concerns the presence or absence of change within an
interval of interest, commonly known as
reference time. Tense concerns the
location of the reference time relative to speech time. While tense and
aspect are generally treated as separate components of verb meaning,
there are indicators that the two systems interact in important ways.
For example, in English events and processes cannot ordinarily be
reported as ‘ongoing right now’ by means of the simple present tense: *
Listen!
Your
phone rings! In this seminar, we will explore the following
questions:
- What kinds of interactions do tense and aspect display?
- Are there aspectually sensitive constructions, including tenses?
- Are some languages more 'aspectual' than others?
- What role does aspect play in the representation of verb meaning?
- What is the difference between verbal aspect (i.e., Aktionsart)
and grammatical aspect?
- Does English have aspect in the same way that, e.g., Romance
languages do?
- Are aspectual distinctions just philosophical or do they play a
role in grammar?
- Does the event type of a verb tell us anything about that verb's
syntactic behavior?
- How does one construct semantic argumentation?
In the first half of the course we will look closely at event-based
categorization. In the second half we will focus on the relationship
between aspectual representation and verb morphosyntax. Participants
will present readings (sometimes of my choosing and sometimes of their
own choosing). Participants will learn ways to construct papers and
arguments through careful analysis of readings.
Click
here for a list of
foundational readings; we will read some of these together in the
course of the semester, but this list will provide guidance for you if
you want to read independently. Our first readings will be taken from a
classic introduction to the
subject,
Aspect by Bernard
Comrie (Cambridge University Press; 1976). This slim little volume can
be purchased new or
used from
Amazon
and other sites. You should aim to have a copy in hand by the end of
the first
week of class. Thereafter, readings from books and articles will be
assigned
on an
ad hoc basis, depending
on
where our interests lead us and what topics class members choose to
present (see Requirements below). These readings will either be made
available as pdfs on the site (under Downloads) or as photocopies in
the rolling file
next to the photocopier.
You must subscribe to the class listserv, which will
enable you to receive updates from the instructor and post
questions/comments to the instructor and other class members. Subscribe
yourself by sending an
email to listproc@lists.colorado.edu
containing the following command: subscribe ling7430_07
<yourfirstname your last name>
Each participant will be required to
lead
discussion of at least two readings and also present a
field report on the tense-aspect
system of language selected by the participant. A
final term paper is also required.
The term paper can be a critical survey of some work in the field, an
analysis of a narrative text (download a
sample annotation of a Latin
text passage), or a theoretically informed data analysis (potentially
based on the field report). In either case, participants will be
required to submit a
term paper
proposal at the end of the 12th week of the course and respond
to
any feedback the instructor offers about the proposal prior to starting
the
final paper. The final paper should be 10-15 pages long. It should use
a
standard format for citing references (see the journal
Language
for
a good standard style). The term paper will be due in hard copy on
Monday,
December 17 at noon in my office. Here is a
set of term paper guidelines
and
tools for aspectual analysis. You will also take a short
take-home midterm on aspectual analysis.