Interaction of State Verbs and Grammatical Aspect Types in Persian: A Functional Approach

Abstract

AbstractState verbs, with the characteristic of non-dynamicity, denote no action and usually describe internal feelings, possession and place. They lack internal structure, stages and end point. The present study, within the framework of Role and Reference Grammar (RRG), investigates the interaction of state verbs and different grammatical aspects in Persian to see whether the interaction of subdivisions of state verbs with the grammatical aspects is the same. The subdivisions of state verbs in the current paper include Existence, Cognition, Emotion, Possession and Perception verbs. Data are gathered from the Internet, books, newspapers and daily conversations. Considering data indicates that the behavior of these subdivisions with different grammatical aspects is not the same. In perfect aspect all these verbs can be used without limitation. Although in most cases the progressive form of state verbs is regarded impossible, in cases such as “waxing or waning situation, agentivity and temporary state”, some of them can be used in progressive form. State verbs in perfective aspect, show functions such as experiential, universal, evidentiality and hot news. Positive form of the sentence and temporal adverbs denoting to some future time, pave the way for some state verbs to be used in prospective aspect. Keywords: State Verbs, Aspect, Grammatical Aspect, Role and Reference Grammar, Persian. IntroductionAspects are different ways of viewing the internal temporal constituency of a situation (Comrie, 1976). Subdivisions of aspect are lexical and grammatical aspects. The former is represented by the inherent meaning of the verb and the latter by some auxiliary and inflectional morphemes. The idea of Aktionsart or lexical aspect can be traced back to Aristotle who was the first to introduce the relevance of the inherent temporal structure of verbs. He distinguished between kineseis verbs (verbs that need to reach an end, similar to telic verbs) and energeiai verbs (similar to atelic verbs) (Verkuyl, 1993: 43). In this regard, Vendler's classification (1957) is one of the most influential theories (Peck et al., 2013, p. 664; Kanijo, 2019, p.73) so that some linguists consider its contents to be applied universally (Chelliah and de Reuse, 2011; Johansdottir, 2011). Vendler, based on three binary features: dynamicity, durativity and telicity, classified verbs into four Aktionsarten: states, activities, achievements and accomplishments. States usually refer to internal feelings, conditions or properties, they may also express location; they may be temporary or permanent, but they have no inherent endpoint. In contrast to states, activities involve action, but like states, they have no inherent endpoint. Achievements describe an instantaneous change of state; during a very short window of time, a change takes place that creates a new situation and accomplishments are changes that take place over a longer period of time (Pavey, 2010:94-98). Furthermore, main subtypes of grammatical aspect are perfective, imperfective, perfect, and prospective aspects. Perfectivity indicates the view of a situation as a single whole. Imperfectivity is the explicit reference to the internal temporal structure of a situation, in other words, viewing a situation from within. Perfect aspect indicates the continuing present relevance of a past situation and in prospective aspect, a state is related to some subsequent situation (Comrie, 1976). This study investigates the interaction of Persian state verbs with different kinds of grammatical aspects. In other words, state verbs are considered in relation to perfect, imperfect, perfective and prospective aspects. Materials and methodsAspect refers to non-deictic time. Aspect is divided into lexical and grammatical types. Similar features in lexical and grammatical aspects pave the way for them to interact effectively, although in some cases the behavior of Aktionsarten is different in respect to grammatical aspects. The present study, as a kind of descriptive-analytic one, tries to investigate the behavior of Persian state verbs accompanied by different grammatical aspects; namely, perfective, imperfective, perfect and prospective aspects. This is done in the framework of Role and Reference Grammar. Data are collected from the Internet, newspapers, books and daily speech. In order to have comprehensive view on the state verbs, they are subdivided into five main groups, Existence, Cognition, Emotion, Possession, and Perception verbs. These groups are investigated in relation to different grammatical aspects. Discussion and ConclusionState verbs are often syntactically expressed with nonverbal predicates, particularly for properties and internal feelings; they do not describe action or happening, for this reason it is often tricky to mime states (Pavey, 2010: 95). All subtypes of state verbs can be used in perfective aspect; in this sense, they refer to a completed state in the past. Imperfective indicates a situation in progress and is represented in progressive, habitual and iterative aspect. State verbs are usually regarded unacceptable with progressive aspect (Lakoff, 1970; Dowty, 1979; Quirk et all., 1985; Brinton, 1988; Pavey, 2010:103); They are homogeneous and lack internal structure, so it is regarded that they cannot be used with progressive aspect; in fact, their static feature is not in accord with the dynamicity feature of progressive aspect. In this study, progressive in Persian is represented by an auxiliary “dashtan” and verbal prefix “mi-”; but the prefix “mi-“ denotes other meanings besides progress (Rezai, 2011; Okati, 2018). Cognitive verbs, as a kind of state verbs can be used with progressive aspect; in this case they refer to gradual change. If the experiencer of a state verb has an active role in accomplishing the verb, the state verb changes to action verb and can be accompanied by progressive aspect. Furthermore, if a state verb refers to a temporary situation, it can be used in progressive aspect. Emotion verbs are rarely used in progressive aspect. Possession verbs are not used in progressive aspect and perception verbs, by having agentive experiencer that denotes to some temporary time, can be used with progressive aspect. So the agentivity of the actor can change the meaning of the state verb to activity and its progression becomes acceptable. Three factors make the progression of some state verbs possible; “waxing or waning situation, agentivity and temporary state” (Huddleston and Pullum, 2002: 167). State verbs in perfect aspect can have functions such as universal, experiential, hot news, and evidentiality. Use of state verbs in prospective aspect is restricted. Among subdivisions of state verbs, perception verbs can denote prospectivity by being positive and having some temporal adverbs denoting to future.

Keywords

• state verbs
• aspect
• grammatical aspect
• role and reference grammar
• persian