The aspect of a sentence contributes the temporal information and the point of view to the event that the sentence describes (Smith 1997:123). According to Kearns (2000:201), aspect expresses characteristics of the internal structure of an event, which, to some extent, are already coded in the verb or verb constellation which serves as the predicate denoting the event. For over half a century, aspect has aroused interests in the linguistic field. The most well-known aspectual classification of verbs might be Vendler’s (1957, 1967). Vendler classifies verbs into four semantic
categories: activity, accomplishment, achievement, and stative verbs. According to Vendler (1957:149), activity verbs describe processes going on without a terminal point. For instance, run, walk, swim, sing, and the like are activity verbs. Vendler’s
accomplishment verbs refer to processes for periods of time that are unique or definite;
they thus have a ‘climax’ or a necessary terminal point. For example, paint a picture,
build a house, make a chair, and write a novel are accomplishments. Achievement
verbs, according to Vendler, denote events which occur at a single moment and involve a necessary terminal point. For instance, recognize, realize, notice, arrive, win, and die all fall into the class of achievements. Stative verbs, Vedler’s fourth type of verbs, involve periods of time in an indefinite and non-unique sense. They are stative and can go on and on without a terminal point. For example, have, want, like, love, know, believe, be happy, and be tall are manifestly states.
However, Vendler’s classification is problematic. First, Vendler does not
distinguish between grammatical aspect and lexical aspect nor does he explain why verbs with endpoints, such as accomplishments, can co-occur with the progressive marker. For example, the English V-ing is a progressive form and denotes an on-going event without endpoints (Smith 1997:130); however, it can co-occur with accomplishment verbs, which denote durative events containing necessary endpoints (Smith 1997:178). In principle, the V-ing form should be incompatible with
accomplishment verbs based on their different natures. Such co-occurrence causes a
conflict and Vendler does not explain it in his theory. The second problem is that Vendler only considers ‘verb types’ or ‘verb classes’. However, the aspectual meaning
of an event is generally denoted by more than just the verb alone (Smith 1997:4). The evidence comes from sentences containing the same verb but different only in the complement or argument of the verb. For example, (1) and (2) present pairs of sentences with the same verbs which differ only in the complement and argument.
(1) a. John walked in the park. (without an endpoint) b. John walked to school. (with an endpoint) (2) a. Amy ate apples. (without an endpoint)
b. Amy ate an apple. (with an endpoint)
Although they have the same verb walked in (1), (1a) has a locative complement in the park, which makes the event go on without an endpoint, whereas (1b) has a
directional complement to school, which makes the event have a necessary endpoint.
Similarly, while (2a-b) has the same verb ate, the noun phrase of (2a) refers to an uncountable quantity apples, which makes the event continue indefinitely, whereas the object of (2b) refers to a specific quantity an apple, which makes the event have a clear endpoint. Therefore, the aspectual meaning of an event is not only denoted by the main verb, but also by the complements or the arguments of the verb (Smith 1997:4).
In resolving the problems that Vendler does not address, Smith (1991, 1997)
divides aspect into two components ‘situation aspect’ and ‘viewpoint aspect’. The two types of aspect are defined independently, but interact with one another in a sentence to bring about the temporal interpretation of an event. According to Smith, the viewpoint aspect consists of perfective, imperfective, and neutral viewpoints.
Viewpoint aspect is often conveyed by grammatical morphemes. The perfective viewpoint focuses a situation in its entirety, including both the initial and final endpoints; the imperfective viewpoint, on the other hand, focuses part of a situation, an interval that excludes the initial and final endpoints; and the neutral viewpoints
includes only one endpoint and they lack a grammatical morpheme (Smith 1997:66).
On the other hand, Smith’s situation aspect is conveyed by the verb constellation,
including a main verb and its argument(s), such as eat an apple. According to Smith, situation aspect has five different types State, Activity, Accomplishment, Achievement, and Semelfactive.
Smith (1997:19) uses three temporal features, namely dynamicity, durativity and telicity, to classify situation types into five. Dynamicity, according to Smith,
refers to events that comprise all non-stative situations which are continually ‘subject to a new input of energy’. Dynamic events take place in time and ‘they consist of successive stages which occur at different moments’ (Smith 1997:19). A durative
situation, according to Smith, occupies a certain period of time; in contrast, an
instantaneous situation is idealized to happen at one moment in time. Telic events in Smith (1997:19) refer to situations that ‘have a change of state which constitutes the outcome, or goal, of the event’, and when the outcome or goal of the event is reached,
the change of state occurs and the event is complete. Therefore, a telic event consists of a natural endpoint or intrinsic bound, whereas an atelic event does not have an
inherent endpoint or the endpoint is arbitrary (Smith 1997:19).
Smith’s (1991, 1997) five situation types based on the three temporal features are
explained as follows. According to Smith, Activity is a dynamic and durative event without an endpoint; hence, Activities are atelic events. For instance, stroll in the park, laugh, eat cherries, walk, swim, sing are cases of Activities. Smith’s Accomplishments
are dynamic activities with duration that have a necessary endpoint or change of state.
For example, build a bridge, walk to school, drink a glass of wine, write a letter are all Accomplishments. Achievements, according to Smith, refer to events that are punctual, instantaneous, and telic. For instance, leave the house, reach the top, recognize Aunt Jane, win/lose a race, cross the border, be born, and die all fall into
the class of Achievements. States in Smith (1991, 1997) refer to situations that are stative with duration and can go on and on without an endpoint; that is, they are atelic situations. For example, own the farm, be in Copenhagen, be tall, know the answer, believe in ghosts are States. Smith’s Semelfactives are similar to Achievements in that
they both are dynamic, punctual single-stage events except that Semelfactives are atelic, such as cough, knock, wink, hiccup, and pat. Table 2-1 summarizes Smith’s situation types and their temporal schemata in binary terms.
Table 2-1 Smith’s Five Situation Types (Smith 1997:20)
Situation types [±dynamic] [±durative] [±telic] examples
Activity + + - run, sing, swim
Accomplishment + + + build a bridge, write a letter,
Achievement + - + reach, recognize, die, win
State - + - own, know, believe, be tall
Semelfactive + - - cough, knock, wink
According to Smith (1997), the concepts of aspect play a role in all languages and the aspectual systems of different languages have a striking similarity. Therefore, Smith proposes a Universal Grammar (UG)1 account of aspect, which provides the general structure of aspectual systems across languages. The UG account of aspect suggests that every language has viewpoint aspect and similar categories of situation types and that the situation types have the same properties across languages; however, the interaction between viewpoint aspect and situation aspect varies from language to language along the parameter of aspect (Smith 1997:13). For example, the property of an Achievement event is the same across languages, i.e., instantaneous, punctual, and involving a change of state; however, the interaction between viewpoint aspect and Achievement events varies due to the parameter of aspect across languages. Take
1 The concept of Universal Grammar (UG) is proposed by Chomsky. UG is the theory of the language faculty. The basic postulate of UG is that language faculty is innate to humans, independent of other
English and Mandarin for instance. Unlike English Achievement verbs, which can co-occur with the progressive viewpoint, Mandarin Achievement verbs cannot be marked with the progressive marker. As illustrated in (3), die is an Achievement verb
in English, and it is compatible with the progressive viewpoint form V-ing. However, sǐ ‘die’ in Mandarin, also an Achievement verb, cannot co-occur with the progressive
viewpoint marker zai, as shown in (4).
(3) He is dying.
(4) * Tā zài sǐ.
he ZAI die
‘He is dying.’
The reason is that in some languages, like English, the progressive viewpoint allows a preliminary stage of Achievement verbs, which focuses on the temporal span before the initial point of instantaneous events, while in Mandarin it does not (Smith 1997:272). Such focus on the preliminary stage of an Achievement is marked and non-standard (Smith 1997:75). According to Smith, speakers make choices within the two components, i.e., situation types and viewpoint aspect, and standard choices are
unmarked while non-standard or unexpected choices are marked (Smith 1997:10).
Smith’s parametric approach of aspect can therefore account for some marked
combinations of situation types and viewpoints that occur only in a particular language. It also provides a satisfactory explanation for the problems Vendler (1957, 1967) does not address, mentioned above.