The interface between Aktionsart and grammatical tense: A comparative study of the polyfunctionality of present-tense marking in the verbal paradigm.

This project purports an in-depth, cross-linguistic study of the interaction between Aktionsart (lexical aspect) and the present tense. The focus lies on the polyfunctionality of what is conventionally described as a present-tense marker in many languages. Whereas such a marker can naturally combine with stative predicates to yield a present-time reading, dynamic verbs often turn out to be conceptually incompatible with these present-tense markers, which then get another, non-present reading. The main goal of this investigation is to describe and account for this conceptual problem in a number of genetically and geographically unrelated languages.

Keywords:GRAMMAR

Disciplines:Language studies, Linguistics

Project type:Collaboration project