Word forms of aspect

noun

- a distinct feature or element in a problem (syn: facet)
- a characteristic to be considered
- the visual percept of a region (syn: panorama, prospect, scene, view, vista)
- the beginning or duration or completion or repetition of the action of a verb
- the feelings expressed on a person’s face (syn: expression, face, look)

Extra examples

Word forms

noun
singular: aspect
plural: aspects

The category of aspect shows the
manner in which the action is presented. The members of the aspect
opposition are the Indefinite and the Continuous forms. The
Indefinite form presents an action as a mere fact. That’s why it is
used to denote habitual, recurrent actions, well-known facts,
succession of events, etc. The Continuous form presents an action as
a developing process. It is used to denote an action going on at a
given moment or period of time.

Professor Smirnitsky was the first to
prove that aspect is inherent to the English verb and that it is
expressed in a two — member opposeme: writes — is writing, the marked
member of which is the Continuous aspect, the unmarked one is the
common aspect.

The Continuous
aspect may stress the development of the action or its temporary
character: Are you feeling
cold? You are not seeing
him to advantage now. Some of the English verbs, which usually have
no aspect opposites, can be used in the Continuous form to stress one
of the above meanings.

1. verbs of objective relation: belong,
   possess, resemble, contain;

2. link-verbs: appear, prove, seem, turn
   out;

3. verbs of perception: see, hear, feel,
   smell, believe, dislike, hate, hope, know;

4. verbs of point-action: burst, jump,
   drop, pick up, etc.

Besides, the Common
aspect has a very broad meaning; it can express even a continuous
action if it is one of many in a succession (I worked
in the garden for 2 hours, then I had
a rest
for an hour and after that I went for a walk).

As the main
function of the common aspect is naming facts, it is used in stage
directions: He covers
his face. She runs
to the door.

On the contrary the
Continuous aspect gives an action a descriptive character or emphasis
on the action itself: e.g. But I’m hoping
she’ll come soon. The Continuous form may denote emotion: (irony,
disapproval). E.g. somebody has been eating from my plate.

In general the use of aspect forms in
M.E. is often connected with the lexical character of the verb:
durative verbs are generally not used in the Continuous form, while
terminative verbs in the continuous express a repeated action or an
action which hasn’t come to an end.

E.g. He was bringing flowers (repeated
action). He was stopping and leaning over gates.

Various aspective meanings of the verb
can be expressed in M.E. lexically.

E.g. He used to bathe. He would gaze
at the sea. She fell in love at first sight.

The category of aspect has for a long
time been a problem because it has been treated with the same
approach towards different languages. The category of aspect in
Russian is based on a different principle, as the main meaning of the
perfective aspect is the completion of the action. There is no
correspondence between the meaning of the members of the aspect
opposition in English and Russian.

E.g. ел
– съел;
but he ate – he was eating.

Some foreign
grammarians consider the aspect to be a semantic category some others
do not recognize the existence of this category in M.E. at all
(Sweet, Gespersen). Still others do not separate it from the category
of tense. A V. Plotkin point out that category of aspect includes the
opposition 1) perfect vs. non-perfect and 2) continuous vs.
non – continuous. The existence of the aspect category in English
is still a disputed matter.

18. Grammatical
category of time correlation – GC
which marks the anteriority of the action to the temporal axis of
orientation (present, past, etc.), as opposed to simultaneity of the
action with the temporal axis.

Time Correlation
interprets the concept of time from the asp of temporal asp of
actions. The gr cat-ry of Time is constituted by the oppos-ion of
Perf/Nonperf
forms. There are diffr opinions on the oppos-ion. We share the view
of Smirnitskij who treats the oppos as a separate gr cat-ry «The
c-ry of Time correlation».

The marked memberis built with the help of the discontinious
form «Have+ed». The meaning of the Perf form includes 2
interrelated components: priority, correlation to another act or
point of time in the Pres, Past, Futur.

This cat-ry is Antropological:
it reflects the speaker’s interpretation of the relations b/w the
actions. In certain context the General meaning of priority can be
modefied & presented by several
syntagmatic meanings:

1. Resultit is found with terminative verbs &
   appears to be the result of the gr meaning of priority & the
   aspective char-re of the verb.

2. Experience is the most evident manifestation of the
   anthropological char-re of the cat-ry. Pr Perf denotes a past act
   which has a pres time relevance for the speaker.

3. Continuation of the past act in the pres is found with
   durative V. Ex: I’ve been here for months.

4. An unfulfield actis found after the modal verbs: be
   might, ought, should & after the verbs of hope, intention,
   expectation used in the past tense.the Perf form showes that the
   expected act wasn’t realized.

5. Intensity— absolute complition of the act. This use of
   Perf forms is very expressive. The Past Perf interrupts the line of
   a sucsession of past actions. Ex: He walked & whistled &
   suddenly he had stopped.

In the text the Perf form forms a retrospective to understand the
causitive-consequitive relations b/w the act-s.

The weak memberof the oppos has a very wide & general
meaning. The oppos Perf/Nonperf may be neutralized when the meaning
of priority is expressed by other elements of context (on, upon,
after+Ger).

The cat-ry needs spec attention in teaching because priority &
correlation don’t have gr expression in R.

Many scholars (Smirnitsky) are of the opinion that the English
perfect – non-perfect forms represent a special grammatical
category – the category of correlation which is expressed in the
system of two-member opposemes: writes – has written; wrote – had
written; writing – having written; to be written – to have been
written, etc. showing whether the action is viewed as prior to
(perfect forms) or irrespective of other actions or situations
(non-perfect forms) (Smirnitsky, Barkhudarov).

The category of correlation is closely connected
with those of tense and aspect. All the views on the essence of the
perfect forms in English may be classified into:

1. Otto Gespersen and others treat the perfect forms as a tense
   category.

2. Vorontsova Ilyish and others treat the perfect forms as an aspect
   category together with such forms as the continuous aspect and
   common aspect.

The category of correlation is characteristic of finites and
non-finites of the indicative and the subjunctive mood (with the
exception of the imperative mood, participle II and subjunctive I).

E.g. The plane is reported to have left (to leave). She speaks as if
she had been there herself. His having taken the book is out of the
question.

Many scholars find two perfect meanings: inclusive
and exclusive. E.g. How long have u been here? (inclusive). Where
have u been (exclusive).

Gordon and Krylova distinguish 3 uses of the present perfect.

1. Present Perfect I shows that the action took part in the past
   without mentioning any definite circumstances under which it
   occurred: He is very sensitive. I have discovered that…

It is used to open up conversations, to introduce a new topic, to sum
up a situation:

E.g. What is it they have
done? So you have
done nothing?

The attention is concentrated on the action itself.

1. Present Perfect II expresses an action, which began before the
   moment of speaking and continues into it or up to it.

E.g. I have known him
since childhood.

1. Present Perfect III is used to express a future action.

E.g. When you have
had your tea we’ll see about it. The
main sphere of Present Perfect is direct speech.

The Past Perfect has the same meanings but is used mainly in
narration, referring to the past: E.g. She was no fool. She had
read much and with good sense.

The Future Perfect is used in two cases 1) to express a completed
action before a given future moment and 2) an action which begins
before a given moment in the future and continues into it or up to
it; the later is rather seldom. E.g. I suppose we shall have made up
our minds whom we going to elect.

19. Grammatical category of mood
– GC which expresses the relation of the action to reality as
stated by the speaker, any supposition, non-fact (unreal moods –
subjunctive (I/II) & conditional), as opposed to the expression
of fact (indicative) & command (imperative).

The gr categ of Mood
expresses the relation of the act to reality as stated by the
speaker. So, M is the only morph category which includes the speaker
in its definition. It is the most speaker oriented cat-ry
(antropologikal).

The number of M-s in E varies from 2 to 16 because of the complexity
of the c-ry & of the problem of border-line b/w homonimy &
polisemy.

Thus the system of M presented by Max Deutschbein includes 4 Moods:
cogitativus, optativus, volentativus, expectativus, with 4 submoods
in each.

20. We follow the Smirnitskij’s
classif-ion. It is the most constant &
meaning oriented. His system includes 6 M-s:

_______Real_______________Hypothetical_____________Unreal___

(Indicative)
(Imperative,subj1,Suppos) (Subj2,Condition)

The Indicative
M presents the act as real from the speaker’s point of v. It is the
most frequently used. It has the gratest number of forms. It is used
in 2 communic types of sent: Declarative & Interrogative.

The Imperative
M is used to expr inducement to act
which means that the speaker considers the act as desirable,
necessary. Yet, the act is not real. The enducement refferes to the
future event if this futur is a moment away from the pres moment. The
forms of the Imper M is the INF without ‘to’, the neg forms are built
with the aux ‘Do’.

Subj 2
is used in the following types of sent:

— in simple sent to expr unreal wish or desire(If only he were
free.).

• in subj clauses after the Principle clause «it’s time»

• in pred clause introduced by the conj which serves as the signal of
  turning from the real state of things into unreal.(You look as
  if…).

• in Obj clauses after «to wish» in the princ clause.

Such sent-s expr a wish contrary to reality, smth that cannot
fulfiled.

• in addverbial clauses of comparison, concession & condition. Ex:
  He looked at me as if he were embarrassed.

The Conditional Mis built with the help of
«should/would»+Inf of the notional verb. It is used to
present an act which is the consequence of an unreal condition.

The other 2 M-s Subj 1 & Suppositional are diffr in form but very
similar in meaning & context of use.

The forms of Subj
1 are homonimous to the Inf without
‘to’.

The Suppos M
is built with the help of ‘should’ for
all persons + Inf.

Both the M-s present the act as possible, hypothetical, necessary.
Both are used in the same type of clauses: Subj & Obj (after
suggest, propose, demand, command);Adv Cl of purpose,concession,
condition.

The only diffr b/w them is that only Subj 1 is used in simple sent.
Ex: Long live friendship.

Now Subj 1 is common in AmE but it is rearely used in BrE.

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Examples from texts

As soon as signs of decomposition had begun to appear, the whole aspect of the monks betrayed their secret motives in entering the cell.

Лишь только начало обнаруживаться тление, то уже по одному виду входивших в келью усопшего иноков можно было заключить, зачем они приходят.

Dostoevsky, Fyodor / The brothers KaramazovДостоевский, Фёдор / Братья Карамазовы

Братья Карамазовы

Достоевский, Фёдор

© Издательство «Художественная литература», 1988

The brothers Karamazov

Dostoevsky, Fyodor

The moment I cast an eye on her, it seemed to me that there was something strange about her aspect.

Мне сразу показалось, что выглядит она как-то странно.

Wodehouse, P.G. / Jeeves in the offingВудхаус, П. Г. / На помощь, Дживс!

На помощь, Дживс!

Вудхаус, П. Г.

© Издательство «Остожье», 1999

© ГП ИПФ «Ставрополье», 1999

Jeeves in the offing

Wodehouse, P.G.

© 1960 by P.G.Wodehouse, renewed 1988 by Edward Stephen Cazalet, next of kin of deceased author

I will thwart that old villain’s projects; my affright at his baleful aspect begins to abate, and my hatred to arise.

— Я расстрою козни этого старого злодея. Его гнусная рожа перестает внушать мне страх, и во мне растет лютая ненависть.

Scott, Walter / KenilworthСкотт, Вальтер / Кенилворт

Кенилворт

Скотт, Вальтер

© Издательство «Художественная литература», 1963

In recognition of this, the theme for the high-level segment of the 2004 substantive session of the Economic and Social Council focuses on this aspect of the implementation of the Brussels Programme.

В знак признания этого обстоятельства в качестве темы этапа заседаний высокого уровня основной сессии Экономического и Социального Совета 2004 года был выбран этот аспект осуществления Брюссельской программы.

© Организация Объединенных Наций, 2010 год

Another aspect of America’s domestic practice of liberal democracy that is currently being debated is how the US deals with the threat of terrorism.

Другим спорным аспектом американской внутренней практики либеральной демократии является то, как США разбираются с угрозой терроризма.

Nye, Joseph S.Най, Джозеф C.

й, Джозеф C.

Най, Джозеф C

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2010

e, Joseph S.

Nye, Joseph S

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2010

A tree transformation by the i-th node is called the i-th aspect of the information object.

Трансформация дерева по i-му узлу называется i-м ракурсом информационного объекта.

«I traded it for gold I panned in a desert aspect a while back.»

Купил за золото, которое недавно намыл в пустынном мире.

DeChancie, John / Castle PerilousДе Ченси, Джон / Замок Опасный

Замок Опасный

Де Ченси, Джон

Castle Perilous

DeChancie, John

For the purpose of providing an opportunity for a multi-aspect usage of files of domestic patent documentation in electronic form, these files were converted to electronic form.

В целях получения возможности многоаспектного использования фонда отечественной патентной документации в электронном виде осуществлено завершение перевода фонда отечественной патентной документации в электронную форму.

We are, of course, concerned at this moment only with a particular aspect of the subject: we are considering values of coalitions only—i.e. of concerted acts of behavior— and not of economic goods or services.

В данный момент мы, разумеется, занимаемся только некоторым частным аспектом нашей теории: мы рассматриваем только значения для коалиций, т. е. согласованных поведений, а не значения для экономических благ или услуг.

Neumann, John,Morgenstern, Oskar / Theory of Games and Economic BehaviorНейман, Джон,Моргенштерн, Оскар / Теория игр и экономическое поведение

Теория игр и экономическое поведение

Нейман, Джон,Моргенштерн, Оскар

© Издательство «Наука», 1970 г.

Theory of Games and Economic Behavior

Neumann, John,Morgenstern, Oskar

© 1944 by Princeton University Press

The cingulate gyrus running around the medial aspect of the whole hemisphere has a number of functions, including a role in complex motor control, pain perception and social interactions.

Поясная извилина находится в медиальной части полушария и выполняет ряд функций, включая участие в регуляции движений , и восприятии боли

Баркер, Р.,Барази, С.,Нил, М. / Наглядная неврологияBarker, Roger,Barasi, Stephen,Neal, Michael / Neuroscience at a glance

Neuroscience at a glance

Barker, Roger,Barasi, Stephen,Neal, Michael

©1999 by Blackwell Science Ltd

Наглядная неврология

Баркер, Р.,Барази, С.,Нил, М.

© R.A. Barker, S. Barasi, M.J. Neal. Neuroscience at a glance. Second Edition, 2003

© Г.Н. Левицкий, перевод, 2005

© Издательская группа «ГЭОТАР-Медиа», 2005

They turned from one little aspect to another.

Они замечали и обсуждали лишь какие-то мелкие его грани.

Wells, Herbert George / The war in the airУэллс, Герберт / Война в воздухе

Война в воздухе

Уэллс, Герберт

© Издательство «Правда», 1964

The war in the air

Wells, Herbert George

© the Literary Executors of the Estate of H. G. Wells

The answer, which will also address the first of our three questions, highlights an important and subtle aspect of space and distance.

Ответ, который также затрагивает первый из трех поставленных вопросов, выдвигает на первый план важные и нетривиальные свойства пространства и расстояния.

Greene, Brian / The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate TheoryГрин, Брайан / Элегантная Вселенная. Суперструны, скрытые размерности и поиски окончательной теории

Элегантная Вселенная. Суперструны, скрытые размерности и поиски окончательной теории

Грин, Брайан

© 1999 by Brian R.Greene

© Перевод на русский язык: Едиториал УРСС, 2004

The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory

Greene, Brian

© 1999, 2003 by Brian R. Greene

An untransformed tree is the primary or main aspect of the information object.

Нетрансформированное дерево представляет основной или главный ракурс информационного объекта.

The routine and relatively meaningless nominal fining of prostitutes, who promptly return to their «beat»—a practice so common that streetwalkers consider it simply a routine aspect of their work situation—is also well known.

Широко известна и рутинная практика наложения штрафов на проституток, которая не мешает последним немедленно возвращаться к своему ремеслу; практика настолько будничная, что проститутки рассматривают ее просто как обязательный элемент свой «работы».

Schur, Edwin M. / Our Criminal Society: The Social and Legal Sources of Crime in AmericaШур, Эдвин M. / Наше преступное общество: Социальные и правовые источники преступности в Америке

Наше преступное общество: Социальные и правовые источники преступности в Америке

Шур, Эдвин M.

© Перевод с английского с изменениями, «Прогресс», 1977

Our Criminal Society: The Social and Legal Sources of Crime in America

Schur, Edwin M.

Important in the formulation aspect is the creation of acusal tract in a muscle layer.

Важным в рецептурном отношении является создание акузального тракта в мышечном слое.

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Collocations

In English grammar, aspect is a verb form (or category) that indicates time-related characteristics, such as the completion, duration, or repetition of an action. (Compare and contrast with tense.) When used as an adjective, it’s aspectual. The word comes from Latin, meaning «how [something] looks»

The two primary aspects in English are the perfect (sometimes called perfective) and the progressive (also known as the continuous form). As illustrated below, these two aspects may be combined to form the perfect progressive.

In English, aspect is expressed by means of particles, separate verbs, and verb phrases.

Examples and Observations

Perfect Aspect
The perfect aspect describes events occurring in the past but linked to a later time, usually the present. The perfect aspect is formed with has, have, or had + the past participle. It occurs in two forms:​

Perfect Aspect, Present Tense:
«History has remembered the kings and warriors, because they destroyed; art has remembered the people, because they created.»
(William Morris, The Water of the Wondrous Isles, 1897)​

Perfect Aspect, Past Tense:
«At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.»

(Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, 1969)

Progressive Aspect
The progressive aspect usually describes an event that takes place during a limited time period. The progressive aspect is made up of a form of be + the -ing form of the main verb.​

Progressive Aspect, Present Tense:
«She’s loyal and is trying to wear her thin flippy hair in cornrows.»
(Carolyn Ferrell, «Proper Library,» 1994)

Progressive Aspect, Past Tense:
«I was reading the dictionary. I thought it was a poem about everything.»

(Steven Wright)

The Difference Between Tense and Aspect
«Traditionally . . . both aspects [perfect and progressive] are treated as part of the tense system in English, and mention is made of tenses such as the present progressive (e.g. We are waiting), the present perfect progressive (e.g. We have been waiting), and the past perfect progressive (e.g. We had been waiting), with the latter two combining two aspects. There is a distinction to be made, however, between tense and aspect. Tense is concerned with how time is encoded in the grammar of English, and is often based on morphological form (e.g. write, writes, wrote); aspect is concerned with the unfolding of a situation, and in English is a matter of syntax, using the verb be to form the progressive, and the verb have to form the perfect. For this reason combinations like those above are nowadays referred to as constructions (e.g. the progressive construction, the present perfect progressive construction).»

(Bas Aarts, Sylvia Chalker, and Edmund Weiner, Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 2014)

present perfect progressive: God knows how long I’ve been doing it. Have I been talking out loud?

past perfect progressive: He had been keeping it in a safety deposit box at the Bank of America. For months she had been waiting for that particular corner location.

Present Perfect Progressive and Past Perfect Progressive
«The perfect aspect most often describes events or states taking place during a preceding time. The progressive aspect describes an event or state of affairs in progress or continuing. Perfect and progressive aspect can be combined with either present or past tense…Verb phrases can be marked for both aspects (perfect and progressive) at the same time: The perfect progressive aspect is rare, occurring usually in the past tense in fiction. It combines the meaning of the perfect and the progressive, referring to a past situation or activity that was in progress for a period of time.»

(Douglas Biber, Susan Conrad, and Geoffrey Leech, Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Longman, 2002)

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, aspect has the Latin root aspectus, or «to look at». Having searched the OED for an adjective with the same root, there is the word aspectual with two meanings:

1. Pertaining to aspects. Obs. rare
2. Grammar. Of or pertaining to an aspect or aspects (see aspect n. 9b).

Note that the first meaning is now obsolete, and the second is only used to describe elements of grammar. So, we need a word which is still in common use. However, if you are using this to name an interface then I believe you can still use aspectual on the grounds that it maintains a clear link to aspect.

If, however, you are looking for a word which is still in common use, we must look at synonyms rather than true adjective forms. There are several senses of aspect, each with different synonyms.

One word which touches on a few common sense—a visible feature, and a part of something—is facet. To describe something which has aspects or facets, you can say it is faceted:

fig. Having a number of aspects, sides, or qualities; resembling an object which has been cut into facets. Freq. with preceding modifying word. Cf. multifaceted adj. 2.

The aspect (from the Latin aspectus “look, sight, direction of sight” to aspicere “look, look”) describes a grammatical category of the verb in linguistics . The aspect expresses distinctions in how the situation described by the verb extends relative to the time considered. A typical aspect differentiation then consists in whether an event is completely contained in the observation period and is concluded ( completed aspect) or whether it is not completely contained ( unfinished aspect ).

Aspect differs from the neighboring category tense in that the tense rather expresses the relationship between a observed time and speaking time (one talks about the past or future). The tense is anchored at the time of speaking, the now, and is therefore deictic . Not so the aspect: It only describes the relation between the observed period and the extent of the described situation. This pair of observation time and situation time can then be classified as a whole in the past, present or future. Accordingly, in many languages ​​the category of the aspect is expressed in addition to the tense, whereby there can also be forms that combine aspect and tense indications in one (for example in the Romance languages).

The aspect can be realized through word forms of the verb, i.e. morphologically , that is, there are different conjugation endings or certain stem changes in the verb to represent the aspect. In English , the progressive form has the function of an unfinished aspect, i.e. H. here aspect is expressed by an auxiliary verb .

Languages ​​that do not mark the aspect as a grammatical category, such as (standard) German, can use other means of expression, for example the information conveyed by an unfinished aspect can often be in German through adverbs such as «just» or Be signaled «always». (For example: «She bakes just a cake, but he is not ready yet.»)

A distinction is made between the aspect and the type of action , which, like the aspect, is not a grammatical category, but a classification of word meanings. However, the type of action is also called the lexical aspect (or situation aspect ), especially in English-language specialist literature . These uses of the term create a lack of clarity as to whether aspect is a grammatical category (as above) or more general time-related properties of verb meanings.

Interplay of aspect and tense

In contrast to the tense (i.e. the «time stage»), the aspect does not refer to the point in time of the process relative to the moment of the statement ( past , present , future ), but to the way in which this process is viewed (i.e. the «time direction reference»).

However, the terms tense and aspect are not clearly distinguished from one another in all languages. This is related to the fact that there are languages ​​in which the distinction between aspects is expressed morphologically only in past tenses, so that the aspects are linked with the tense names. For example, the Latin imperfect tense is a past tense in the unfinished aspect (hence the name). Other languages ​​morphologically only distinguish the aspect and do not have any basic categorization in time levels. In still other languages, time levels and aspects are systematically combined with one another so that three time levels exist for each aspect. German, on the other hand, has a tense system, but no grammatical category of the aspect.

Hans Reichenbach created a terminology to understand the verbal sequence of tenses. He described the tenses by means of two relations between the three reference points mentioned above. For the characterization of the different tense forms, the relation between the speaking time S and the reference point R as well as that between the event time E and the reference point R was set .

In the approach he originally formulated , however, only temporal relationships between these three reference points could be described. Further developments of his theory were then also able to explain complicated descriptions of past tenses, such as that of the imperfect tense .

The category of aspect is used in the Romance languages , for example in Spanish, as the pair of opposites pretérito imperfecto for the unfinished event and the pretérito perfecto (compuesto) or pretérito indefinido for a completed action . In Spanish, representative of the other Romance languages, the terms tense and aspect are not as clearly separated from one another as in the Slavic languages . This is because the aspect distinction is expressed morphologically only in the past tenses, so the aspect coincides with the tense designations. Nonetheless, when considering the aspect, the focus is not on the «time levels», ie the tenses, but rather the temporal structure of actions, the «reference to the direction of time».

For the aspect, it is decisive what extent an action has, whether it is completed or is still ongoing and how the speaker is integrated into this situation. If one follows Reichenbach’s considerations, then a perfect aspect would exist if the reference time R includes the event time E or follows it . If the reference time R is included in the event time E , one speaks of an imperfective aspect.

History of the term

Aspect is a loan translation of the term «видъ» ( vid , German «view») from the Old Church Slavonic grammar of Meletij Smotrićkyj (1619), which in turn is a loan translation to the word εἶδος (eidos) from the Greek grammar of Dionysius Thrax from the 2nd Century BC Goes back.

The Russian linguist Nikolai Ivanovich Gretsch (1830) introduced the term «видъ» (today’s orthography: «вид») into Russian grammar; However, he understood it to be the morphological relationship between the basic and derived form of a verb. Karl Philipp Reiff , a Swiss philologist and lexicographer, gave in a later French translation (1829) the Russian word «видъ» with the designation «aspect». This is how the term initially used for Slavic languages ​​also found its way into the terminology of Romance studies.

It was the philologist Georg Curtius (1846) Privatdozent at the University of Berlin and later professor for classical philology at the University of Leipzig who made the first attempt to expand the category of the aspect to other Indo-European languages and thus began to develop the tense of the aspect and to be conceptually separated from the later type of action. Curtius made a distinction in his work between “Zeitstufe” and “Zeitart”. In the time stage, he saw the temporal standpoint of an action, whereas the type of time determined the manner in which the verbal action took place.

Karl Brugmann (1887), a student of Curtius at the University of Leipzig, studied the Indo-European verbal system at the same time. Together with Berthold Delbrück , he developed Curtius’ approach further, as he was of the opinion that the concept of the type of time was too vaguely delimited from the time stage. It was also Brugmann who included the term “action” in the scientific discussion; he saw in the «action» expressed more the way in which the action of a verb takes place in contrast to the «time stage».

The Slavist Sigurd Agrell (1908) provided the first scientifically based definition of the term “type of action” or differentiation between “aspect” and “type of action” . Until then, these terms had been used synonymously, but this is still the case in some cases up to the current literature.

Kinds of Aspect

Imperfect aspect

The imperfective aspect ( Latin imperfectum ‘unfinished’) considers an action without regard to its closure, i.e. to a state that either lasts (durative) , is constantly repeated (iterative) or usually takes place (habitual) .

Tóte píjena scholío stin Athína.		«I went to school in Athens at the time.»	(Greek)
Paul fumait des cigarettes fortes.		«Paul smoked strong cigarettes.»	(French)
Anna aveva una bicicletta.		«Anna owned ( » had « imperf.) A bicycle.»	(ital.)
Francisco fumaba habanos fuertes.		«Francisco was still smoking strong cigars.»	(span.)
George was reading a book yesterday evening.		«Georg read a book last night.»	(engl.)
On chce pisać list.		«He wants to write the letter (imperf., ‘Sometime’) »	(Polish)

According to the Greek tense that expresses this aspect ( Paratatikos ) is called in the context of the Greek this aspect also paratatisch .

Perfect aspect

The perfective aspect ( Latin perfectum ‘completed’) regards an action as a whole or as completed, either with regard to a one-off event (selective) or its beginning (ingressive) or end (resultative) .

Chtes píga stin Athína.		«I drove (‘went’) to Athens yesterday.»	(Greek)
Paul fuma / a fumé une cigarette.		«Paul smoked a cigarette.»	(French)
Anna ebbe una bicicletta.		«Anna got ( ‘had’ perfectly) a bike.»	(ital.)
Francisco fumó habanos fuertes.		«Francisco was already smoking strong cigars (at the time).»	(span.)
George visited London last week.		«Georg visited ( ‘had’ perfectly) London last week.»	(engl.)
On chce napisać list.		«He wants to write the letter (perfective — ‘he has the specific intention to do this too’) »	(Polish)

According to the tense that expresses this aspect in Greek (aorist) and to avoid confusion with the perfect aspect, this aspect is also called the aoristic aspect .

Perfect aspect

The perfect aspect (according to the Greek tense perfect ) considers a completed action and the resulting ongoing result at the same time:

Écho pái stin Athína.		«I ‘m to Athens gone (perfektisch) .»> «I have been to Athens.»	(Greek)
Tethneka.		«I died (perfect) .»> «I am dead.»	(ancient Greek)

In grammars that name the perfective aspect described above differently (especially in grammars of Greek), the perfect aspect is sometimes also called perfective .

The aspect in modern Greek

The modern Greek language not only preserved the three tempo-related aspects of ancient Greek , but systematically extended them to all time levels . Only in the indicative present tense is there no morphological distinction between perfect and imperfective aspects, since it is logically impossible to describe an event of the present as closed — it would thus implicitly become an event of the past.

In the first example, the common verb see is used, which is formed irregularly for the various aspects with two different word stems, the present tense stem vlep … and the aorist stem dh … , the perfect is not synthetically inflected, but analytically realized with auxiliary verb + aparémfato :

• tha se dho ávrio ( θα σε δω αύριο ) — «I’ll see you tomorrow.»
• tha se vlepo kathe mera ( θα σε βλέπω κάθε μέρα ) — «I will see you every day.»
• tha se écho dhi ( θα σε έχω δει ) — «I will have seen you [… and therefore know about something]»

The second example uses a regular aorist shape:

• tha sou grápso ( θα σου γράψω ) — «I will write to you [once, on this matter].»
• tha sou gráfo ( θα σου γράφω ) — «I will write to you — [always until you come back].»
• tha sou écho grápsi ( θα σου έχω γράψει ) — «I will have written to you [and you have the letter in your hand].»

The aspect in the Slavic languages

The Slavic languages divide their verbs into perfect and unfinished, which express the perfective and imperfective aspect. These verbs each form a pair of aspects; the respective aspect partners are mostly derived from one another. The resulting two stems can be conjugated in all three time stages with the exception of the perfective aspect. No present tense forms can be formed from this. The formation of the aspect verb forms from one another does not follow fixed rules. To choose the verb form, knowledge of the associated unfinished or completed variant is a prerequisite. But there are some distinguishing features:

• Verbs without a prefix are usually unfinished. They are completed by prefixing, e.g. B.

	unfinished	accomplished
Bulgarian	jam ( ям )	iz jam ( из ям )
Upper Sorbian	jěsć	z jěsć
Lower Sorbian	jěsć	z jěsć
Polish	jeść	z jeść
Russian	jest ‘ (есть)	s « jest ‘ ( съ есть)
Serbo-Croatian	jesti (јести)	po jesti ( по јести)
Czech	jíst	po jíst, s níst
Slovak	jesť	z jesť
Ukrainian	jisty (їсти)	z ” jisty ( з ‘ їсти)
Slovenian	jesti	pojesti
German	eat vs. eat up

However, the prefixation of the unfinished aspect usually brings about a change in meaning, albeit sometimes minimal, since the prefixes are usually also prepositions. In Bulgarian and Polish , the following pair of aspects results for writing :

unfinished	accomplished
пиша («pisha»)	на пиша (» na pisha»)
pisać	na pisać
write (often)	write (once)

The completed aspect can, however, also mean writing down, since the prefixed form напиша is formally composed of на and пиша or napisać is formally composed of na and pisać, where на or na has the meaning of auf, an, in or zu.

• In some completed verbs formed by prefixing, the unfinished form is formed by inserting a suffix behind the root (which is underlined in the following examples).

	unfinished	accomplished	unfinished
Polish	zw ać	na zw ać	na z yw ać
Russian	zv at ‘ ( зв ать)	na zv at ‘ ( на зв ать)	na z yv at ‘ (на з ыв ать)
Serbian	зв ати / zv ati	na zv ati ( на зв ати)	na z iv ati (на з ив ати)
Czech	zv át	na zv at	na z ýv at
Slovak	outdated: zv ať	na zv ať	na z ýv ať
Ukrainian	zv aty ( зв ати)	na zv aty ( на зв ати)	na z yv aty (на з ив ати)
German	call vs. to name

• Some aspect pairs consist of verbs with different roots, e.g. B.

	unfinished	accomplished
Upper Sorbian	brać	wzać
Lower Sorbian	braś	wześ , weześ
Polish	brać	wziąć
Russian	brat ‘ (брать)	vzjat ‘ (взять)
Czech	brát	vzít / sebrat
Slovak	brať	zobrať / vziať
Ukrainian	braty (брати)	uzjaty (узяти)
Slovenian	vzeti	jemati
German	to take

The use of the aspect in each Slavic language varies slightly. In Czech, for example, in the sentence Země oběhne slunce jednou za rok (the earth orbits the sun once a year) the completed aspect is used, since here the closure of the plot is considered for one year and applied to all other years. In Russian (and other) of the unfinished aspect is here applied because of the repeated sequence is the action in the foreground, especially since there are generally for this reason in the Russian in the present tense no perfect aspect: Земля обращается вокруг Солнца за один Année (Zemlya obraschtschajetsja wokrug Solnza sa odin god) .

Some South Slavic languages ​​such as Serbo-Croatian , Bulgarian and Macedonian know both the aspect-related verb stems as well as different aspect-related past tenses like Greek or the Romance languages.

The aspect in the Romance languages

In the Spanish , French , Catalan and Italian languages , a category of the aspect can only be identified in the past tenses, which are distinguished by the pairs of opposites of Pretérito imperfecto vs. Pretérito indefinido or Pretérito perfecto simple ; Imparfait vs. Passé simple , as well as in Italian Imperfetto vs. Show Passato remoto (see also the interplay of tense, aspect and type of action in the Spanish past tenses Indefinido, Imperfecto ).

The distinction between perfective and imperfective of the Latin past tense perfect (which, however, could also express the perfect aspect) and imperfect has been regularly preserved in the Romance languages . In some languages, the historical, synthetically formed perfect largely disappeared from the spoken language and was replaced by a periphrastic auxiliary verb formation (usually referred to as the compound past ), which, however, also expresses the perfective aspect. However, this compound form also occasionally takes on perfect or resultant meanings.

Examples from Italian:

Imperfect		Mentre vedevo la TV …		«While I was watching TV …»
Perfect (historical perfect)		Vidi un usignolo.		«I saw (saw) a nightingale.»
Perfect (compound perfect)		Ieri ho visto un film nuovo.		«I saw a new film yesterday.»
Perfect		Questo film l ‘ ho visto .		«I’ve seen this film (I know).»

In languages ​​that still regularly use the historical perfect, periphrastic formation has also taken on other meanings, for example in Portuguese , where the pretérito perfeito composto denotes a process that began in the past and that continues and will continue, which also comes close to the perfect aspect .

The aspect in the Semitic languages

In the verb system of the Afro-Asian and thus also of the Semitic languages , the aspect is the essential category, the time stage was originally not expressed grammatically. In Hebrew and Arabic, for example, a distinction is traditionally made between perfect and imperfect , but these do not designate tenses, but the corresponding aspects. The time level is derived from the context, but not from the actual grammatical form. Alternatively, in translations from these languages, the past tense is used for the perfect tense and the present or future tense is used for the imperfect. Example:

	Perfective	Imperfect
Arabic	kataba	yaktubu
Hebrew	kataḇ	jiktoḇ
German	«he wrote»	«He writes / he will write»

Aspect realization in English

The English language , which has largely lost inflective elements, nevertheless has a regular system for differentiating between aspect-related categories, which, however, are purely time-related. In English, the progressive form , which is formed with the auxiliary verb to be («to be») and the present participle active , has established itself as a progressive aspect, that is, the currently taking place of an action. In contrast, the simple form of the verb often has a perfective meaning (except for state verbs). The habitual aspect can only be expressed syntactically in the simple past with used to  + INF (‘used to + INF’), otherwise it can be expressed lexically.

• I sang a song — «I sang a song» (perfective)
• 
  I’m singing — « I’m singing » (progressive, present tense)
• I was singing — «I was singing» (progressive, simple past)
• I will be singing — «I will be singing» (progressive, future tense)
• 
  I used to sing before leaving high school — «Before leaving high school , I used to sing» (imperfectively)

Other languages ​​with aspect categories in the verb system

• Bantu languages
• Bodo
• Burushaski
• Caucasian languages
• Mongolian languages
• Nilo-Saharan languages
• Sumerian language

literature

• Helmut Glück (Ed.): Metzler Lexicon Language . Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-476-00937-8 .
• Manfred Krifka, Wolfgang Hock: Conceptual history of aspect and type of action . Berlin ( ( page no longer available , search in web archives: amor.rz.hu-berlin.de ) — collection of materials for the seminar “Aspect and Constitution of Time ”).
  
• Heinz F. Wendt: The Fischer Lexicon — Languages . Frankfurt am Main 1987, ISBN 3-596-24561-3 .
• Г. И. Копылова, Т. А. Рамсина : Учебник русского языка для лиц говрящих на испанском языке. (Russian language manual for Spanish speakers) . Издательство «Высщая Школа» , Moscow 1966 (in Russian with explanations in Spanish, aspects of the verb on pp. 91–98, lesson 13).
• Ю. С. Маслов : Избранные труды. Аспектология. Общее языкознание . Языки славянской культуры , М. 2004.
• Agustín Mateos: Etimologías griegas del español . Editorial Esfinge, México 1961.
• Agustín Mateos: Etimologías latinas del español . Editorial Esfinge, México 1961.
• А. Д. Шмелёв, Анна А. Зализняк : Введение в русскую аспектологию . М. 2000.
• Östen Dahl: Tense and Aspect Systems . Blackwell, Oxford 1985, ISBN 0-631-14114-6 .
• Bernard Comrie: Aspect: An Introduction to the Study of Verbal Aspect and Related Problems . Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics, 1976, ISBN 978-0-521-29045-6 (English).
• Hans-Jürgen Sasse : Recent activity in the theory of aspect: Accomplishments, achievements, or just non-progressive state? In: Linguistic Typology . tape 6 , no. 2 , 2002, p. 199-271 .
• Meletij Smotryckyj : Hrammatiki Slavenskija Pravilnoe Syntagma. Jevje 1619. Church Slavonic grammar. Edited and introduced by Olexa Horbatsch. Sagner, Frankfurt am Main 1974 ( Specimina philologiae Slavicae 4, ISSN  0170-1320 ).

Web links

• Christoph Haase: Cognitive representation of temporality in English and in German. Dissertation, Technische Universitat Chemnitz, 2002, monarch.qucosa.de (PDF).
• Heyka Krause: Semantics of the German perfect. Problems and suggestions for analysis. University of Leipzig, June 7, 2007, pp. 1–18, home.uni-leipzig.de (PDF).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Wolfgang Klein: Time in Language . Routledge, London 1994
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Helmut Glück (Ed.): Metzler Lexikon Sprach . Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-476-00937-8 .
3. ^ Östen Dahl: Tense and aspect systems in the languages ​​of Europe. Blackwell, Oxford 1985. Differentiated: Karen Ebert: Progressive Markers in Germanic Languages. In: Ö. Dahl (Ed.): Tense and Aspect in the Languages ​​of Europe. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin 2000, pp. 605-654. (For the German, especially section 4)
4. ↑ Bernd Kortmann: The Triad “Tense-Aspect-Aktionart”. Problems and possible solutions. In: Carl Vetters (Ed.): Perspectives on aspect and Aktionart. Belgian journal of linguistics, 6th, Ed. de l’Univ. de Bruxelles, Bruxelles 1991, pp. 9-27 ( freidok.uni-freiburg.de ).
5. ^ Carlota Smith: The parameter of aspect. Kluwer, Dordrecht 1997.
6. ^ Hans Reichenbach: Elements of Symbolic Logic. Macmillan Co., New York 1947.
7. ↑ Martin Becker: Die Indegrienzen des Romanischen Imperfekts ( Memento from January 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF.) In: Günther Grewendorf, Arnim von Stechow (Ed.): Linguistic reports. Issue 221. Helmut Buske, Hamburg 2010, ISSN  0024-3930 , pp. 79-108.
8. ↑ Ángeles Carrasco Gutiérrez: Reichenbach y los tiempos verbales del español. Dicenda. Cuadernos de Filología Hispánica. 12, 1994, pp. 69-86, ISSN  1988-2556 ( revistas.ucm.es ).
9. ↑ Silvia Ramírez Gelbes: Aspectualidad y significado léxico: el caso de intentar en el discurso académico. Espacios Nueva series. Estudios literarios y del lenguaje. Año II / No. 2, 2006, pp. 242-261 ( academia.edu ).
10. ↑ Erwin Koschmieder: Time reference and language. A contribution to aspect u. Tense question. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1971, ISBN 3-534-05775-9 , reprint by BG Teubner, Leipzig 1929.
11. ↑ Meletij Smotryckyj: Hrammatiki Slavenskija Pravilnoe Syntagma. Jevje 1619. (German: Kirchenslavische Grammatik. Digi20.digitale-sammlungen.de ).
12. ↑ Horst G. Klein : Tempus, Aspect, Action Type. Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tübingen 1974, p. 76
13. ↑ Nikolai I. Grec: Prostrannaja russkaja grammatical. Saint Petersburg 1830
14. ^ Karl Philipp Reiff: Grammaire raisonnée de la langue russe, précédée d’une introduction sur l’histoire de cet idiome, de son alphabet et de sa grammaire. Saint Petersburg 1829
15. ↑ Georg Curtius: The formation of tenses and modes in Greek and Latin presented in a linguistic comparison. Wilhelm Besser, Leipzig 1846.
16. ^ Karl Brugmann, Berthold Delbrück : Outline of the comparative grammar of the Indo-European languages . Karl J. Trübner, Strasbourg 1887
17. ↑ Sigurd Agrell: Aspect change and action type formation in the Polish verbs. A contribution to the study of the Indo-European Preverbia and its meaning functions. Lund 1908.
18. ↑ Imparfait
19. ^ Pretérito imperfecto
20. ↑ Past Progressive or Past Continuous
21. ↑ So with Hans Ruge : Grammar of Modern Greek. Phonology, form theory, syntax . 3. Edition. Romiosini, Cologne 2001, ISBN 3-923728-19-0 , p. 67 .
22. ↑ Passé simple or Passé composé
23. ↑ Pretérito indefinido (Gramática, 1931) also as Pretérito perfecto simple (Esbozo, 1973), Pretérito absoluto also historical perfect
24. ↑ Simple Past
25. ↑ About the verbal aspect in modern Greek: home.schule.at
26. ↑ Czech Language News, Format = PDF, KBytes = 80 ( Memento from May 5, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
27. ↑ Olaf Krause: On the meaning and function of the categories of the verbal aspect in language comparison. Pp. 1–31, germanistik.uni-hannover.de (PDF).
28. ↑ Delphine Denis, Anne Sancier-Chateau: Grammaire du français. Le Livre de poche, Librairie générale française, Parisn 1994, ISBN 2-253-16005-9 .
29. ↑ Hans-Christoph Goßmann: Outline of the Hebrew grammar . Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-89228-671-X .