Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.31724/rihjj.44.2.13
A small step towards the systematization of the terminology of aspect in the Croatian language
Evaine Le Calvé Ivičević
orcid.org/0000-0003-3742-3464
; Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu
Iva Pranjković
Abstract
Numerous works devoted to the verbal aspect in the Slavic languages, as well as in other languages in which this category is not morphologically marked, have produced an abundance of terms, that is, terminological systems that vary, depending on a particular description. This abundance, encouraged by the progress of research, but also by the personal work of linguists dealing with different language families, has produced ambiguities that are obstacles to the development of aspectology and which are maintained in the very core of the Croatian language terminology (Novak Milić 2010: 131). In the tradition of works describing verbal and aspectual meanings in Slavic languages, certain terminological pairs commonly appear, describing ways of doing things such as “duration / punctuality”, “performing / accomplishment” etc. Newer terms, which are the fruits of personal work or which stem from the tradition of language schools, do not necessarily have the same meaning in the works of all the authors who use them. However, with the exception of the few articles describing some topics (Mršić 1999, Novak Milić 2010), no author after Đuro Grubor (1953a, 1953b) has attempted to elaborate a complete terminology that would meet the needs for describing aspects in Croatian. We assume that a systematized terminology would create a basis for deeper study of verbal aspect and, in general, aspectology, and would help to improve research on that subject in Croatian. This leads to the need for reviewing the existing terms and definitions of the concepts that they signify, so that we can offer a precise basic terminology as an incentive to continue the research on aspectology. In the first part of our work, we will provide an overview of the terms and concepts used so far in the works devoted to verbal aspect. In the second part, we propose a set of terms and harmonized definitions of designated concepts. We will try to introduce useful and, from the Croatian point of view, new descriptive elements by specifying the types of actions (state / activity / event) more clearly, including concepts of aspectual value, verb meaning and telicity, proposing to redefine the distinction between perfective and imperfective actions and ultimately representing equipollency of aspectual oppositions.
Keywords
aspectology; verbal aspect; perfectivity; imperfectivity; aspectual values
Hrčak ID:
218060
URI
Publication date:
21.3.2019.
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