Esta tese investiga a contribuição semântica dos verbos aspectuais acabar, começar, continuar, deixar, parar, passar, voltar e terminar em português brasileiro. O objetivo geral é contribuir para a análise sobre aspecto e sobre verbos aspectuais em PB e nas línguas naturais em geral, utilizando a Semântica Formal como modelo de análise. Este trabalho defende que os verbos aspectuais são modificadores de eventualidades e por isso contribuem para a expressão do aspecto lexical (Aktionsart), seguindo trabalhos anteriores, como os de Oliveira et al. (2001) e de Laca (2002; 2004; 2005). Ele assume que os verbos aqui estudados se comportam de forma diferente dos verbos de aspecto gramatical como estar e ir, tendo inclusive uma posição diferente na estrutura sintática. Como os verbos aspectuais se relacionam com o aspecto lexical, este trabalho também investiga as propriedades do aspecto lexical presentes no predicado selecionado por um verbo aspectual. Para a seleção dos verbos aspectuais, as propriedades relevantes se encontram no nível do sintagma verbal (VP) e são dadas composicionalmente. Por isso, constituintes como o objeto direto podem alterá-las, permitindo (ou restringindo) a seleção do VP em questão por parte do verbo aspectual. A tese aqui defendida é a de que cada verbo aspectual seleciona seus complementos a partir de propriedades específicas presentes no VP e que estão ligadas à semântica do verbo aspectual em questão. Dessa forma, esta pesquisa defende que as restrições de seleção de cada verbo aspectual podem ser acessadas na entrada lexical do verbo aspectual, sendo possível explicar a seleção de complementos feita por esses verbos. Além disso, defendemos a tese de que a entrada lexical pode apresentar a diferença entre verbos como começar e passar, nas perífrases começar a+infinitivo e passar a +infinitivo, por exemplo. / This thesis investigates the semantic contribution of the following aspectual verbs: começar begin, continuar continue, deixar quit, parar stop, passar pass, voltar resume, and acabar/terminar finish, in Brazilian Portuguese (BrP). The main goal is to contribute to the discussion about aspect and aspectual verbs in BrP and in natural languages in general, within a Formal Semantics approach. This work treats aspectual verbs as eventuality modifiers, and, consequently, it defends that they contribute to express lexical aspect (Aktionsart) or situation aspect (Smith 1997) in accordance with previous works such as Oliveira et al. (2001) and Laca (2002; 2004; 2005). This thesis also proposes that the verbs under discussion behave differently from verbs which contribute to express grammatical aspect or viewpoint aspect (Smith 1997) such as estar be, in the progressive aspect, and ir go, in the prospective aspect, also assuming that they have different positions in the syntactic structure. Since aspectual verbs are related to lexical aspect, the present research also analyzes lexical aspect features in the predicate which is selected for these verbs. Relevant features for this selection are located in the verbal phrase level (VP) and are given compositionally. Thus, phrases such as the direct object are able to change them, allowing (or not) that an aspectual verb select this VP. This work defends the hypothesis that each aspectual verb selects their complements based on specific features found in the VP, and that these features are linked to the semantics of this aspectual verb. Then, this research defends the idea that the selection constraints of each aspectual verb can be observed in its lexical entry, which explains the selection made by these verbs. Furthermore, we defend the idea that we can verify differences between semantically similar verbs like começar and passar, in their periphrastic construction, from differences found in their lexical entries.

Esta tese investiga a contribuição semântica dos verbos aspectuais acabar, começar, continuar, deixar, parar, passar, voltar e terminar em português brasileiro. O objetivo geral é contribuir para a análise sobre aspecto e sobre verbos aspectuais em PB e nas línguas naturais em geral, utilizando a Semântica Formal como modelo de análise. Este trabalho defende que os verbos aspectuais são modificadores de eventualidades e por isso contribuem para a expressão do aspecto lexical (Aktionsart), seguindo trabalhos anteriores, como os de Oliveira et al. (2001) e de Laca (2002; 2004; 2005). Ele assume que os verbos aqui estudados se comportam de forma diferente dos verbos de aspecto gramatical como estar e ir, tendo inclusive uma posição diferente na estrutura sintática. Como os verbos aspectuais se relacionam com o aspecto lexical, este trabalho também investiga as propriedades do aspecto lexical presentes no predicado selecionado por um verbo aspectual. Para a seleção dos verbos aspectuais, as propriedades relevantes se encontram no nível do sintagma verbal (VP) e são dadas composicionalmente. Por isso, constituintes como o objeto direto podem alterá-las, permitindo (ou restringindo) a seleção do VP em questão por parte do verbo aspectual. A tese aqui defendida é a de que cada verbo aspectual seleciona seus complementos a partir de propriedades específicas presentes no VP e que estão ligadas à semântica do verbo aspectual em questão. Dessa forma, esta pesquisa defende que as restrições de seleção de cada verbo aspectual podem ser acessadas na entrada lexical do verbo aspectual, sendo possível explicar a seleção de complementos feita por esses verbos. Além disso, defendemos a tese de que a entrada lexical pode apresentar a diferença entre verbos como começar e passar, nas perífrases começar a+infinitivo e passar a +infinitivo, por exemplo. / This thesis investigates the semantic contribution of the following aspectual verbs: começar begin, continuar continue, deixar quit, parar stop, passar pass, voltar resume, and acabar/terminar finish, in Brazilian Portuguese (BrP). The main goal is to contribute to the discussion about aspect and aspectual verbs in BrP and in natural languages in general, within a Formal Semantics approach. This work treats aspectual verbs as eventuality modifiers, and, consequently, it defends that they contribute to express lexical aspect (Aktionsart) or situation aspect (Smith 1997) in accordance with previous works such as Oliveira et al. (2001) and Laca (2002; 2004; 2005). This thesis also proposes that the verbs under discussion behave differently from verbs which contribute to express grammatical aspect or viewpoint aspect (Smith 1997) such as estar be, in the progressive aspect, and ir go, in the prospective aspect, also assuming that they have different positions in the syntactic structure. Since aspectual verbs are related to lexical aspect, the present research also analyzes lexical aspect features in the predicate which is selected for these verbs. Relevant features for this selection are located in the verbal phrase level (VP) and are given compositionally. Thus, phrases such as the direct object are able to change them, allowing (or not) that an aspectual verb select this VP. This work defends the hypothesis that each aspectual verb selects their complements based on specific features found in the VP, and that these features are linked to the semantics of this aspectual verb. Then, this research defends the idea that the selection constraints of each aspectual verb can be observed in its lexical entry, which explains the selection made by these verbs. Furthermore, we defend the idea that we can verify differences between semantically similar verbs like começar and passar, in their periphrastic construction, from differences found in their lexical entries.

The aim of the present work is to describe the semantics and the discursive functions from a general cognitivist point of view of the usage of the Present Perfect in the spoken Spanish of Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. It is argued that cross-linguistic values often ascribed to perfect, such as continuity, current relevance and recency to the speech time –ST– do not offer a consistent view of the actual usage. It is assumed that a basic meaning of the perfect operates in the studied dialects and is retrievable in all tokens, which differs significantly from the current descriptions of the perfect of “general” Spanish. The results show that the ST might very well be an inference of the basic meaning of the Perfect but it is not an intrinsic component of the Perfect’s semantics. Based mainly on Dahl & Hedin (2000), as well as on Langacker (1987), the revitalizing of the concepts type and token reference are suggested as key principles for identifying the respective domains of the Spanish Present Perfect and the Simple Past in the studied area. The Perfect, through type reference, makes an assertion of a situation as a representation of the class-type of the verbal semantics. The Simple Past, however, through token reference conceptualizes the situation as having explicit or implicit anchoring in the chronological axis of time. Three main kinds of contexts occur typically with the Perfect in the samples: detemporalized ascertainment, summary (in a broad sense of the word) and aspectual complexity. Summary scanning (Langacker, 1987), i.e. the schematic and holistic detemporalized conceptualization of the development of a given situation, is claimed to be used by informants for discursive purposes, granting a greater rhetorical weight to the Perfect. The results founded in this thesis indicate that the perfect tenses in Spanish have followed (and are following) different developmental paths that are not necessarily restricted to the same sequences and mode of grammaticalization.

In many languages, antipassive morphology is comprised of aspectual morphology (Polinsky 2008). This thesis presents an analysis of the syntax and semantics of antipassives in Inuktitut by exploring the link between aspectual morphology and antipassive morphology. It resolves the longstanding question as to the factors governing the distribution of the antipassive morpheme, showing that the presence of the antipassive morpheme is determined by the meaning of the construction, i.e. it does not merely change the grammatical function. It is proposed that the antipassive construction has imperfective viewpoint in contrast to the ergative construction. Antipassive morphology is obligatory with punctual telic verbs, i.e. achievements, which are verbs that have perfective viewpoint by default. Antipassive morphology is thus necessary to convey imperfective viewpoint for verbs that are by default perfective. Using a modified Reichenbachian (Reichenbach 1947) framework, it is shown that imperfective viewpoint does not allow for telic interpretations. Instead, punctuality determines the types of viewpoint, which coincide with the aspectual meaning of the antipassive marker. Viewpoint contrasts in Inuktitut are encoded not only in morphology but in changes of case and agreement configurations. They are derived using a version of the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 2008). Imperfective viewpoint can either be default, in which case there is inherent case on the internal argument, or derived through the addition of antipassive morphology, in which case the construction closely parallels a nominative-accusative structure. Perfective viewpoint is encoded through absolutive case on the internal argument, either in an ergative construction or in a canonical intransitive construction with unaccusative verbs. The thesis provides insight into the relation between case-agreement configurations and aspectual contrasts in language and the nature of those aspectual contrasts. It also provides a new approach to the relation between lexical aspect and viewpoint by considering the role of punctuality.

In many languages, antipassive morphology is comprised of aspectual morphology (Polinsky 2008). This thesis presents an analysis of the syntax and semantics of antipassives in Inuktitut by exploring the link between aspectual morphology and antipassive morphology. It resolves the longstanding question as to the factors governing the distribution of the antipassive morpheme, showing that the presence of the antipassive morpheme is determined by the meaning of the construction, i.e. it does not merely change the grammatical function. It is proposed that the antipassive construction has imperfective viewpoint in contrast to the ergative construction. Antipassive morphology is obligatory with punctual telic verbs, i.e. achievements, which are verbs that have perfective viewpoint by default. Antipassive morphology is thus necessary to convey imperfective viewpoint for verbs that are by default perfective. Using a modified Reichenbachian (Reichenbach 1947) framework, it is shown that imperfective viewpoint does not allow for telic interpretations. Instead, punctuality determines the types of viewpoint, which coincide with the aspectual meaning of the antipassive marker. Viewpoint contrasts in Inuktitut are encoded not only in morphology but in changes of case and agreement configurations. They are derived using a version of the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 2008). Imperfective viewpoint can either be default, in which case there is inherent case on the internal argument, or derived through the addition of antipassive morphology, in which case the construction closely parallels a nominative-accusative structure. Perfective viewpoint is encoded through absolutive case on the internal argument, either in an ergative construction or in a canonical intransitive construction with unaccusative verbs. The thesis provides insight into the relation between case-agreement configurations and aspectual contrasts in language and the nature of those aspectual contrasts. It also provides a new approach to the relation between lexical aspect and viewpoint by considering the role of punctuality.

The effect of grammar instruction on second language acquisition continues to be a source of debate in SLA research. Previous studies have shown that input-based instruction such as Processing Instruction (PI) is more effective than traditional grammar instruction (TI) for the acquisition of grammatical structures such as object pronouns in Spanish, the Spanish preterite, the simple present vs. the present progressive in English, and the ser/estar contrast in Spanish (VanPatten and Cadierno, 1993; Cadierno, 1995; Buck, 2000; Cheng, 2004). This quasi-experimental, classroom-based study examines the effects of output-based instruction (OB) and PI on the acquisition of the perfective/imperfective aspectual distinction in French, shown to be difficult to master by English-speaking learners due to its linguistic and pragmatic complexity. Specifically, the research design investigates whether OB instruction and PI have significant effects on the learners' performance involving the interpretation and production of the passé composé and the imparfait in narration. Two second semester university level French classes at the University of Texas at Austin were randomly assigned to one of the two groups: an output-based instruction group (n=18) and a processing instruction group (n=17). A distinct instructional treatment was developed for both groups, and a pretest/posttest procedure was used to assess the effect of instruction. The two posttests were administered one day and one month after instruction. All tests except the pretest included a written interpretation task, a controlled written production task, and a written composition. The findings show that both the OB and the PI groups improved their performance significantly on the assessment tasks and that there was no statistical difference between the groups on any of the tasks. These results differ from those of previous PI research and suggest that either type of instruction, output-based or processing, may have had a significant impact on the learners' developing system. The type of output-based instruction used in this study differs from TI in that it does not include a mechanical component. The results of the present study are consistent with Farley (2004b) in showing that approaches to grammar instruction that are meaning-oriented may bring about significant effects on SLA. / text

Cette étude, qui se situe dans les domaines de la morphosyntaxe et de la sémantique, tente de montrer quels sont les constituants qui entrent en jeu dans la sémantique de la relation locative des verbes de déplacement, de mouvement et de position en français et en géorgien. Sémantiquement, le signifié lexical de chaque verbe présenté implique un sème locatif et un certain nombre d’arguments, faisant référence à des entités qui jouent chacune un rôle précis dans ce type d’événement signifié par le verbe. Cette relation unit également d’autres éléments: les préverbes et les adpositions (prépositions/postposition). Les relations construites à trois et à deux arguments dans les deux langues font intervenir les phénomènes de la valence et de la diathèse. La valence verbale désigne de la manière la plus générale l’aptitude combinatoire de ces verbes, et la diathèse renvoie à une opération morphosyntaxique d’augmentation et de réduction de la valence verbale. L’expression du déplacement, du mouvement et de la position relève des propriétés sémantiques comme la trajectoire, la manière, le lieu de localisation, l’intentionnalité et des propriétés aspectuelles. Cette étude contrastive propose, d’une part, une description des verbes de déplacement, de mouvement et de position du français et du géorgien et, d’autre part, relève les différences et les similitudes morphosyntaxiques, sémantiques et combinatoires spécifiques comme le rôle des préverbes, des adpositions, des arguments locatifs, ainsi que l’importance de ces verbes dans l’expression du déplacement, du mouvement et de la position. / The present study develops a general typology of movement, motion and position verbs in modern French and Georgian. Working in a morphosyntactic and semantic perspective, I attempt to trace the constituents that are involved in the semantics of locative relations with movement, motion and position verbs in both languages. From a semantic point of view, the lexical meaning of each verb included in the corpus implies a locative seme and a certain number of arguments referring to entities that play a definite role in the particular event signified by the verb. The same relation occurs between other elements of the sentence: preverbs and adpositions (prepositions/postpositions). In both languages, two- and three-argument relations trigger phenomena known as valence and diathesis. Verbal valence indicates, at the most general level, the combinatory aptitude of a verb, while diathesis refers to morphosyntacic operation of augmentation and reduction of verbal valence. The expression of movement, motion and position implies semantic properties such as trajectory, manner of motion, spatial place, intentionality and the aspectual properties of movement and motion verbs. A contrastive study allowed us, on the one hand, a description of movement, motion and position verbs in both languages, and on the other hand to pinpoint specific morphosyntactic, semantic and combinatory differences and similarities, such as the tole of preverb, adpositions, locative arguments, and appreciate how verbs enter in the expression of movement, motion and position.

This master's thesis deals with biaspectual verbs in Russian and Czech language. The theoretical part is divided into two main chapters. The first one provides short overview of main areas of aspectological research. Individual subchapters explain and describe basic aspectological concepts - aspect, aspectual pair, aktionsart etc, their functional features and mechanisms of creating aspectual pairs. The second theoretical chapter is devoted to the phenomenon of biaspectuality. It presents different approaches to the nature of biaspectuality and issues of classification of biaspectual verbs. It also maps statistical data about biaspectual verbs in Russian and Czech and describes dynamics of their development. The practical part represents a contrastive analysis of 50 Russian and 50 Czech biaspectual verbs. Main goal was to explore functioning of biaspectual verbs in Russian and Czech, find their new potential aspectual partners, examine mechanisms of their creating and determine extent of their semantic overlap with original borrowed biaspectual verbs, using selected electronic corpuses, the internet and own examples. Finally, based on results of the analysis, are formulated main tendencies of the development of biaspectual verbs in Russian and Czech. Key words Aktionsart, aspect, aspectology,...

L’évidence morphologique de l'aspect verbal dans les langues slaves en fait un sujet d'étude bien connu, mais ce domaine demeure peu exploré pour ce qui est de la langue croate. Ce travail, qui s'appuie pour l'appareil théorique sur plusieurs travaux traitant de l'aspect verbal et des valeurs aspecto-temporelles en BCMS et dans d'autres langues slaves, complète dans un premier temps les connaissances sur le comportement aspectuel de l'infinitif et dresse une liste de ses valeurs aspectuelles dans toutes ses fonctions, notamment en tant que complément des verbes modaux des domaines sémantiques pouvoir, devoir et vouloir. Au-delà de cette analyse, il offre une série d'algorithmes établis sur les facteurs (im)perfectivants, et permettant de résoudre le problème du choix aspectuel dans de multiples situations données. Posant comme prémisse que les informations contribuant à déterminer les choix et les valeurs de l'aspect sont pour une bonne partie recelées dans le sémantisme du verbe à l'infinitif et le procès qu'il dénote, ce travail explore l'influence des propriétés de la situation référentielle sur le choix aspectuel. Afin d'éviter une confusion entre valeurs aspectuelles et contenus sémantiques, sont traités séparément l'infinitif indépendant, l'infinitif complément de verbes de modalité, puis des verbes modaux. Il s'avère que les facteurs qui motivent le choix de l'aspect des infinitifs sont d'origines différentes et relèvent de la nature de la notion verbale et des propriétés du procès référentiel. En ce qui concerne l'impact du semi-auxiliaire, il n'est lié au choix de l'aspect que dans la mesure où il contribue à créer une situation référentielle. / Due to its morphological markedness, the verbal aspect in Slavic languages is a well-known subject of study, but this area remains little explored in terms of the Croatian language. This thesis, whose theoretical apparatus is based on several works dealing with the verbal aspect as well as aspectual and temporal values in BCMS and other Slavic languages, completes the knowledge about the behavior of the aspectual infinitive, and lists its aspectual values in all its functions, including a complement of verbs expressing modality, namely, "can", "must" and "want". Together with this analysis, the thesis offers a series of algorithms developed on the factors of (im)perfectivation, which answer the question of aspectual choice in many given situations. Posing as a premise that the information that helps to determine aspectual choices and values is mainly harbored in the semantics of the infinitive and the act it denotes, this thesis explores the influence of referential situation properties on the aspectual choice. To avoid confusion between aspectual values and semantic content, we treated the independent infinitive and infinitive complement of modality or modal verbs separately. The results of the study show that the factors that motivate the choice of infinitives have different origins and deal with the properties of verbal concept and reference situation. The semi-auxiliary verb has some influence only insofar it helps to create a reference situation.

This dissertation analyses seven modern Bible translations in French with respect to their renderings of Koine Greek participles. The sample consists of the Passion Story from the four Gospels (Matt 26-28, Mark 14-16, Luke 22-24 and John 18-21), and is comprised of 603 Hellenistic participles in all. The participle forms are studied in six categories according to their syntactic function. The comparison focuses on differences in translation strategy, i.e. formal equivalence, omission and different kinds of transpositions, with special attention given to the choice of verb form. There is a discussion of the adequacy of contemporary, explicative theories of systemic differences between the passé simple/passé composé and the imparfait. A large number of examples are analysed in detail. The results of the survey show that the most prominent differences in translation strategies concern the predicative participle. Furthermore, this was the category that occurred most frequently in the sample. The Catholic scientific and literary translation La Bible de Jérusalem (1998) is the most literal of the seven versions. A high level of formal equivalence is also registered in the other scientific translation, La Traduction Œcuménique de la Bible (1988), even though application of this strategy outweighs the use of finite verbs, that is to say, the most common transposition. La Bible en français courant (1996) is the least literal: generally, it transposes the participle of the source text with a finite verb. This transposition is also very frequent in the literary La Bible de la Pléiade (1971). Most of the omissions are recorded in the recent literary La Bible, Nouvelle traduction (2001), which is shown to be the most divergent translation. Omissions are also frequent in the pastoral La Bible des moines de Maredsous (1968) and the liturgical La Traduction liturgique de la Bible (1977). When translated in conjunction with an element comprising a verb in one of the non-indicative moods (infinitive, imperative, participle and subjunctive), both the present and the aorist predicative participles are, to a large extent, rendered by a simple form, expressing non-accomplishment. However, the Bible de Jérusalem stands out with its greater use of compound present participles than any other version. When the predicative participle of the source text is transposed with a verb in the indicative mood, the passé simple is generally used to render the aorist; for the present participle, the imparfait is more frequent than the passé simple. Nevertheless, here too the passé simple accounts for a significant portion of the equivalents, especially in the two translations where transpositions formed by finite verbs are particularly important. There exist a few cases where some translators chose to use the passé simple/passé compose, while others chose the imparfait. The various details, tables and linguistic analyses in this dissertation provide a solid basis for accurately characterizing the various modern attempts made at reproduce this ancient text – a text so often translated, paraphrased, interpreted and deeply integrated in our cultural heritage.