ASPECT in Semantics

ASPECT
TELIC AND ATELIC

INGRESIVE, CONTINUATIVE, EGRESSIVE
ASPECT
PROSPECTIVE AND RETROSPECTIVE
SOME GRAMMATICAL EXPRESSIONS OF
ASPECT
GROUP 9
INSIYYA ALIFIA P.P. 1717404060
MASRIAH 1717404066
NITA ALFINA A. 1717404069
TELIC AND ATELIC
TELIC  a verb phrase or predicate presented as having
an endpoint.
ATELIC  a verb phrase or predicate that is not
presented as having an endpoint.
Vendler (1967) proposed a four-way classification of

predicates as stative, activity, achievement, and
accomplishement predicates.
TELIC ( stative and activity predicates)

ATELIC ( achievement and accomplishement predicates )
States are non-dynamic, durative, and atelic.
Activities are dynamic, durative, and atelic.
Achievement are dynamic, instantaneous, and telic.
Accomplishements are dynamic, durative, and telic.
Example
1a. George was waiting. (stative)
1b. Sandra was swimming. (active)
2a. George was leaving. (achievement)
2b. Sandra was writing a letter. (accomplishment)
Dynamic = the action needs movement.

INGRESIVE, CONTINUEATIVE,
EGRESIVE ASPECT
A. PREDICATES OF LOCATION
There are two-argument predicates in predicates of
location such on, in, at, above, beside, near, next to,
and under. (Between requires three arguments).
Example
 The lamp is on the table.
 Some oranges are in that basket.
 Donald is at the door.
When the subject noun phrase is an animate being
like Donald, there are:
1. Punctual verbs to express the beginning or
ingressive aspect.
2. Durative verbs that express the continuative
aspect.
3. Punctual verbs which express the end or egressive
aspect.
Example:
(1) Donald gets to/ arrives at/ the door.
(2) Donald stays at/ remains at the door.
(3) Donald leaves/ departs from the door.
B. PREDICATES OF POSSESSION
Similar to locative expressions are expressions of
possession.
Example : Eleanor has/owns a car
The ingressive, continuative, and egressive aspects of

the possessing are express with the verbs illustrated in
:
 Eleanor gets/aqcuires a car. [inception]
 Eleanor keeps the car. [duration]
 Eleanor loses/gives up the car. [termination]
DIFFERENCES between location verbs and
possession verbs
LOCATION: an agent causes something to be or not
be in a place.
POSSESSION: an agent causes another person to
have or not have some object.
SIMILARITIES between location verbs and

possession verbs
 We send something somewhere or to someone.
 We throw something to a place or to a person.
 We take something from a place or from a person.
C. PREDICATES OF COGNITION
Definition  a third group of stative verbs expresses various
aspects of knowing.
Example : Jeffrey knows/ is-aware-of the answer.
There are three ways of telling the beginning, middle, and

end of this situation:
 Jeffreylearns/finds/gets the answer.
 Jeffreyremembers the answer.
 Jeffreyforgets the answer.
Some verbs that express the causing of Jeffrey’s knowing:

tell,teach,show, and inform.
D. EVENT PREDICATES
As concrete entities have location in space, events are
located in time, example:
 The meeting is at 2:00.
 The game was on Sunday.
 Our party is on Friday.
The structure of the example :

Event + Locative Predicate + Time
E. NOUNS AND ADJECTIVE AS PREDICATES
A predication may consist of be and a noun phrase o
adjective phrase, indicating some role, condition or
status.
Example:
 Phyllis is a physicist.
 We were awfully tired.
Causative verbs followed by noun phrases or adjective

phrases are illustrated in:
 We elected Albert the chairman.
 Your decision makes me very, very happy.
 You are driving us crazy.
F. ASPECTUAL VERBS
Aspectual verbs are verbs which expresses some aspect of
an event.
The subject may be an event noun in which case there is
no other argument:
 The meeting is beginning now.
 The game went on for hours.
 The dance ended promptly at midnight.
Or the subject may be the subject refer to a person or
persons, in which the object of the verb is an event noun or
a reduce clause.
 The orchestra continued the performance.
 The orchestra continued to play until eleven.
 The boy kept on looking for the money he had lost.
PROSPECTIVE AND
RETROSPECTIVE
 Prospective: They are oriented toward later
happenings/expected or expecting to be something
particular in the future. Prospective verbs were such
ask and think verbs. Example:
- Tata is thinking of visiting her grandmother
- We asked rizal to drive slower
 Retrospective: are verbs like apologize and deny.

Example:
- Edgar apologized for missing the meeting.
(or…for having missed the meeting)
- We denied seeing the raport.
(or…having seen the raport)
SOME GRAMMATICAL
EXPRESSIONS OF ASPECT
1. THE PROSPECTIVE
The Formula:
Be + To + Verb expresses a ‘ looking forward’;
it is not about the future but about the present
intentions regarding the future.
Ex: They are to leave
You are not to worry
Are we to wait here?
The past tense form of be + to combined with a verb makes the

past prospective.
Example: They were to leave.
2. THE PERFECT OR RETROGRESSIVE
They have left illustrates a verb structure
which is traditionally called ‘present perfect.’ A
better term might be present retrospective form.
Whatever the name, for any verb it consists of
two parts, a form of have and the past participle
of the verb.
The present perfect, or present retrospective,
form, in affirmative statements, refers to events
that occurred in the past and situations that
began in the past and which are seen as relevant
‘now,’ at the present time. Negative statements,
of course, deny such events and situations;
interrogative sentences question them.
There are two uses for the present retrospective. One is
the description of present situations when we want to
measure their duration from some point in the past. The
present retrospective sentences tell or ask about the
duration of these states
ex: The house is empty now : simple present
It has been empty for over a year :the present
retrospective.
Second, the present retrospective is used for past

events or states which are presented as relevant to the
present.
Ex: I was here last Tuesday, last Friday and yesterday.
:the past tense
I have been here three times this month: the present
retrospective
3. THE PROGRESSIVE
The progressive form indicates that activity predicated
is distributed over a period of time with an implied
endpoint, but it need not be distributed continuously
over that time.
Example:
We are watching television.
Composed of the present of be and the present
participle, or –ing form, of the verb.
THANK YOU

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ASPECT

TELIC AND ATELIC

Vendler (1967) proposed a four-way classification of

TELIC ( stative and activity predicates)

Dynamic = the action needs movement.

The ingressive, continuative, and egressive aspects of

SIMILARITIES between location verbs and

There are three ways of telling the beginning, middle, and

Some verbs that express the causing of Jeffrey’s knowing:

The structure of the example :

Causative verbs followed by noun phrases or adjective

 Retrospective: are verbs like apologize and deny.

The past tense form of be + to combined with a verb makes the

Second, the present retrospective is used for past

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