Formal Approaches to the Relations of Tense, Aspect and Modality22 July 2008

Workshop 5 CIL 18

Formal approaches to the relations of tense, aspect and modality22 July 2008

Aspect markers in two dialects of Japanese and Korean:Variation and division of labor

Saeko Urushibara

University of Kitakyushu

1. Introduction

Claims

A.Division of labor among tense, aspect and modality is subject to typological/parametrical variation.

B.In Japanese and Korean, tense, aspect, and modality should be best analyzed as a continuum rather than separate and isolated grammatical categories.

C.To better understand these nature in Japanese, dialects other than the Tokyo dialect should be investigated.

2. Japanese data

2.1.Tokyo Dialect (TD) of Japanese: the sole form -te i-ru

Activity Verbs: ok Progressive/*Perfect

(1)Mina-ga hasit-te i-ru.‘Mina is running.’

Mina-nom run-te-i-ru([-past]) * ‘Mina has run.’/ok‘Mina has run pro.’(aspectual shift)

(2)Mina-ga hasit-ta.‘Minaran/has run.’

Mina-nom run-[+past]

Accomplishment Verbs: ok Progressive/ok Perfect → ambiguous

(3)Mina-ga hon-o yon-de i-ru.‘Mina is reading a book.’

Mina-nom book-acc read-te-i-ru([-past]) or‘Mina has read a book.’

(4) a.Mina-ga niwa-de sentakumono-o hosi-te i-ru.‘Mina is putting the laundry in the garden.’

Mina-nom garden-in laundry-acc dry--te-i-ru([-past])

b.Mina-ga niwa-ni sentakumono-o hosi-te i-ru.‘Mina has put the laundry in the garden.’

Mina-nom garden-in laundry-acc dry--te-i-ru([-past])

Achievement Verbs: *Progressive/*near future/ok Perfect

(5) Kisha-ga Seoul-ni tochaku-si-te i-ru‘The train has arrived in Seoul.’

Train-nom Seoul-dat arrival-do-te i-ru * ‘The train is arriving in Seoul.’

(6)Kisha-ga Seoul-ni tochaku-si-ta.‘The train (has) arrived in Seoul.’

Train-nom Seoul-dat arrival-do-[+past]

2.2. Hakata Dialect (HD) of Japanese (spoken in Fukuoka in Kyushu Island, southern part of Japan):

Two distinct forms yor-u ‘-ing’ and too‘-en’

2.2.1. yor-u

Activity verbs: ok Progressive/*Perfect

(7) Mina-ga hasiri-yor-u. ‘Mina is running.’

Mina-nom run-yor-u

Accomplishment verbs: ok Progressive/*Perfect

(8)Mina-ga hon-o yomi-yor-u.‘Mina is reading a book.’

Mina-nom book-acc read-yor-u

(9)Mina-ga niwa-de sentakumono-o hosi-yor-u.‘Mina is putting the laundry in the garden.’

Mina-nom garden-in laundry-acc dry-yor-u

Achievement verbs: *progressive/ok near future/*perfect

(10)Densha-ga Seoul-ni tuki-yor-u.‘The train is arriving in Seoul.’

train-nom Seoul-dat arrive-yor-u

2.2.2. too

Activity verbs: *Progressive/*Perfect

(11)Mina-ga hasit-too. * ‘Mina has run.’/ok‘Mina has run pro.’(aspectual shift)

Mina-nom run-too

Accomplishment verbs: *Progressive/ok Perfect

(12) Mina-ga hon-o yon-doo. ‘Mina has read a book.’

(13)Mina-ga niwa-ni sentakumono-o hosi-too.‘Mina has put the laundry in the garden.’

Mina-nom garden-in laundry-acc dry-too

Achievement verbs: *progressive/*near future/okperfect

(14)Densha-ga Seoul-ni tui-too.‘The train has arrived in Seoul.’

train-nom Seoul-dat arrive-too

2.3. Summaryn.f. = near future

English / Tokyo Dialect / Hakata Dialect
-ing / -en / -te i-ru / yor-u / -too
State / * / * / *prog / *perf / (*)prog / (*)perf
Activity / ok / * / okprog / *perf / okprog / *perf
Accomplishment / ok / ok / okprog / okperf / okprog / okperf
Achievement / n.f. / ok / *prog/*n.f. / okperf / *prog/okn.f. / okperf

2.4. Progressive and perfect of some state verbs

Tokyo Dialect: *progressive/*perfectn.b. ar-u = [-mobile] subject/i-ru = [+mobile] object

(15)a.*Tana-ni hon-ga at-te i-ru. ‘There is(temporarily) a book on the shelf.’

shelf-dat book-nom exist-te i-ru

b.*Ima kaigi-ga at-te i-ru.‘There is a meeting being held now.’

now meeting-nom exist-te i-ru

(16)a.*Taro-ni-wa ani-ga i-te i-ru. ‘Taro has an elder brother.’’

Taro-dat-top elder brother-nom exist-te i-ru

b.*Ima ie-ni tomodati-ga i-te i-ru.‘My friend is in my house now.’

Now house-dat friend-nom exist-te i-ru

Hakata Dialectn.b. ar-u = [-mobile] subject/o-ru = [+mobile] object

-yor-u (‘-ing’):(*)progressive/*perfect

(17)a. *Tana-ni hon-ga ari-yor-u.‘There is temporarilya book on the shelf.’

Tana-dat book-nom exist-yor-u

b. Ima kaigi-ga ari-yoo.‘A meeting is being held now.’

now meeting-nom exist-yor-u

(18)a. *Taro-ni-wa ani-ga ori-yor-u. ‘Taro has an elder brother.’

Taro-dat-top elder brother-nom exist- yor-u

b. *Ima ie-ni tomodati-ga ori- yor-u.‘My friend is in my house now.’

Now house-dat friend-nom exist-yor-u

-too (‘-en’): *progressive/(*)perfect

(19) a. *Tana-ni hon-ga at-too.‘There has been a book on the shelf.’

shelf-dat book-nom exist-too

b. Moo kaigi-ga at-too.‘A meeting has already been held.’

already meeting-nom exist-too

(20)a. *Taro-ni-wa ani-ga ot-too.‘Taro has an elder brother.’

Taro-dat –top elder brother-nom exist-too

b. Moo ie-ni tomodati-ga ot-too. ‘My friend has already been in my house.’

already house-dat friend-nom exist-too

3. Questions

(21) a. How can we capture the distribution and interpretation of TD -te i-ru, HD -yor-u and –too?

b.Why can some state verbs co-occur with –yor-u and -too in HD,

while it is utterly ungrammatical under any reading in TD?

4. Proposal and analysis

4.1.Inherent specification of boundedness in the lexicon(cf. Ritter and Rosen (2000:195))

Class / Initial point / Terminal point
States / [-bound] / [-bound]
Activities / [+bound] / [-bound]
Accomplishments / [+bound] / [+bound]
Achievements / [-bound] / [+bound]

(22)

4.2.Syntactic projections for encoding aspect and event

(23)FP-init Adopted from Ritter and Rosen (2000:197)

SpecF-init’(24) Licensing mechanism of F-init and F-delim

If [+bound] for initial point →then F-init

F-init TP b. If [+bound] for terminal point →then F-delim

TFP-delim (25) Vocabulary Insertion (cf. Halle & Marantz(1993))

TD) a. {F-init, F-delim} ⇔-te i-ru

Spec F-delim’HD) a. F-init ⇔-yor-u

b.F-delim ⇔-too

F-delim VP

SUBJ V’

VOBJ

4.3. Event transfer(cf. Davidson (1967), Grimshaw (1990), among others)

(26) { meeting, lecture, conference, festival, demonstation, exam(ination) } = <e>

(27) Event transfer: If the subject of a state verb has <e>,

a. in TD, it percorates up to VP and changes the VP into an eventive predicate. (cf. Lieber (1982))

b. in HD, it is transferred to V and changes the V into an accomplishment verb.

→ licenses F-init and F-delim

4.3.1. Evidence 1: Choice of locative postpositionsni iff stative; de iff eventive

(28)a.Mina-ga Tokyo-ni (sun-de) i-ru.‘Mina is (lives) in Tokyo.’

Mina-nom Tokyo-ni (live-te) i-ru

b.Mina-ga Tokyo-de hon-o kat-ta.‘Mina bought a book in Tokyo.’

Mina-nom Tokyo-de book-acc buy-[+past]

(29)a.Tana-ni hon-ga ar-u.‘There is a book on the shelf.’

shelf-ni book-nom exist-[-past]

b.Tokyo-de kaigi-ga ar-u.‘There is a meeting in Tokyo.’

Tokyo-de meeting-nom exist-[-past]

4.3.2.Evidence 2: Interpretation of some modal elements unambiguous iff stative; ambiguous iff eventive

(30)a.Mina-ga kasiko-soo-da.‘Mina seems to be smart.’

Mina-nom smart-likely-copula * ‘Mina is going to be smart.’

b.Mina-ga hon-o yomi-soo-da.‘Mina seems to read books (Mina seems to like books.)

or ‘Mina is going to read a book.’

(31)a.Tana-ni hon-ga ar-i-soo-da.‘There seems to be a book on the shelf.’

shelf-ni book-nom exist-likely-copula * ‘There is going to be a book on the shelf.’

b.Tokyo-de kaigi-ga ar-i-soo-da.‘There seems to be a meeting in Tokyo.’

Tokyo-de meeting-nom exist-[-past] or ‘There is going to be a meeting in Tokyo.’

5. Korean data

5.1. -ko iss-ta

Activity verbs: OKprogressive/*perfect

(32) Mina-ka talli-ko iss-ta.‘Mina is running.’

Mina-nom run-ko iss-ind

(33) Mina-ka talli-ess-ta.‘Mina ran/has run.’

Mina-nom run-perf-ind

Accomplishment verbs: OKprogressive/OKperfect → ambiguous

(34)Mina-ka chayk-ul ilk-ko iss-ta.‘Mina is reading a book.’

Mina-nom book-acc read- ko iss-ind or‘Mina has read a book.’

(35) a.Yenghi-ka mantug-eyse ppallay-lul nel-ko iss-ta.‘Yenghi is drying the laundry in the garden.’

Yenghi-nom garden-in laundry-acc dry-ko iss-ind

b.Yenghi-ka mantug-ey ppallay-lul nel-ko iss-ta.‘Yenghi has put the laundry in the garden.’

Yenghi-nom garden-in laundry-acc dry-ko iss-ind(Kim (2006: 11)

Achievement Verbs: *progressive/OKnear future/*perfect

(36) Kicha-ka Seoul-ey tochak-ha-ko iss-ta.‘The train is arriving in Seoul.’

Train-nom Seoul-to arrival-do-ko iss-ta

5.2. –ess-ta vs. -ess-ess-ta

Activity verbs: OKess-ta/*-ess-ess-ta

(37) Mina-ka talli-ess-ta/*-ess-ess-ta.‘Mina ran/has run.’

Mina-nom run-perf-ind

Accomplishment verbs: OKess-ta/*-ess-ess-ta

(38) Mina-ka chayk-ul ilk-ess-ta/*ess-ess-ta.‘Mina read/has read a book.’

Mina-nom book-acc read-perf-ind

Achievement verbs: OKess-ta/OK-ess-ess-ta

(39) a.Kicha-ka Seoul-ey tochak-ha-ess-ta.‘The train (has) arrived in Seoul.’

Train-nom Seoul-to arrival-do-ess-ta

b.Kicha-ka Seoul-ey tochak-ha-e-iss-ta.‘The train has arrived in Seoul.’

Train-nom Seoul-to arrival-do-e- iss-ta

(40) Activity verbs(41) Accomplisment verbs

Korean / TD / HD
progressive / -ko iss-ta / -te i-ru / -yor-u
perfect / -ess-ta / -ta / -ta
past
Korean / TD / HD
progressive / -ko iss-ta / -te i-ru / -yor-u
perfect / -too
past / -ess-ta / -ta / -ta

(42) Achievement verbs

Korean / Tokyo / Hakata
progressive (near future) / -ko iss-ta / -(r)u or -soo-da / -yor-u
perfect / -ess-ess-ta / -te i-ru / -too
past / -ess-ta / -ta / -ta

Evidentiality Markers

6.1. Korean

(43) a.Mina-ka chayk-ul ilk-te-la.‘Mina read/has read a book.’ (direct evidential)

Mina-nom book-acc read-te-la

b.Mina-ka chayk-ul ilk-ess-te-la.‘Mary read/has read a book.’(indirect-inferential)

Mina-nom book-acc read-perf-te-la

c.Mina-ka chayk-ul ilk-ess-ess-te-la.‘Mary read a book.’ (indirect-reported)

Mina-nom book-acc read-past-ess-te-la

6.2. Goshogawara Dialect of Japanese (spoken in Goshogawara, north of Aomori, northern part of Japan)

(44)a.Mina-ga hon-o yon-de-ra.‘Mina is reading a book.’(direct evidential)

Mina-nom book-acc read-te-ra or ‘Mina has read a book.’

b.Mina-ga hon-o yon-da.‘Mina read/has read a book.’ (indirect-inferential)

Mina-nom book-acc read-[+past]

c.Mina-ga hon-o yon-dat-ta.‘Mina read/has read a book.’ (indirect-reported)

Mina-nom book-acc read-past-ta

(45)

progressive / perfect / direct evidential / indirect evidential
inferential / reported
Korean / -ko iss-ta / -ess-ta / -te-la / -ess-te-la / -ess-ess-ta
Goshogawara / -te-ra / -ta / -tat-ta

(46) Generalization

Doubling of “tense” morphemes causes a shift in aspect and mood toward more “perfect” and “remote”.

Korean) ess-ess-ta > ess-ta: past vs. perfect ess-ess-ta > ess-te-la: reported vs. inferential

Goshogawara) tat-ta > ta: past vs. perfect tat-ta > ta: reported vs. inferential

Conclusions and residual problems

(48) a.Difference in aspectual realization between TD and HD

i) Difference in morphemes available → HD: two morphemes therefore closer to English

ii)Difference in the mode of event transfer → TD: percolation to VP HD: transfer to V

b. Existence of “double-past” forms for evidentiality →tense/aspect/modality is a continuum

(49)a. near-future interpretation

b. details of vocabulary insertion and interpretation

Selected References

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