This study presents a semantic framework for analysing all aspectual constructions in terms of the event state distinction, and describes the grammatical expression of aspectual meaning in terms of a theory of grammatical constructions. In this theory, grammatical constructions, like words, are conventionalized form-meaning pairs, which are best described not only with respect to their intrinsic semantic values, but also with respect to the functional oppositions in which they participate.

This study presents a semantic framework for analysing all aspectual constructions in terms of the event state distinction, and describes the grammatical expression of aspectual meaning in terms of a theory of grammatical constructions. In this theory, grammatical constructions, like words, are conventionalized form-meaning pairs, which are best described not only with respect to their intrinsic semantic values, but also with respect to the functional oppositions in which they participate.

This study presents a semantic framework for analysing all aspectual constructions in terms of the event state distinction, and describes the grammatical expression of aspectual meaning in terms of a theory of grammatical constructions. In this theory, grammatical constructions, like words, are conventionalized form-meaning pairs, which are best described not only with respect to their intrinsic semantic values, but also with respect to the functional oppositions in which they participate.

This Handbook is a comprehensive, authoritative, and accessible guide to the topics and theories that current form the front line of research into tense, aspect, and related areas.

Linguists and philosophers examine the representation of temporal reference; the interaction of the temporal information from tense, aspect, modality, and context; and the representation of the temporal relations between facts, events, states, propositions, and utterances. They link this to current research in psychology and anthropology.

This volume links Cognitive Grammar explanations to the area of second-language learning and instructed grammar teaching. It represents a contribution to empirically based knowledge promoting a new perspective on the process of teaching and learning about English language structures. The theoretical part of the book provides an overview of the basic tenets of Cognitive Grammar, and discusses elements of the theory that are of crucial importance for understanding English tense and aspect structures. The second part brings together these two fields of study and tests a Cognitive Grammar approach to teaching tense and aspect to less advanced learners of English. To this end, an experimental study was conducted, comparing the effects of Cognitive Grammar-inspired instruction on the language learning process with those of teaching methods which employ more traditional grammatical descriptions. As such, the book is of particular relevance to Cognitive Grammar research, and second-language learning and teaching research, and for learners and teachers of a foreign language.

This open access book provides new methodological and theoretical insights into temporal reference and its linguistic expression, from a cross-linguistic experimental corpus pragmatics approach. Verbal tenses, in general, and more specifically the categories of tense, grammatical and lexical aspect are treated as cohesion ties contributing to the temporal coherence of a discourse, as well as to the cognitive temporal coherence of the mental representations built in the language comprehension process. As such, it investigates the phenomenon of temporal reference at the interface between corpus linguistics, theoretical linguistics and pragmatics, experimental pragmatics, psycholinguistics, natural language processing and machine translation.

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,0, University of Würzburg, language: English, abstract: 1. Introduction: Tense and aspect A foreign learner of the English language has to struggle with many tasks concerning vocabulary and grammar. Especially the correct usage of the verb phrase includes a highly difficult problem and has to be analysed very detailed. It includes not only the grammatical category of tense but as well the category of aspect, mood and voice. This paper is supposed to concentrate on the grammatical categories tense and aspect. Tense is used to express the location of an event or state in time. It can be divided into future, present and past tense. By contrast to that “aspect” expresses the way in which the action or the state is experienced. It reflects the meaning of the verb in relation to time. That means it shows whether the action is finished or is still in progress. The English verb system includes the perfective aspect, the progressive aspect, the simple aspect and the perfect-progressive aspect. (Quirk et al. 1979: 40) In the following an overview of the tense past combined with the perfective aspect will be given. First of all the definitions of this tense and aspect will be compared in three different grammars: “Meaning and the English Verb” by Leech, “A Student’s Grammar of the English Language” by Quirk and Greenbaum and “Longman Student Grammar of spoken and written English” by Biber et al.. In the second part of the paper the application of the past perfect will be analysed in an excerpt of “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” written by Joanne K. Rowling.

Formal semantics - the scientific study of meaning in natural language - is one of the most fundamental and long-established areas of linguistics. This Handbook offers a comprehensive, yet compact guide to the field, bringing together research from a wide range of world-leading experts. Chapters include coverage of the historical context and foundation of contemporary formal semantics, a survey of the variety of formal/logical approaches to linguistic meaning and an overview of the major areas of research within current semantic theory, broadly conceived. The Handbook also explores the interfaces between semantics and neighbouring disciplines, including research in cognition and computation. This work will be essential reading for students and researchers working in linguistics, philosophy, psychology and computer science.

A Grammar of Arabic models a new framework for studying varieties of Arabic comparatively, highlighting the patterns of variation and consistency, and showing how different styles, from primarily spoken and casual to primarily written and formal, are linguistically interrelated. This non-traditional reference grammar is structured around patterns of usage rather than prescriptive rules, aligning function with form and taking advantage of general principles of language. Using data from Classical Arabic, Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic, and dialects spoken in Morocco, Egypt, Sudan, the Levant, Iraq, and the Arabian Gulf, this grammar examines the actual usage of these language varieties, broadening understanding of Arabic dialects from a linguistics perspective while also giving readers the ability to engage language diversity. Designed for instructors, researchers, and advanced students of Arabic, A Grammar of Arabic explores Arabic from an internally comparative perspective that will also be valuable to theoretical linguists.