Documentation

Linglib.Studies.Smith1997

The parameter of aspect #

Formalises [Smi97]'s two-component theory: aspectual meaning factors into a situation type (VendlerClass) and a viewpoint (ViewpointType), freely combinable.

The four visibility properties Smith tabulates for viewpoints (§4.1) are not restated here as a stipulated lookup — they live in Semantics/Aspect/Basic.lean as Prop-valued predicates derived from the TT–TSit interval relation ViewpointType.ttTSitRelation. Smith's Table 1 then re-emerges as the four substrate iff theorems (showsInitialPoint_iff, etc.); this file only re-packages those into the row-wise groupings Smith uses prose-side.

Main declarations #

Implementation notes #

VendlerClass, Telicity, and the project's project-canonical VendlerClass.HasInternalStages live in Features/Aktionsart.lean. ViewpointType and its derived visibility predicates live in Semantics/Aspect/Basic.lean. Compositional rules (composeWithNP, overrideTelicity) live in Semantics/Aspect/Composition.lean.

References #

Visibility ([Smi97] §4.1 Table 1) — row-wise groupings #

Neutral is intermediate: initial point visible (like perfective), final point not asserted (like imperfective), not closed ([Smi97] §4.2.3, p. 80).

Only the imperfective focuses preliminary stages; neutral does not — the discriminator between neutral and imperfective ([Smi97] §4.2.3, p. 80, ex. 41).

Independence of situation type and viewpoint ([Smi97] §4.3) #

An aspectual interpretation: situation type × viewpoint. The two components are independent — every cell of the 5 × 5 product is well-formed.

Instances For
    Equations
    • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
    Instances For
      Equations
      • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
      Instances For

        Enumeration of all 5 Vendler classes.

        Equations
        • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
        Instances For

          Enumeration of all 5 viewpoint types.

          Equations
          • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
          Instances For

            All 5 × 5 = 25 aspectual interpretations.

            Equations
            • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
            Instances For

              Cross-linguistic viewpoint inventories ([Smi97] §4.2) #

              How the perfective interacts with statives ([Smi97] pp. 69–70): three cross-linguistic patterns.

              • closed : PerfStativeParam

                Perfective covers statives with a closed interpretation (French "Marie a vécu à Paris" asserts the situation is over).

              • open : PerfStativeParam

                Perfective appears with statives, allowing both open and closed readings (English "Jennifer knew Turkish").

              • excluded : PerfStativeParam

                Perfective does not apply to statives (Russian, Chinese, Navajo).

              Instances For
                @[instance_reducible]
                Equations
                Equations
                • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                Instances For

                  A language's aspectual system: which viewpoints are available, which is the default, and how the perfective interacts with statives.

                  Instances For
                    Equations
                    • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                    Instances For

                      English: perfective + imperfective (progressive); no neutral ([Smi97] p. 70).

                      Equations
                      • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                      Instances For

                        French: perfective + imperfective + neutral (Futur); perfective covers statives with closed reading ([Smi97] p. 70).

                        Equations
                        • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                        Instances For

                          Mandarin: perfective (-le) + imperfective (zai, -zhe) + neutral (bare); perfective excludes statives.

                          Equations
                          • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                          Instances For

                            Navajo: perfective + imperfective + neutral (Usitative/Iterative); perfective excludes statives.

                            Equations
                            • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                            Instances For

                              All four sampled languages have at least perfective and imperfective.

                              WALS typology bridge #

                              WALS Ch 65 (perfective/imperfective aspect) records grammatical aspect for French and Mandarin, consistent with Smith giving each both .perfective and .imperfective viewpoints.

                              English diverges: WALS Ch 65 codes English as having no grammatical perfective/imperfective marking, whereas Smith analyses English as having a perfective/imperfective (progressive) opposition. The theorem states the WALS rows as they stand rather than forcing agreement with Smith's account.

                              French has the neutral viewpoint (the Futur), and WALS Ch 67 records French as having an inflectional future — consistent across the two encodings.

                              Imperfective paradox #

                              The imperfective paradox: imperfective + telic does not entail the perfective completion ("Mary was building a house" ⊭ "Mary built a house"). The paradox does not arise for atelic situations because their subinterval property makes IMPF entail PRFV.

                              Equations
                              Instances For

                                Perfective effect: completion vs termination ([Smi97] pp. 67–68) #

                                Whether the perfective conveys completion (telic) or termination (atelic), or has no effect (non-perfective viewpoints).

                                Instances For
                                  @[instance_reducible]
                                  Equations
                                  Equations
                                  • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                  Instances For

                                    The perfective effect of an aspectual interpretation: perfective + telic → completion; perfective + atelic → termination; non-perfective viewpoints → no effect.

                                    Equations
                                    • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                    Instances For

                                      Progressive requires internal stages #

                                      The progressive accepts exactly the dynamic-durative classes — i.e. those with internal stages ([Smi97] Ch. 4). Smith's claim factored through the substrate's VendlerClass.HasInternalStages.

                                      Compositional rule verification ([Smi97] §3.2.5, §3.3) #

                                      Smith's external override (§3.2.5) is final — it absorbs all prior compositional steps.

                                      Bridge to [Kri89] #

                                      Smith's telicity matches Krifka's mereological quantization: a Vendler class is telic iff its telicity tag is the quantized MereoTag.qua.