How to teach compositional aspect on verbal-aspect languages data: biaspectuality in Bulgarian and Greek

Abstract

Compositional aspect (CA) is a well-known phenomenon in general linguistics but its essence is, on the one hand, misconceptualized and, on the other, absent in all major grammars of CA-languages, including English. This paper deals with CA as found peripherally in Bulgarian and Greek, two languages that have verbal aspect (VA) and are also hybrid ones, featuring a regular aspect system in verbs as lexical entries and a definite article (no indefinite). The definite-indefinite-zero article pattern plays a major role for effectuating aspect in CA-languages such as English but the definite article in hybrid languages like Bulgarian and Greek also plays such a role in certain specific semanticosyntactic conditions. The regularity is demonstrated here mainly on the basis of a specific type of sentences – with biaspectual verbs and three situation-participant NPs. As CA exists in VA-languages too, albeit peripherally, the thesis here is that it needs to be covered in larger Bulgarian and Greek grammars (academic, comprehensive) and taught at higher levels of learners’ language knowledge or acquisition – to students seeking language proficiency, to future language teachers, translators/interpreters, other applied and theoretical linguists. The analysis and the conclusions in the paper could also lead the way to solving certain important theoretical issues: how must CA in VA-languages without articles be analyzed? Exactly how must CA be incorporated in grammars and textbooks and taught? Grammars of VA-languages without articles such as the Slavic ones, Georgian, etc. ought to contain chapters describing the major systems involved in the aspect mechanism: the aspectual and the aspecto-temporal system, the nominal determination system, etc. Especially in need of better explanation and understanding are the way definiteness and indefiniteness, genericity, specificity and similar values are effectuated in languages with no articles – something that has been attempted many times in linguistics but never received a convincing description.