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.