Chapter 5: Sentence Semantics 1: Situations

Chapter 5: Sentence Semantics 1: Situations

1. dimensions of classifying a situation: situation type, tense and aspect

2. the sentences describe dynamic situation, they imply that the action has sub-parts, they can be classified into durative/punctual and telic/atelic

3. stative verbs allow the speaker to view a situation as a steady state, with no internal phases or changes

4. tense is marked on the verb by endings and the use of special auxiliary verbs. tense is said to be deictic system

5. the perfective focuses on the end points of a situation while the imperfective does not

6. the auxiliary verbs have the function of epistemic modality in which the speaker is signailling degrees of knowledge

7. some languages have special optative verb conjugations to express wishes

8. the label subjunctive is applied somewhat differently in different languages, but we can identify two opposite poles of use, with an area of mixing and overlap between them