Situation aspect as a universal aspect:implications for artificial languages

Xiao, R. Z. and McEnery, A. M. (2002) Situation aspect as a universal aspect:implications for artificial languages. Journal of Universal Language, 3 (2). pp. 139-177.

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Abstract

Aspect, as one of the elements of verb mechanics, has been overlooked by many language designers. This paper argues that an artificial language, designed as a universal language for international communication, should incorporate the "universal" component of aspect found cross-linguistically in natural languages. In doing so, the paper develops a two-level model of situation aspect in which situation aspect is modelled as verb classes at the lexical level and as situation types at the sentential level. With a framework consisting of a lexicon, a layered clause structure and a set of mapping rules, the model is developed and tested using an English corpus and a Chinese corpus.

Item Type:	Article
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Universal Language
Additional Information:	No PDF offprint is available. The version available here is the final manuscript.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	situation aspect ; language universals
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
Departments:	Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences > Linguistics & English Language
ID Code:	1807
Deposited By:	Professor Tony McEnery
Deposited On:	25 Feb 2008 16:14
Refereed?:	Yes
Published?:	Published
Last Modified:	26 Jul 2012 15:17
Identification Number:
URI:	http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/1807

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