[B-Greek] John 3:31-32... aspect analysis

Ken Penner pennerkm at mcmaster.ca
Fri Dec 16 11:00:49 EST 2005


> But now I am having trouble distinguising what is aspect and what is 
> aktionsart.  The verbal root of "come" appears to be 
> imperfective(incomplete).   The generalization appears to be 
> perfective 
> (complete). The verbal tense is imperfective (incomplete).  But isn't 
> complete/incomplete KIND of action or Aktionsart as opposed to 
> completed/(not completed) as Rolf Furuli seems to be 
> describing the nature 
> of aspect?

I can't speak for Rolf's description of aspect (though I wish I understood
him well enough to do so!).

Aktionsart is another of those words used differently by different writers.
Usually what is meant by this term is what I call Lexical Aspect.

There are two ways to present the temporal constituency of a situation as a
development or result: lexically and grammatically. Comrie distinguishes
states from dynamic situations, but refrained from providing labels for this
distinction. I use the straightforward terminology used by Mari Broman Olsen
to explain these two means of presenting temporal constituency.

Temporal constituency expressed by means of inflection is called
"grammatical aspect"; this is what I have been calling aspect in earlier
messages. Temporal constituency expressed by lexical means is called
"lexical aspect."  Lexical aspect is carried by verbs whose lexical meaning
allows only certain kinds of action. It uses verbs and other lexical items
to describe how a situation develops or holds over time.  For example, the
verb "run" is lexically dynamic, i.e., it involves action or some kind of
change. Other verbs cannot be dynamic; e.g., "know" does not involve any
action or change. (Comrie further specifies that "with a state, unless
something happens to change that state, then the state will continue."  In
other words, "to remain in a state requires no effort, whereas to remain in
a dynamic situation does require effort." )

In addition to the stative/dynamic dichotomy, Olsen notes that some verbs
such as "win" are inherently telic (goal-oriented), and others ("blink",
"tap") are punctual, without duration. These three aspectual features
(durativity, dynamicity, and telicity) then provide the criteria to
distinguish six lexical aspects:

Lexical Aspect	Durative	Dynamic	Telic	Examples
State        	+			Be Canadian
Activity        	+	+		Climb, run (without an
object)
Accomplishment	+	+	+	Climb, run (with an object)
Achievement		+	+	Graduate
Semelfactive		+		Wink, tap, cough
Stage-level state	+		+	Be pregnant

There are six rather than eight possible lexical aspects because an event
must be dynamic if it is not durative; there can be no such thing as a
punctual state.

> Is there overlap here?  Is aspect in Greek "kind of action" 
> complete/incomplete rather than time of action completed/not 
> completed?

The two (lexical aspect and grammatical aspect) do interact. For example,
English grammaticalizes one kind of aspect (progression), and that only for
non-stative verbs used in non-habitual situations. But we must be careful
not to confuse them. 

Ken Penner, M.C.S. (Biblical Languages, Greek Focus), M.A. (Hebrew Poetry)
Ph.D. (cand.), McMaster University
pennerkm at mcmaster.ca
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