Aspect Hypothesis in Relation to Languages - Essay Example

Aspect Hypothesis in Relation to Languages Contemporarily, it has been indicated in the findings of several research studies that the number of people trying to learn English increases day-by-day (Crystal 55). However, these learners find it hard to understand the verb system of English. Indeed, Ayres stated that the verb system of English is very complex and, therefore, hard to understand or even apply (27). This problem is largely experienced by the Arabic speaking people (Loch 155). Concerning the aspect and tense, aspect is considered to be a complex concept and, as such, many speakers find it hard to grasp. They often conflate the aspect concept with the tense. The aim of this paper is to present the aspect hypothesis in relation to English and Arabic. In order to realize this objective, a critical presentation of the aspect hypothesis in relation to the two languages as well as to the empirical findings considering the past tense acquisition in L2 English by Arabic speakers will be conducted (Loch 155). In addition to this, the types and sub types of aspect hypothesis will be established and for each, several examples of inherent, as well as, grammatical aspects in English and Arabic will be provided. A further explanation will be offered to clarify on why the chosen examples, in addition to, how these examples relate to each other. Considering the literal Arabic (الفصحى, al-Fusha), the research of the findings of the research conducted by Barber indicates that the verb is constituted by two aspect tenses (532). These constituents include both the perfective as well as the imperfective. However, there are quite a number of controversial disagreements among the grammarians and, as such, they do not agree as to whether a distinction should be viewed as distinction in aspect or tense or even both. In English, what is considered as the past verb ((فعل ماضي, fi'l maadiy) is used to denote a particular verb (حدث, hadath), which was completed a long time ago or even in the near past (Barber 536). However, it indicates nothing regarding the relation of this event that took place in the past to the present status. One of the best examples to illustrate this is the phrase” he arrived” (وصل", wasala). The phrase was a clear indication of the arrival occurring in the past (Ayres 29). However, it does not provide any sort of information regarding the present status of the person who has arrived (Altman 589). It may be that the person stayed around or he turned and left. In addition to this, the phrase does not indicate the aspect of the event that happened in the past apart from the insofar as completeness can be assumed to be aspectual in nature (Brigham 77). Contrastingly, the similarity verb (فعل المضارع, fi'l al-mudaara'ah), which is identified as so, due to the fact that it resembles the participial noun, which is active, is used to indicate an event in either the present or even in the future without necessarily being committed to a particular aspectual sense, which is considered to be beyond the incompleteness that the tense implies: يضرب "yadribu", he strikes, will strike among others (Brigham 79). The above two examples are the only two tenses in use by the Arabic descents (not counting the "أمر"، "amour", command). As such, the command is used traditionally to denote events that will happen in the future. Indeed, that is how the tradition perceives it. According to the findings of the research conducted by Altman, it is indicated that, in order to explicitly mark aspect, it is common with the Arabic descent that the usage of a variety of lexical as well as syntactic devises is widely employed (590). Another contemporary matter is the modern day Arabic dialects. Horngren asserted that the use of the prefix particle (ب "bi" in the majorly of dialects) in an effort towards explicitly marking progressive, habitual or even continuous aspects: بيكتب, bi-yiktib, he is now writing, writes each and every time among others, is an example of a major change from al-Fusha (238). It may be that the person stayed around or he turned and left. In addition to this, the phrase does not indicate the aspect of the event that happened in the past apart from the insofar as completeness can be assumed to be aspectual in nature (Brigham 77). Examples of inherent and grammatical aspect in English and Arabic The table below depicts examples of each type of aspect in English and Arabic. To be precise, the aspect types can be marked as either perfective or imperfective. As such, they are realized by the presence of different tenses (Amin 57). English Aspect Systems Aspect Meaning Examples Simple aspect Perfective Imperfective Past Simple Tense Talked Present simple tense Talk(s) Perfect Aspect Perfective Imperfective Past Perfect Had talked Present Perfect has talked Progressive Aspect Perfective Imperfective Past continuous was talking Present Continuous Is talking Perfect Progressive Aspect Perfective Imperfective Past had been talking Present Has been talking Arab Aspect Systems Aspect Meaning Examples Simple aspect Perfective Imperfective Past Simple Tense وتحدث Present simple tense محادثات Perfect Aspect Perfective Imperfective Past Perfect تحدثت Present Perfect وقد تحدث Progressive Aspect Perfective Imperfective Past continuous كان يتحدث Present Continuous يتحدث Perfect Progressive Aspect Perfective Imperfective Past كانت تتكلم Present وقد تم الحديث The examples chosen are essential as they help in depicting clear differences, in addition to, similarities between the two languages. How the examples relate to each other There is a relation to the time considering the aspect as well as the tense in the two languages. As such, time is considered a semantic notion and, therefore, tense and aspect are grammatical notions. To be precise, these two are grammaticalisations of time. Further, both languages refer the term aspect as the manner in which internal temporal constituency of an event is viewed. As such, it is used to signify either the non-completion or completion of an action described by a verb. Works Cited Altman, Edwards. “The Aspect Hypothesis in Relation to English and Arabic,” American Amin, Wahir. èand asoyaki tri zimanawani: A New Horizon of Ayres, Francis. “Language Factors: What Learners Need to Know”, Journal of Linguistics 3 (2004): 27–29. Barber, Bernand. “Aspect Hypothesis in Relation to Languages,” Journal of Language Management 66 (2011): 531–563. Basil Blackwell, 1991, Print. Brigham, Eustace. Fundamentals of Dialects. Belmont: Cengage Learning, 2006. Print. Crystal, David. A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Oxford: Grave, Rodgers. Aspect Hypothesis. Hoboken NJ: Wiley & Sons, 2008. Print. Hirt, Gerrard. Tenses and Aspects. London, UK: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2012. Print Horngren, Charlie. Language Analysis. London, UK: Prentice-Hall, 2002. Print. Read More