A Cognitive Study Of The Meaning Construction Of The Present Perfect Aspect Of English Verbs

This thesis focuses on the meaning construction of the present perfect aspect of English verbs in discourse, which we think mainly contains a conceptual blending of the perfect aspect and the present tense, as well as contextual elements, such as the lexical aspect, features of argument(s), other grammatical categories, the adverbials of time, etc.Previous studies mostly take the present perfect aspect as a whole, and discuss it in terms of time or time relations just as they do with tense. However, as most modern English grammarians think that the perfect aspect distinguishes itself from tense as an individual grammatical category, when applied in sentences, it will naturally interact with tense, modality or the progressive aspect, therefore, we can study the present perfect aspect from the perspective of conceptual blending. Mainly on the basis of the conceptual blending theory, this thesis aims to provide a general account of the present perfect aspect of English verbs and tries to offer a solution to the so-called "Present Perfect Puzzle".This thesis first analyzes the meanings and the structure of the perfect aspect of English verbs when it blends with tense and the progressive aspect. Then, based on the definitions of aspect, the perfect aspect and tense, it tries to offer a detailed illustration of the conceptual blending of the perfect aspect with the present tense and the progressive aspect respectively.Moreover, this thesis provides a cognitive account of the roles that the verb, its argument(s) and its temporal adverbials play in the meaning construction of the present perfect aspect of English verbs in discourse. The semantic nature and aspectual property of the verb and its argument(s) and the semantic nature and semantic scope of the temporal adverbial are analyzed in association with the blending of the present perfect aspect. Taking the linguistic context constraints into consideration, a further elaboration on the blending of the perfect aspect with the present tense, the progressive aspect and modality will be made in actual uses.This thesis finally digs into the complicated issues of the constraints of the adverbials of time on the present perfect aspect of English verbs. The present perfect aspect is cast as specific cases in a general temporal construction, and the specific context constraints are discussed in its meaning construction. The above analyses of the present perfect aspect highlight the contribution made by the context factors to the meaning construction of the present perfect aspect of English verbs. By analyzing it in this way, this thesis illustrates the major sources of the different meanings of the present perfect aspect, such as the linguistic context factors, i.e., tense, aspect, the verb and its arguments, the temporal adverbials, etc., and the situational context factors.Accordingly, in regard to the present perfect puzzle, this thesis tries to offer a detailed account to the fact that different uses of the present perfect aspect, such as the resultative perfect, the experiential perfect, the continuative perfect, etc. are mainly generated from the linguistic and situational contexts and the only connotation of the present perfect aspect is a relation of continuing relevance of a prior event or action with reference to the present time. The linguistic and situational context factors greatly contribute to the meaning construction of the present perfect aspect.In the conceptual blending of the perfect aspect, tense, the progressive aspect and modality, the linguistic context factors (tense, aspect, the verb and its arguments, the temporal adverbials, etc.) and the situational context factors are considered as separate input spaces and projected to the blended space accordingly to generate a blend and even a megablend. The interactions of these factors give rise to a new emergent structure, resulting in the various meanings of the present perfect aspect in discourse.This thesis helps enrich the study of the present perfect aspect of English verbs and is of some referential values to English learners and teachers.