A Cognitive Study On Features And Transformation Of Verb’s Temporal Process

The verb is a kind of universal grammatical categories in English. Predecessorshave done many researches on the aspect of verb. However, in these studies, lessattention have been paid in the temporal features of verbs. In traditional grammar,verb is defined as the word used to describe an action or a state. Also the classificationof verb is on the basis of the functions of verb in sentences, which has paid littleattention on the expressed time features.In cognitive grammar, Ronald W. Langacker makes a research on theclassification of verbs in English from the cognitive perspective. In cognitivegrammar verb’s meaning is considered as profiling a process. That is, verb profiles thedynamic relationship between trajector and landmark in some certain time. In thistime duration, if the relation of trajector and landmark is stable (homogeneous), thenthis kind of verbs are called imperfective process. If the relation between trajector andlandmark is varied obviously (heterogeneous), then the verbs are classified asperfective process. The perfective process shows a changing relation inside the verb,while the imperfective process represents inconspicuous changing. This classificationby Langacker is made on the basis of the analysis of verb’s inner action and state.Further researches on perfective and imperfective process are made in this thesison the basis of Langacker’s classification. In a general way, the perfective process cannot be used in the present tense, but in some specific contexts the present tense can beadopted in perfective process. The imperfective process can not be used in theprogressive tense since “be” has a meaning of imperfective. It would be redundancycombinations of “be” and imperfective process. In this thesis, the connotation of thetwo tenses, the specific contexts and the underlying reasons for the combinations ofperfective and imperfective and the two tense are analyzed.Besides the discussing of the differences of these two types of verbs, theformulas and figures are applied to analyze the temporal process in detail andsubdivide the type of verbs in this thesis. The perfective process indicates a movementwhich has an obvious starting and ending. And this type of process is subdivided intoinstant process, transition process and termination process. The instant process represents a doublication of the starting and ending in a movement; the transitionprocess contains a starting, duration and ending; while the termination processincludes only a duration and ending. Meanwhile, the imperfective process issubdivided into continuous process and intermittent process. The continuous processshows the lasting of an action in construal time, while the intermittent processindicates a movement starting and ending repeatedly. Also, the transformation ofperfective process and imperfective process is discussed in this thesis. Theclassification of perfective process and imperfective process is not just by themeaning of verbs. The inner elements in language are inter-connected andinter-influenced. The types of verbs are restricted by other language elements insentences. Under the influence of other elements in language, the transformation ofperfective and imperfective occurs. The causes of transformation and the influencingfactors on verbs’ transformation are discussed in the end part of this thesis. Thefactors include not only the subject, object and proposition, but also the perceptions indifferent ways.