A Study On The Mapping Mechanism Between Aspect Category And Boundedness Of Situations

Throughout the study of aspect category abroad and at home,most studies are under the perspectives of lexical and grammatical aspect.Studies of aspect from the boundedness of situation types are rather rare.Studying methods are traditional and simple,and have not formed a complete system.This paper manages to innovate from this perspective,wishing to promote teaching aspect category.Language is life,and language is the reflection of life,although language is not always corresponding to life.Language serves for communication,which is relevant to situations.The temporal units of situations are reflected in aspect,tense,and modality.The aspect category is an independent category that should be studied independently.Some people are always confused about tense and aspect.Semantically,aspect specifies the temporal structure of a situation and it is part of the conceived situation itself.Aspect shows the information about the aspectual type of situation internally,thus it is close to the verb stem.Tense and modality ground a situation in time and reality status externally.Their relation is just like layers of onion,the hard core is the verb,and layers are the grounding elements around it.They should be arranged like this: verb stem,aspect,tense,and finally modality.The study of aspect category is very important,because it defines the situation internally.Bounded and unbounded situations interact with each other in the dimension of boundedness,which is corresponding to aspect in language.And because of the close relationship between aspect category and situation,the study between aspect category and boundedness of situations is rather significant.The findings of the thesis fall into the following three categories:1)the continuum of semantic representation of the situations of bounded events and unbounded lasting states2)the continuum of semantic representation of the situations of unbounded events and bounded temporary states3)the continuum of semantic representation between bounded situations and unbounded situationsThis thesis establishes the continuum of semantic representation of the situations of bounded events and unbounded lasting states vertically.Bounded events and unbounded lasting states are both expressed by the non-progressive aspect.When viewing one ofthe situations,the speaker stands in a relatively far distance from the situation.At this time,the speaker is using the maximal viewing frame,which allows the speaker to view the whole process of the situation,especially its boundedness(the boundaries of the bounded events and the non-boundary of unbounded lasting states).According to duration and telicity,bounded events can be divided into accomplishments,bounded activities,achievements,and acts.According to the lasting degree of states,unbounded lasting states are divided into indefinitely lasting states,habitual states and everlasting states.This thesis establishes the continuum of semantic representation of the situations of unbounded events and bounded temporary states.Unbounded events and bounded temporary states are expressed by progressive aspect.At this time,the distance between the speaker and the situation is shortened.The speaker is using the restricted viewing frame,thus the boundedness is becoming unclear(unbounded events and bounded temporary states with implicit boundaries).Corresponding to bounded events,unbounded events are divided into accomplishing activities,unbounded activities,culminating activities,and iterative activities.Corresponding to unbounded lasting states,bounded temporary states are divided into temporary states and temporary habitual states.Because everlasting states are phenomena whose existence or truth is timeless and unchangeable,there are no counterparts for them.This thesis also attempts to establish the continuum of semantic representation between bounded situations and unbounded situations horizontally.Viewing frame is mediating between bounded and unbounded situations actively.This thesis explores the semantic differences between bounded and unbounded situations through the following correspondences: accomplishments,accomplishing activities;bounded activities,unbounded activities;achievements,culminating activities;acts,iterative activities;indefinitely lasting states,temporary states;habitual states,temporary habitual states.All these comparisons agree with the principles: the distance between the speaker and the situation is shortened.The viewing frame is mediated from maximal to restricted viewing frame.