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Aspect

Quick HowTo for annotating Czech sentences:

  1. event nominals:
    1.1 verbal nouns ending with -ní/tí --> inherit the value from the verb (like Milovala nakupování.activity; Na naše dotázání (se).performance neodpověděli.)
    1.2 other nouns --> process (like After the game.process, she went.performance home.; Na náš dotáz.process neodpověděli.)
  2. events presented as occurring usually or habitually --> habitual (as in Pekař peče.habitual housky; maybe also for agentive nouns?)
  3. NOT processes (no changes) like statives, modals and similar verbs --> state (He likes.stat fish and chips, she prefers.state cheesburgers.)
  4. PROCESSES:
    4.1 processes, imperfective verbs (morphologically) --> activity (by default),
    or habitual (if the denoted event occurs usually/repeatably);
    also performance may be considered (with stressed result)
    4.2 processes, perfective verb (morphologically) --> performance (by default);
    also endeavor may be considered (if it is clear that the process stopped/was interrupted without reaching a result state)
    4.3 processes, double aspect verbs --> process (as a back-up) if it is hard/ impossible to distinguish

Typically, we adhere to surface marking - e.g., the sentence Estonci volili parlament. should get the activity aspect value due to the imperfective verb volit (and we do not imply that it means their parliament is renewed).

Aspect in UMR

The aspect attribute should be annotated for any eventive concept. The UMR Guidelines provide quite a rich aspect lattice without any useful description (like state = unspecified type of state).

Five values at the default level of granularity (plus one for event nominals):

  1. habitual (occurs usually; simple present, "used to+"),
  2. state (no change takes place over the course of the event; also modals),
  3. activity (process with no evidence that it has come to an end), which is either
    • still ongoing, or
    • it is not clear whether or not the process continues
  4. performance (default for process that ends and reaches a result state)
  5. endeavor only in case of explicit marking that evidences non-reaching a result state (like terminative stop, durative adverbials)
  6. PLUS process for event nominals.

Terminological note: There are also more coarse-grained values, esp.

  • imperfective, which is ambiguous between state and atelic process, and
  • perfective, which covers both processes that ends without reaching a result state (endeavor) and process that ends and reaches a result state (performance)
    Do not confuse these with the morphological categories of aspect in Czech!

1. Habitual

This aspect value marks events that occur/occurred usually or habitually:

  • [en] He bakes pies. / She rides her bike to work. / They vacation in Taos every winter. / They used to vacation in Taos every winter.

The Guidelines rely on the morphological category of tense here (simple Present or "used to" construction for past tense habitual events).
NOT for ability modals!

2. State

This aspect value marks unspecified type of states (i.e., no change takes place over the course of the event).

According to the UMR Guidelines, states are only identified as events when predicated (incl. all cases of abstract predicates), like:

  • [en] My cat loves tuna. ... love-01 predicate
  • [en] The doctor is tall. ... have-mod-91 predicate
  • [en] The book is on the table. ... have-place-91 predicate
  • [en] She is an architect. ... have-role-91 predicate

Modal verbs

Those modals in English that are recognized as separate events get the state value as well:

  • [en] He wants.state to travel.performance to Albuquerque. ... Why to travel as performance?
  • [en] The cat needs.state to be fed.performance ... Why to be fed as performance (I would suppose habitual)?
  • [en] He’s dreading.state their decision.process ... ?? to dread as a modal verb?

Events under the scope of ability modals

According to the Guidelines, "Ability modals refer to a static state of affairs, i.e., an entity possesses the relevant ability." In such cases, UMR treats the modal verbs in the same way as we are used to in PDT (modals are reflected as attributes, here aspect = state, modstr = neutral-affirmative)

  • [en] She (is able to sing).state that aria. ... NO separate node for modal verb
  • [en] This car (can go).state up to 150 mph. ... NO separate node for modal verb

Several types of states can be annotated, see the Guidelines.

3. Activity

This aspect value marks such events where "there is no evidence that the event has come to an end" (in particular, it marks atelic processes, i.e., processes that does not reach a result state).

  • [en] He is still writing his paper. / He was writing his paper yesterday.

This aspect value covers both

  • cases where it is clear that the process is still ongoing and
  • cases where it is ambiguous whether or not the process continues.

The Guidelines mention grammatical clues for distinguishing such processes:

  • present tense cont., He is playing the violin.
  • inceptive and continuative aspectual marking, He started / kept on playing the violin.

Back-up rule: When not sure whether an event ended or not, use atelic process value (process that does not reach a result state), as it covers both

  • process that does not end, i.e., activity, and
  • process that ends BUT without reaching a result state, i.e., endeavor

Two types of activity can be annotated, directed and undirected activity, see the Guidelines.

4. Performance

This aspect value marks such events = processes that come/came to an end. This value is used "when the event reaches a result state distinct from the base (start) state, that is, a specific “natural” endpoint."

Back-up rule: This value should be used as a "default" value for processes that come to an end!
When an event under consideration clearly ended but it is not sure whether it reaches a (distinct) result state (performance) or not (endeavor), it can be annotate as perfective.

Several types and subtypes of the performance aspect can be annotated, see the Guidelines.

5. Endeavor

This aspect value marks such events which clearly end/ended without reaching a (distinct) result state. This value should be used only in the presence of explicit marking like terminative stop, durative adverbials (as they cannot combine with completive marking like finish), or non-result paths.

  • [en] Mary (stopped mowing).endeavor the lawn. / Mary mowed.endeavor the lawn for thirty minutes.
    ... as it is not possible to use durative adverbials with completive aspectual marking, compare *Mary finished mowing the lawn for thirty minutes.

  • [en] They walked.endeavor along the river.

  • [en] They (finished walking).performance along the river. / They walked.performance along the river in 3 hours.
    ... non-result path only weak indicator of the endeavor (aspect) -- completive markers (finish) and/or container adverbials (in 3 hours) indicate that an event has reached a distinct result state (thus performance)

Several types of the endeavor aspect can be annotated, see the Guidelines.

6. Process (for event nominals)

Based on definition of eventive concepts (UMR Guidelines), event nominals denote processes (= semantic type) packed as references as opposed to entities and states). Thus their aspect value should be process (no further distinctions).

Event nominals also include underived nominals, nominalizations, and gerunds - all of them receive the process value.

  • [en] He presented.performance his research at the meeting.process yesterday.
  • [en] After the game.process, she went.performance home.
  • [en] The second training.process was cancelled.performance yesterday.
  • [en] The dog interrupted.performance the meeting.process with his barking.process.

PDT aspect annotation

First, the PDT aspect grammateme has two possible values (based on the morphological dictionary):

  • proc (=procesual) for (morphologically) imperfective verbs,
  • cpl (=complex) for (morphologically) perfective verbs

Biaspectual / double-aspect verbs are (partially) disambiguated based on the context. When this was not possible, the verbs got the nr value.

Second, the iterativeness grammateme (value it1) indicates verbs denoting multiple/iterated events.

  • [cs] Chodíval k nám často. [iterativeness=it1]

However, as a a temporary solution, only selected types of verbs are covered, namely those with one of the iterative suffixes -ívat / -ávat, -ávávat / -ívávat (all other verbs have the it0 value, despite of their possible multiple/iterative semantics).

  • [cs] Chodí plavat pravidelně / každé pondělí. [iterativeness=it0]
  • [cs] Zaplaval si a odešel. in both cases [iterativeness=it0]
  • [cs] Plaval dvě hodiny. [iterativeness=it0]

Third, resultative constructions might indicate events that end/ended and each/reached a resulting state (indicated by the diathesis grammateme, values res1, res2.1 and res2.1).

Conversion of the aspect annotation from PDT

PDT proc aspect value (possibly combined with it1 iterativeness value)

The PDT aspect grammateme proc is assigned to verbs that denoted event as ongoing -- thus these events should get the activity UMR aspect value (by default).

  • [cs] Radnice hledá.activity vhodné místo s ohledem na bezpečnost.
    [en] The town hall is looking for a suitable place with safety in mind.

The PDT aspect grammateme proc may be combined with the it1 value of the iterativeness grammateme, which mark multiple/iterated events (disclaimer: this distinction is applied only for limited class of verbs with clear morphological marking, see above). Each verb with the it1 value should be annotate as habitual.

  • [cs] Chodíval.habitual k nám často. [iterativeness=it1]
    ... chodívat as "it1" verb gets the habitual aspect value in UMR.

However, as noted above, many Czech imperfective verbs annotated as non-iteratives in PDT (see above) may denote also repeated/usual events where the habitual aspect value would be more appropriate:

  • [cs] Beru.activity za kliku a odcházím.activity.
    [en] I am taking the handle and leaving.
    ... brát and odcházet as "impf" verbs get proc in PDT and they denote ongoing events.

BUT:

  • [cs] Na schůzky s přáteli mě Pavel nikdy nebral.habitual.
    [en] Pavel never took me to his get-togethers with friends.
    ... brát as "impf" verb gets proc and as such it may denote not only ongoing but also usually occurred events

  • [cs] Kupuji/?nakupuji.activity mléko a rychle mizím.activity.
    [en] I'm buying milk and disappearing fast.
    ... kupovat and mizet as "impf" verbs get proc in PDT and they denote ongoing events.

  • [cs] Nejraději kupuje / nakupuje.habitual nábytek.
    (= He likes shopping for furniture the most.) ... kupovat and nakupovat as "impf" verbs get proc in PDT and as such it may denote not only ongoing but also usually occurred events

Unfortunately, this ambiguity is not reflected in the UMR aspect lattice.

PDT cpl aspect value

The PDT aspect grammateme cpl (=complex) is assigned to presenting the event as completed/a whole. In practice, this is used for (morphologically) perfective verbs. As such, the default corresponding UMR aspect value is performance (used for processes that come/came to an end, i.e. “when the event reaches a result state distinct from the base (start) state, that is, a specific “natural” endpoint.”).

The adequacy of the performance value is further supported by the dále to potvrzují rezult.konstrukce (for gramatém diat, values ... )

?? However, in case of special terminative marking (like stop) --> endeavor

  • [cs] Koupil / nakoupil.cpl už vše potřebné. (= He has already bought everything we needed)

  • [cs] Na schůzku s přáteli mě Pavel ještě nikdy nevzal. (= Pavel has never taken me to a get-together with his friends)

  • [cs] Podle předběžných ujednání by hlavní město poskytlo.cpl na vybudování čtvrti svůj pozemek. (= According to preliminary arrangements, the capital city would provide its land to build the district.)

Double-aspect verbs

In PDT, one of the proc/cpl values is typically assigned also to the so called double-aspect verbs. In those cases, when it is impossible to choose one of the values, the assigned value is nr.

Double-aspect verbs. There are also so called double-aspect verbs, i.e. verbs that are both perfective and imperfective. They are mostly loan verbs but not only; cf. jmenovat, obětovat, věnovat (=name, sacrifice, devote). For some of the double-aspect loan verbs, prefixed (i.e. perfective) forms have been formed too (e.g.: zorganizovat, vydezinfikovat, zkonstruovat (=organize, disinfect, construct)); however, it does not mean that the non-prefixed forms ceased to be double-aspect verbs.

In those cases when it is hard or impossible to choose one of the basic values of the grammateme, the nr value is assigned. In these cases, the UMR aspect valus process seems as the most relevant.

  • [cs] Kniha je výborem z esejů, které autor publikoval.process v letech 1986-1991 v renomovaných periodikách. (= The book is a collection of essays which the author published between 1986 and 1991 in renowned journals)

  • [cs] Blažek odmítl návrh strany na své vystoupení komentovat.process s tím, že je to věcí vedení strany. (= Blažek refuted to comment on the party's proposal...)

  • [cs] Podle předběžných informací by zájemci měli mít možnost investovat.process do 15 podniků. (= According to the preliminary information, the interested people should have the possibility to invest in 15 companies)