to read read reads, having read
is readillg
Eisele reports two different aspectual readings for the participle /m'aggara/ having rented in the following sentence ( l 990b:2 1O):
6.1 Lexical Aspect
E
.r-'",":-,J..I � ";"t. � �.a
huda lissa m'aggara �a»a fi darb il-'al:tmar
[Huda just/still having-rented apartment in Darb al-Ahmar]
Huda has just rented an apartment in Darb al-Ahmar or Huda is still renting an apartment in Darb al-Ahmar
1 69
The two readings of this sentence reflect two different lexical aspects of the verb /'aggar/ to rent: telic to make a rental agreement, and atelic to be or begin renting (a place). The combination of telic with the action nature of the verb results in a perfect reading of the participle in the former, and the atelic, stative character of the verb in the second gives a progressive reading. Mitchell gives a similar example containing the participle /m'addi/ having crossed, crossing (1978:249):
E tJl...!JI ��
��uftu mi'addi i�-Uri'
[saw-I-him having-crossed the-street]
I saw him crossing the street or I saw he had crossed the street The motion verb /'adda/ to cross may· be atelic, signalling the entry into the state of motion but not its completion, or it may signify the act of crossing the street in its entirety, a telic act. These mUltiple readings suggest that it may not be desirable-<>r possible-to assign a given lexical item to just one aktionsart class.
The semantic analysis of verbs can be simplified by allowing verbs membership in more than one category, depending on context.
Many verbs in Arabic have both telic and atelic meanings that are realized by both form and context, such that /naml can mean either to fall asleep or to sleep, /qa'ad/ to sit down or to be sitting, /daras/ to study or to study something, /'irif/ to know or to find out, depending on the context and the morphological form used. The verb /gakar/ to study, review [a lesson] can be either telic or atelic, and hence punctual or durative, in some dialects. Ingham admits only an ateIic meaning for Najdi, and thus cannot give a reading for the active participle (1994:9 1). In Egyptian, however, telic use of this verb is common, and gives rise to a perfect interpretation of the participle: /'ana mizakir id-dars/ I have studied the lesson.
A general reluctance to designate a reading of resultant state for verbs of motion seems to be based mainly on the usage of the verb /ra'r)./ to go, which cannot give a resultant meaning in some dialects.
However, other verbs of motion commonly give resultant state meanings, among them /za/ to come, arrive and /misi/ to leave:
S �4- ��
E�L.. �
.J-Aba'dni jaye huwwa lissa masi
just-me having-arrived he just having-gone I have just arrived He has just left
The verb /l:labb/ has both a stative, atelic meaning, to love, and an inceptive, telic meaning, to fall in love with. The speaker's choice to use the participle /'r).abbe/ having fallen in love with rather than the imperfective /bit'r).ibb/ she loves in the following sentence stresses the telic meaning, that she has fallen in love or had a love affair. The telic meaning emphasizes the completion of the act, and implies that the girl in question has stepped over the line of acceptable social behavior:
S2
u..�
.::...:,IS<,:'u
u..F
.::...:,IS<,:'LA
o��1A
.::...:,IS<,:'LA
hayy kanit 'r).abbe flan hayy kanit ti�la' ma'u hayy ka.nit titmassa ma'u
this was-she having-fallen-in-Iove-with so-and-so this was-she she-go-out with-him this was-she she-go-walking with-him This [girl] was in love with so-and so, she would go out with him, she would go out walking with him
These semantic categories, then, can best be viewed as categories of verb meanings, and not categories of verbs. The complexities of lexical aspect analysis can be reduced by classifying meanings rather than verbs. Since verbs can have both telic and atelic, or inceptive and non-inceptive meanings, depending on context and lexical item; these features provide the key to a simplified classification. The analysis proposed here will focus on the participle because it represents the
most problematic of all verb stems.
Both the completion of an action and entry into a state share telic meaning, and both are commonly expressed with the perfective and the participle. Using Ingham's bifurcation of verbs into action and
6.1 Lexical Aspect
1 7 1
state/motion categories, two patterns emerge. (1) Participles of action verbs can only give perfect meaning when they are telic. (In fact, participles of atelic action verbs are rarely, if ever, used in spoken Arabic.) In the following sentence, fari/ gives a telic meaning, to read [and finish reading] something; it cannot give the reading I am still reading this book.
E IJ
... .toS.Jl (SJu
-�
lissa 'ari k-kitab da
just having-read the-book that I've just read this book
(2) Participles of stative and motion verbs are used both in telic and atelic meanings. An atelic lexical aspect gives rise to interpretations of stative or progressive aktionsart, such as fa'da/ sitting in the following Egyptian sentence (el-Tonsi 1982:41):
E 'I �L... �
t.:u. •.uu -=....:.I
inti 'acda hina nu��-� saca?
you sitting here half hour
Will you be sitting here for (another) half an hour?
Telic lexical aspect, on the other hand, gives rise to a perfect or resultant state reading:
L 'I r�1 �4 .!l�
�! .u U ��
bacdni 'acid! 1M beddik yani 'urn?
just-me having-sat! why want-you me I-get-up?
I've just sat down! Why do you want me to get up? (elicited)
Table 6-2: Lexical Aspect and the Participle
Lexical Aspect and the Participle
Telic Atelic State/Motion