GB120
This feature covers all grammatical aspects (internal temporal constitution of events/actions/states) and aims to capture phonologically free elements that inflect (i.e. change form depending on person, number and other categories of the core arguments). These markers are often described as ‘auxiliary verbs’ in the literature, but they are also analyzed under other labels by some authors (such as STAMP morphemes (STAMP = Subject-Tense-Aspect-Mood-Polarity) or inflecting pronouns). We are interested in grammatical marking, that is, dedicated, productive and obligatory marking.
- Look up the section on aspect marking in the grammatical description.
- Consider all aspectual distinctions. Not only perfective, for instance.
- If you do not find any inflecting words expressing aspect, such as auxiliary verbs or elements analyzed as pronouns that take TAM marking, code as 0.
- If there is an inflecting word (e.g. an auxiliary verb) that clearly expresses aspect, code 1.
- If it is not clear whether the inflecting word marks aspect, code ?.
Swedish (ISO 639-3: swe, Glottolog: swed1254)
Swedish uses an auxiliary derived from the verb ‘to have’ to indicate the difference between simple past and present perfect (Teleman et al. 1999: 207). The verb is also in a different form, the supine form. Swedish is an example of a 1 for this feature.
| Verb | Present | Simple past | Present perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| ‘to swim’ | simma-r | simma-de | har simma-t |
| ‘to dance’ | dansa-r | dansa-de | har dansa-t |
Comrie, Bernard. 1976. Aspect. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Comrie, Bernard. 1985. Tense. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Dahl, Östen. 1985. Tense and aspect systems. Oxford: Blackwell.
Teleman, Ulf, Staffan Hellberg & Erik Andersson. 1999. Svenska akademiens grammatik, vol. 1. Stockholm: Svenska akademien.
- GB082 Is there overt morphological marking of present tense on verbs?
- GB083 Is there overt morphological marking on the verb dedicated to past tense?
- GB084 Is there overt morphological marking on the verb dedicated to future tense?
- GB086 Is a morphological distinction between perfective and imperfective aspect available on verbs?
- GB110 Is there verb suppletion for tense or aspect?
- GB121 Can tense be marked by an inflecting word (‘auxiliary verb’)?
- GB309 Are there multiple past or multiple future tenses, distinguishing distance from Time of Reference?
- GB520 Can aspect be marked by a non-inflecting word (‘auxiliary particle’)?
- GB521 Can tense be marked by a non-inflecting word (‘auxiliary particle’)?
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