<saeko@kitakyu-u.ac.jp>

 University of Kitakyushu

Licensing and Representation of Aspect: Interaction between Lexical and
Syntactic Information

Based on the observation of progressive and perfect forms in English, two dialects of Japanese, and Korean, I first argue that aspectual properties of verbs/clauses are computed in the lexicon-syntax interface by combining specifications for boundedness/telicity and eventhhood from two sources: inherent specification for each verb given in the lexicon and specification(s) associated with other constituents in the syntax.  The computed aspectual properties project functional projections responsible for aspect.  One example comes from grammaticality of progressive and perfect forms of ar-u ‘exist’ ar-i-yor-u and at-too in the Hakata dialect when the subject is an event nominal. 

Second, there are correlations between auxiliary selection, participial forms, and aspectual interpretation of verb classes.  Specifically, so-called “near-future” reading of the progressive form of achievement verbs is available iff the language in question has two distinct auxiliary verbs/participial forms for progressive and perfect.  This fact is also derived from the proposed representation of aspect.