Nominal aspect, quantity, and time: The case of the Finnish object

Abstract

It is well known that the quantity indicated by an NP affects clausal aspect if the referent of the NP participates in the event incrementally, i.e. in a part-by-part manner (e.g.She was mowingthe lawn). In general, an incremental NP that indicates a closed quantity makes the overall aspect of the sentence telic and thus bounded, whereas one indicating an open quantity results in unbounded aspect (e.g.Waterwas dripping from the ceiling). In this paper the interplay between quantity and aspect will be called nominal aspect. It is argued that quantity may relate with time in two different ways: first, as overall quantity (which, if incremental, cumulates over time), and second, as transient quantity. The latter term refers to the quantity involved in the situation at a given point in time. It is argued that the interpretation of certain NPs evokes both kinds of quantity; e.g. inThis machine pumpsthe waste water of the factoryinto the drainthe object indicates a quantity that is open in the overall sense (there is no end to the waste water entering the event of pumping) but closed in the transient sense (at any point, all [relevant] waste water gets pumped into the drain). A corresponding distinction is drawn in the domain of verbal aspect, which can also be bounded or unbounded in two different ways. Overall aspect unfolds over time and, if telic, ultimately reaches its endpoint, as inShe took the letter to the post office. Transient aspect is the aspectual nature of an event at any given point in time. It is understood as orthogonal to the time axis and gives a cross-section of the ongoing event. InThis brush cleans the conveyor belt before it enters the machinerythe overall aspect (of the ‘cleaning’) is unbounded, but the transient aspect is bounded, assuming that the brush continuously keeps the conveyor belt in a state of total cleanliness. In this paper, such oppositions are used in explaining the case marking of the Finnish object (partitive vs. ‘total object’ case marking), which reflects both quantificational and aspectual factors. It is argued that the total object can indicate a closed quantity and a bounded aspect not only in the overall sense but also in the transient sense. This distinction is then used to account for many hitherto unexplained uses of the cases.

The projected directive construction and object case marking in Finnish

“…Setälä 1891, Penttilä 1963, Itkonen 1974, 1975, Dahl and Karlsson 1976, Hakulinen and Karlsson 1975, 1979, Tommola 1987, Larjavaara 1991, P. Leino 1991, Heinämäki 1994, Pälsi 2000, Vilkuna 2000, Huumo 2010). On the one hand, boundedness can be engendered by quantificational factors (i.e.…”

“…Vice versa, a clause expressing a bounded event can as well be interpreted as externally imperfective (cf. with continuous boundedness presented by Huumo (2010)). This is the case of clauses entailing certain mental processes: Liisa's knowing Matti needs to be interpreted as imperfective in relation with her leaving for Spain, which, in contrast, is interpreted as perfective.…”

“…Nevertheless, the object, Matti, of the verb tunsi 'knew' is in the accusative. The boundedness of mental processes of this kind can be regarded to be both aspectual and quantificational (see also Huumo 2010). Because the mental state expressed by the verb tunsi 'knew' is durative, not punctual, the event of knowing can be seen -metaphorically speaking -as if it were a surface which can be covered completely or partially (cf.…”

<i>Moni</i> or <i>monta</i>? The collective vs. distributive opposition between two forms of the quantifier ‘many’ in Finnish

“…In (19), the accusative (kirja-n) is a possible alternative to the partitive, meaning that Lisa finished reading the book. Obviously, these few examples only give a simplified picture of Finnish object marking but they suffice for the present purposes (for a more detailed account, see Huumo 2010).…”

Aspecto léxico, sentido y colocaciones: los nombres de sentimiento

“…En lo que concierne al aspecto nominal, la mayoría de los estudios ha puesto énfasis en la diferencia entre nombres estativos y de evento (Krifka et al 1995, Bosque 1999, entre otros), en las relaciones aspectuales entre los verbos de sentimiento y sus nominalizaciones (Marín 2011, Fábregas et al 2012) y, en la medida de nuestros conocimientos, pocos son los que han ahondado en la naturaleza individual/episódica de los nombres estativos (v. Anscombre 1995, Huumo 2010.…”