Aspect and coercion in Kurdish: from the predicate level to the clause layer

AbstractThis article seeks to examine aspect and coercion at the predicate level and within the three syntactic layers of nucleus, core, and clause in Kurdish. Utilizing Role and Reference Grammar as the framework, the study identifies lexical aspects with inherent aspectual features at predicate level. Predicates are categorized into five types: activity, accomplishment, achievement, semelfactive, and state, based on their lexical characteristics. The other layers mainly host derivative aspects and aspectual operators. In the Kurdish language, the nucleus layer hosts three imperfective operators and one perfect operator, each of which modifies the aspectual features of the five mentioned event types. At this level, each predicate with its own lexical aspect undergoes aspect shifting due to its combination with one of these operators. All kinds of aspect shifting are triggered due to the semantic dimensions of the aspectual operators at the nucleus level. Also, the findings show that at the core level, predicates may undergo coercion when combined with adverbial items or internal arguments that have special referential characteristics; the derivative predicates (such as active accomplishments) appear at this level. This study shows that the temporal operator at the clause level also has a significant impact on the eventual structure of predicates, and the verbs at the clause level affected by the time operator may undergo coercion. All kinds of aspect shifting at this level are aimed at harmonizing the eventual structure of the verbs with the semantic dimensions of the time operator.Keywords: Kurdish, Aspect, Coercion, Role and Reference Grammar, Time Introduction Lexical Aspect (Aktionsart) and aspectual coercion are two interrelated dimensions within the realm of the semantics of verbs. While lexical aspects pertain to the inherent aspectual properties of verbs as abstract lexical items, aspectual coercion refers to the modification of the aspectual features of predicates when they are combined with other linguistic operators in a syntactic environment (Smith 1997; De Swart 1998; Michaelis, 2004; Cortés-Rodriguez, 2014). To clarify, aspect denotes the intrinsic aspectual characteristics of a verb, independent of its syntactic context, whereas coercion, also known as aspect shifting, denotes the alteration and adaptation of a predicate’s aspectual features due to its syntactic amalgamation with other sentence constituents.Based on three fundamental features—dynamicity, duration, and telicity—lexical aspectual classes can be categorized into five groups (Smith 1997):Static: “He has a car.” {-dynamic, ±durative, -telic}Activity: “He swims.” {+dynamic, +durative, -telic}Accomplishment: “He built a house.” {+dynamic, +durative, +telic}Achievement: “He won the game.” {+dynamic, -durative, +telic}Semelfactive: “He coughed.” {+dynamic, -durative, -telic}However, it should be noted that this basic classification may be subject to modifications in different theoretical approaches. For instance, within the Role and Reference Grammar framework (Van Valin & LaPolla 1997; Van Valin, Robert. 2005; Pavey 2010.), there are six types: state (“love”), activity (“dance”), achievement (“pop”), accomplishment (“melt”), semelfactive (“cough”), and active accomplishment (“X ate the fish”), each with their corresponding causative forms. In this same framework, Cortés-Rodríguez (2014) views the active accomplishment as a derived aspectual construction. Furthermore, various theories have been proposed regarding aspectual classes and features, such as those by Verkuyl (1972, 2005), Moens and Steedman (1988), and Croft (2012), to name a few. Despite these differing perspectives, this study employs the classification of Cortés-Rodríguez (2014) to examine the relationship between aspectual classes and coercion.In the present study, we examine aspect and aspectual coercion within Kurdish, utilizing the framework of Role and Reference Grammar. Initially, we delineate the aspectual classes in Kurdish as per this theoretical approach. Subsequently, we explore aspectual coercion in the language by elucidating the interplay between various predicate types and operators across different sentential layers, ranging from predicates to the nucleus, core, and clause. While numerous studies have investigated aspectual classes and type shifting in Kurdish (Veisi Hasar 2015, 2017; Najafi far et al., 2016; Tabei et al., 2020), research within this specific framework remains unexplored. Furthermore, the scope and influence of operators (in different layers) on the final aspectual construction and interpretation of a sentence in Kurdish has yet to be addressed. Materials and Methods In Role and Reference Grammar, the predicate is the most fundamental element of a sentence and is situated within the nucleus layer. This predicate, when combined with its arguments, forms the core layer. The core represents the central part of the clause, serving as both its semantic and syntactic foundation. Additionally, the periphery includes adjunct elements. It is the integration of the core and the periphery that constitutes the complete structure of a clause (Van Valin, Robert. 1993; Van Valin & LaPolla 1997; Van Valin, Robert. 2005; Cortés-Rodriguez 2014). Core periphery ArgumentNucleus clause Figure 1- The structure of a clause The structure outlined above is predicated solely on the argument structure; however, various sentence operators must also be integrated within this overarching framework. These operators, while not intrinsic to the argument structure, are incorporated into the clause to impart additional semantic and syntactic information. The amalgamation of these operators with the clause’s layered architecture engenders the semantic and syntactic blueprint of the clause (Van Valin and LaPolla 1997: 40-52; Pavey 2010: 76). They are organized into three layers within the sentence:Nucleus layer: Aspect operators, negation, and directionals.Core layer: Event quantification, deontic modality, internal negation, and directionals.Clause layer: Status operators, external negation, epistemic modality, tense, evidentiality, and illocutionary force.This hierarchical arrangement is predicated on the degree to which these operators influence the sentence’s ultimate form and interpretation. A figure illustrates the syntactic elements and operators’ interactions in the sentence ‘The boy did not go to the marker.’ Figure 2- The operators of a clause in KurdishBased on this mode, Cortés-Rodriguez (2014) presents a new model about aspect and coercion in this framework. He initially identifies three aspectual levels: (lexical) Aktionsart, (grammatical) aspect, and aspectuality. The first level pertains to the predicate level, where various event types are inherent to the predicates themselves. The second level, the nucleus layer, involves the application of grammatical aspectual operators—such as the progressive, perfective, and perfect—which modify the predicates. The third level, known as the core layer, is where derived event types (e.g., active accomplishment) emerge. In this layer, the interaction of certain predicates with directional adverbs or specific arguments results in these derived event types. Lastly, the fourth level is the clause layer, which encompasses tense and force. This layered approach demonstrates that different operators are applied at various levels to the verbal structures, thereby generating new aspectual modifications. Discussion of Results and ConclusionsFirstly, the analysis reveals that in Kurdish, within the domain of Aktionsart, five distinct event types are identified, each accompanied by a causative variant. Verbs such as haɫ-parin (dancing, activity), gajštǝn (arriving, achievement), koxin (coughing, semelfactive), tuwānawa (melting, accomplishment), and rǝq-le-bun (hating, state) serve as exemplars for these categories. These predicates embody the event classifications within the Aktionsart domain. However, at the secondary level—the nucleus layer—we scrutinize the operators that interact with these diverse aspectual classes to modify their event structures. The evidence suggests that within this layer, a minimum of three imperfective operators (-da; xarik + Ezafe linker; xarik + bu (to be)) and a single perfect operator (-uwa) are utilized to modify the aspectual characteristics of the predicates. The subsequent examples elucidate this point, employing solely an activity verb:ħasan la ħawša pjāsa-j kǝrd.Hasan in yard walk-3SG doHasan walked in the yard.ħasan la ħawša pjāsa-j da-kǝrd.Hasan in yard walk-3SG Imp-doHasan was walking in the yard.ħasan xarik-i pjāsa kǝrdǝn bu la ħawša ka karim hāt.Hasan xarik-Ez walk do be.pst.3SG in yard that Karim come.pst.3SGHasan was walking in the yard that Karim came in.ħasan xarik bu la ħawša pjāsa bǝ-kā ka bārān bāri.Hasan xarik be-pst.3SG in yard walk SBJV-do that rain rain-pst.3SGHasan was about to walk in the yard that it started to rain.ħasan la ħawša pjāsa-j kǝrd-uwa.Hasan in yard walk-3SG do-perf.Hasan has walked in the yard.These four operators modify the aspectual characteristics of predicates. The study demonstrates that the first and second imperfective operators (da; xarik + Ezafe linker) when applied to durative verbs such as activities and accomplishments, highlight the middle phases of these events. However, the third imperfective operator (xarik + bu), when used with these verbs, focalizes the preparatory phases of the predicates. Additionally, the data indicates that punctual achievement verbs, when associated with these operators, bring attention solely to their preparatory phase. Moreover, the first and second imperfective operators transform a semelfactive predicate into an iterative process, whereas the third one may change it into an achievement predic