Definition and Examples of Telicity in English Grammar

Definition and Examples of Telicity in English Grammar In semantics, telicity is the aspectual property of an action word state (or of the sentence all in all) which shows that an activity or occasion has an unmistakable endpoint. Otherwise called aspectual boundedness. An action word express introduced as having an endpoint is supposed to be telic. Interestingly, an action word express that isn't introduced as having an endpoint is supposed to be atelic. See Examples and Observations beneath. Likewise observe: AspectGrammaticalizationTransitivity EtymologyFrom the Greek, end, objective Models and Observations Telic action words incorporate fall, kick, and make (something). These action words appear differently in relation to atelic action words, where the occasion has no such normal end-point, likewise with play (in such a setting as the kids are playing). - David Crystal, A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, fourth ed. Blackwell, 1997 Testing for TelicityOne solid test to recognize telic and atelic action word phrases is to have a go at utilizing the ing word type of the action word state as immediate object of complete or finish, which allude to the characteristic purpose of consummation of an activity. Just telic action word expressions can be utilized along these lines. . . . [What did you do last night?] - I wrapped up the rooftop/*repairing}. (Fix the rooftop is a telic VP while fix is atelic.)It was 11:30 p.m. at the point when I finished {writing the report/*writing}. (Compose the report is a telic VP while compose is atelic.)He {stopped/*finished/*completed} being their pioneer in 1988. (Be their pioneer is an atelic VP.) In contrast to complete and finish, the action word stop alludes to a subjective endpoint. It can in this manner be trailed by an atelic action word express. In the event that it is trailed by a telic one, stop is by implicature deciphered as alluding to a temporary endpoint going before the normal purpose of finish: I quit perusing the book at five. (ensnares that I had not wrapped up the book when I quit understanding it) (Renaat Declerck in collaboration with Susan Reed and Bert Cappelle, The Grammar of the English Tense System: A Comprehensive Analysis. Mouton de Gruyter, 2006) Action word Meaning and Telicity Since telicity is so subject to clausal components other than the action word, it could be discussed whether it is spoken to in action word significance by any stretch of the imagination. So as to investigate that banter, lets start by looking at watch and eat. Models (35) and (36) give an insignificant pair, in that the main component that contrasts in the two sentences is the action word. (35) I watched a fish. [Atelic-Activity](36) I ate a fish. [Telic-Accomplishment] Since the sentence with watch is atelic and the sentence with eat is telic, it appears we should infer that the action word is liable for the (a)telicity of the sentence in these cases, and that watch is by its inclination atelic. Nonetheless, that simple end is convoluted by the way that telic circumstances can likewise be portrayed with watch: (37) I watched a film. [Telic-Accomplishment] The way to whether every one of these circumstances is telic or not is in the second argumentthe action words object. In the atelic watch model (35) and the telic eat model (36), the contentions seem to be indistinguishable. Go somewhat more profound, be that as it may, and the contentions don't appear to be so comparative. At the point when one eats a fish, one eats its physical body. At the point when one watches a fish, it is more than the physical body of the fish that is relevantone watches a fish accomplishing something, regardless of whether all it is doing is existing. That is, the point at which one watches, one watches not a thing, yet a circumstance. On the off chance that the circumstance that is viewed is telic (for example the playing of a film), at that point so is the watching circumstance. In the event that the watched circumstance isn't telic (for example the presence of a fish), at that point nor is the watching circumstance. In this way, we can't reason that watch itself is telic or atelic, however we can infer that the semantics of watch reveal to us that it has circumstance contention, and the watching action is coextensive with . . . the contentions circumstance. . . .Numerous action words resemble this-their telicity is straightforwardly impacted by the boundedness or telicity of their contentions, thus we should reason that those action words themselves are unknown for telicity. - M. Lynne Murphy, Lexical Meaning. Cambridge University Press, 2010 Telicity in the exacting sense obviously is an aspectual property which isn't simply or even fundamentally lexical. - Rochelle Lieber, Morphology and Lexical Semantics. Cambridge University Press, 2004