Relativism and Universalism in Linguistics - Fachbereich 10 ...

Section G: Verbal Categories (aspect and sundry distinctions) 77
of the situation stretch in TT, which is perceived as an external perspective on the eventuality.
Topic Time is the pivot mediating between the time of speaking and the time of the situation.
Imperatives do not feature TT because a truth claim cannot be made about a situation whose
realisation depends on the abilities of the addressee. Imperatives contain a reference time span
constraining an obligation. This time span includes the time of speaking because the
obligation is valid at the moment the imperative is uttered. The use of a perfective verb
emphasises the completeness of the requested situation because the resultant state is included
in the time stretch of obligation (OT).
In Imperatives negation usually operates on the proposition, influencing the aspectual
interpretation. Perfective verbs express a change of state, focusing the reference time on the
resultant state. Negating the perfective aspect means to move the reference time back to the
source state. The reference time becomes included in the situation time, yielding an
imperfective interpretation. Under negation we obtain a combination of temporal values
known as Present: time of speaking and source state are included in the reference time of the
obligation. This causes a mismatch between the aspectual interpretation of the imperative and
the perfectivity of the verbs.
In Bulgarian, this type of aspectual coercion induces secondary imperfectivisation. This overt
morphological marking applies obligatory also in Preventives, a type of negative Imperatives
in which other Slavic languages use perfective verbs. This phenomenon is rooted in the
different functional range of perfective verbs. In contrast to Bulgarian, Slavic languages use
perfective verbs to express Future, Historic present and habituality. The TAM system in
Bulgarian emphasises the imperfective side reaching a state in which bare perfective
verbs cannot express Tense in the main clause. Bulgarian perfectives are fully integrated into
the analytic Future, where Tense is borne by the future auxiliary. Historic present and
habituality are predominantly in the domain of imperfectivised verbs. The holistic meaning
of Bulgarian perfectives prevents them from expressing Present, as their TT never includes
the time of speaking. Only imperfectivised verbs maintain such a relation to the time of
speaking, while indicating the boundedness of the situation. The productivity and
transparency of imperfectivising suffixes support their spread within the temporal domain, a
process indicative of Bulgarian's strong analytic tendency. Given these typological
peculiarities, the motivation for the aspectual coercion in negative Imperatives is
straightforward.
Klein, W. (1994). Time in Language. London: Routledge.
„X sitzt“ – aber wo und wie?
Khizanishvili, Tamar
Universität Bremen
tamarkh@uni-bremen.de
Nach allgemeiner Auffassung der Kartvelologen gibt es im Megrelischen ca. 90 Präverbien.
Durch Präfigierung dieser Präverbien wird die Bedeutung der Grundverben semantisch
modifiziert. Bei der direktionalen Differenzierung spielen die Präverbien im Megrelischen
eine große Rolle. Daneben können sie Zeit und Raum näher bestimmen. Manche der
Präverbien können adverbial gebraucht werden. Z. B.:
• eše ešelj. – „Er kam nach oben“.
• gime gimelj. – „Er kam nach unten“.
• mite mitilj. – „Er ging hinein“. usw.