Mixing
habitual aspect in english
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In discussions of AAVE, people frequently bring up the "habitual be", as in
(1) He be working.
Usually, they use this as an example of something that Standard English doesn't have. This Wikipedia article, for example, notes that this is a "habitual grammatical aspect not explicitly distinguished in Standard English".
However, I believe the sentence
(2) He works.
is habitual. To me, this sentence unambiguously implies a habitual aspect.
So while I of course agree that AAVE and Standard English represent the habitual aspect differently, I don't understand what other difference there is between AAVE and Standard English. Am I misunderstanding what habitual aspect is, or am I misunderstanding how sentence (2) functions?
aspect aave
asked 56 mins ago
tjhance
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up vote
2
down vote
favorite
In discussions of AAVE, people frequently bring up the "habitual be", as in
(1) He be working.
Usually, they use this as an example of something that Standard English doesn't have. This Wikipedia article, for example, notes that this is a "habitual grammatical aspect not explicitly distinguished in Standard English".
However, I believe the sentence
(2) He works.
is habitual. To me, this sentence unambiguously implies a habitual aspect.
So while I of course agree that AAVE and Standard English represent the habitual aspect differently, I don't understand what other difference there is between AAVE and Standard English. Am I misunderstanding what habitual aspect is, or am I misunderstanding how sentence (2) functions?
aspect aave
asked 56 mins ago
tjhance
1133
New contributor
tjhance is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
In discussions of AAVE, people frequently bring up the "habitual be", as in
(1) He be working.
Usually, they use this as an example of something that Standard English doesn't have. This Wikipedia article, for example, notes that this is a "habitual grammatical aspect not explicitly distinguished in Standard English".
However, I believe the sentence
(2) He works.
is habitual. To me, this sentence unambiguously implies a habitual aspect.
So while I of course agree that AAVE and Standard English represent the habitual aspect differently, I don't understand what other difference there is between AAVE and Standard English. Am I misunderstanding what habitual aspect is, or am I misunderstanding how sentence (2) functions?
aspect aave
asked 56 mins ago
tjhance
1133
New contributor
tjhance is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
In discussions of AAVE, people frequently bring up the "habitual be", as in
(1) He be working.
Usually, they use this as an example of something that Standard English doesn't have. This Wikipedia article, for example, notes that this is a "habitual grammatical aspect not explicitly distinguished in Standard English".
However, I believe the sentence
(2) He works.
is habitual. To me, this sentence unambiguously implies a habitual aspect.
So while I of course agree that AAVE and Standard English represent the habitual aspect differently, I don't understand what other difference there is between AAVE and Standard English. Am I misunderstanding what habitual aspect is, or am I misunderstanding how sentence (2) functions?
aspect aave
aspect aave
asked 56 mins ago
tjhance
1133
New contributor
tjhance is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 56 mins ago
tjhance
1133
New contributor
tjhance is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 56 mins ago
tjhance
1133
New contributor
tjhance is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 56 mins ago
tjhance
1133
asked 56 mins ago
tjhance
1133
1133
New contributor
tjhance is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
tjhance is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
tjhance is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
1 Answer
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Saying that a language or language variety marks a grammatical category of "habitual aspect" implies that there is some construction that is dedicated to expressing habitual actions.
"He works" uses the English "simple present tense" construction, which is formally ambiguous between habitual and perfective interpretations. Even if in practice "he works" would typically be understood as referring to a habitual action, this isn't because the verb is marked for habitual aspect specifically: this interpretation is based on a combination of the inherent meaning of the verb work (I think "Aktionsart" is a relevant concept) and the meaning of the progressive aspect, which could have been used but wasn't (that is, "works" is an explicitly "non-progressive" form, contrasting with the progressive form "is working").
Look at the following passage:
First of all, he exhibits a "wonder" by dividing Jordan; then he works a miracle of mercy, by healing the bitter waters; thirdly, by his curse, he brings about a miracle of destruction...
(The Complete Pulpit Commentary, by Henry D.M. Spence)
"He works" in this context does not refer to a habitual action, but to an action that took place at one particular point in time.
The "simple present" often has a habitual sense in Standard English, but it has several other uses that make it inappropriate to call the "simple present" a dedicated "habitual aspect" construction.
For certain categories of verbs that are not widely used in the progressive (e.g. verbs of perception), non-habitual uses of the "simple present" form are fairly common: "I see a spider", "I feel the wind on my face", "I hear a bird calling over there" don't refer to habitual situations.
answered 21 mins ago
sumelic
7,46211441
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1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
2
down vote
accepted
Saying that a language or language variety marks a grammatical category of "habitual aspect" implies that there is some construction that is dedicated to expressing habitual actions.
"He works" uses the English "simple present tense" construction, which is formally ambiguous between habitual and perfective interpretations. Even if in practice "he works" would typically be understood as referring to a habitual action, this isn't because the verb is marked for habitual aspect specifically: this interpretation is based on a combination of the inherent meaning of the verb work (I think "Aktionsart" is a relevant concept) and the meaning of the progressive aspect, which could have been used but wasn't (that is, "works" is an explicitly "non-progressive" form, contrasting with the progressive form "is working").
Look at the following passage:
First of all, he exhibits a "wonder" by dividing Jordan; then he works a miracle of mercy, by healing the bitter waters; thirdly, by his curse, he brings about a miracle of destruction...
(The Complete Pulpit Commentary, by Henry D.M. Spence)
"He works" in this context does not refer to a habitual action, but to an action that took place at one particular point in time.
The "simple present" often has a habitual sense in Standard English, but it has several other uses that make it inappropriate to call the "simple present" a dedicated "habitual aspect" construction.
For certain categories of verbs that are not widely used in the progressive (e.g. verbs of perception), non-habitual uses of the "simple present" form are fairly common: "I see a spider", "I feel the wind on my face", "I hear a bird calling over there" don't refer to habitual situations.
answered 21 mins ago
sumelic
7,46211441
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
accepted
Saying that a language or language variety marks a grammatical category of "habitual aspect" implies that there is some construction that is dedicated to expressing habitual actions.
"He works" uses the English "simple present tense" construction, which is formally ambiguous between habitual and perfective interpretations. Even if in practice "he works" would typically be understood as referring to a habitual action, this isn't because the verb is marked for habitual aspect specifically: this interpretation is based on a combination of the inherent meaning of the verb work (I think "Aktionsart" is a relevant concept) and the meaning of the progressive aspect, which could have been used but wasn't (that is, "works" is an explicitly "non-progressive" form, contrasting with the progressive form "is working").
Look at the following passage:
First of all, he exhibits a "wonder" by dividing Jordan; then he works a miracle of mercy, by healing the bitter waters; thirdly, by his curse, he brings about a miracle of destruction...
(The Complete Pulpit Commentary, by Henry D.M. Spence)
"He works" in this context does not refer to a habitual action, but to an action that took place at one particular point in time.
The "simple present" often has a habitual sense in Standard English, but it has several other uses that make it inappropriate to call the "simple present" a dedicated "habitual aspect" construction.
For certain categories of verbs that are not widely used in the progressive (e.g. verbs of perception), non-habitual uses of the "simple present" form are fairly common: "I see a spider", "I feel the wind on my face", "I hear a bird calling over there" don't refer to habitual situations.
answered 21 mins ago
sumelic
7,46211441
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
accepted
up vote
2
down vote
accepted
Saying that a language or language variety marks a grammatical category of "habitual aspect" implies that there is some construction that is dedicated to expressing habitual actions.
"He works" uses the English "simple present tense" construction, which is formally ambiguous between habitual and perfective interpretations. Even if in practice "he works" would typically be understood as referring to a habitual action, this isn't because the verb is marked for habitual aspect specifically: this interpretation is based on a combination of the inherent meaning of the verb work (I think "Aktionsart" is a relevant concept) and the meaning of the progressive aspect, which could have been used but wasn't (that is, "works" is an explicitly "non-progressive" form, contrasting with the progressive form "is working").
Look at the following passage:
First of all, he exhibits a "wonder" by dividing Jordan; then he works a miracle of mercy, by healing the bitter waters; thirdly, by his curse, he brings about a miracle of destruction...
(The Complete Pulpit Commentary, by Henry D.M. Spence)
"He works" in this context does not refer to a habitual action, but to an action that took place at one particular point in time.
The "simple present" often has a habitual sense in Standard English, but it has several other uses that make it inappropriate to call the "simple present" a dedicated "habitual aspect" construction.
For certain categories of verbs that are not widely used in the progressive (e.g. verbs of perception), non-habitual uses of the "simple present" form are fairly common: "I see a spider", "I feel the wind on my face", "I hear a bird calling over there" don't refer to habitual situations.
answered 21 mins ago
sumelic
7,46211441
Saying that a language or language variety marks a grammatical category of "habitual aspect" implies that there is some construction that is dedicated to expressing habitual actions.
"He works" uses the English "simple present tense" construction, which is formally ambiguous between habitual and perfective interpretations. Even if in practice "he works" would typically be understood as referring to a habitual action, this isn't because the verb is marked for habitual aspect specifically: this interpretation is based on a combination of the inherent meaning of the verb work (I think "Aktionsart" is a relevant concept) and the meaning of the progressive aspect, which could have been used but wasn't (that is, "works" is an explicitly "non-progressive" form, contrasting with the progressive form "is working").
Look at the following passage:
First of all, he exhibits a "wonder" by dividing Jordan; then he works a miracle of mercy, by healing the bitter waters; thirdly, by his curse, he brings about a miracle of destruction...
(The Complete Pulpit Commentary, by Henry D.M. Spence)
"He works" in this context does not refer to a habitual action, but to an action that took place at one particular point in time.
The "simple present" often has a habitual sense in Standard English, but it has several other uses that make it inappropriate to call the "simple present" a dedicated "habitual aspect" construction.
For certain categories of verbs that are not widely used in the progressive (e.g. verbs of perception), non-habitual uses of the "simple present" form are fairly common: "I see a spider", "I feel the wind on my face", "I hear a bird calling over there" don't refer to habitual situations.
answered 21 mins ago
sumelic
7,46211441
edited 3 mins ago
answered 21 mins ago
sumelic
7,46211441
answered 21 mins ago
sumelic
7,46211441
answered 21 mins ago
sumelic
7,46211441
7,46211441
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add a comment |Â
tjhance is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
tjhance is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
tjhance is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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