CHINESE FINITENESS: CHANGEABILITY, ACTUALITY, DURATIONALITY AND TELICITY

Abstract

This paper focuses on declarative sentences to demonstrate how four major concepts: changeability, actuality, durationality and telicity, work together in shaping Chinese finite clauses. In the Chinese lexicon there are changeable and unchangeable verbs distinguished by the latter’s inability to co-occur with aspect particles in a finite clause. The changeable declaratives are further divided into two kinds: durational and nondurational, as the latter cannot occur alone without either the perfective le1 in realis, or a modal auxiliary. Moreover, the durational declaratives can occur in either irrealis modality negated by bù or realis modality negated by měi(yǒu). The declarative sentences for durational events are linguistically distinct in terms of telicity: the progressive zài and imperfective zhe are atelic, and the perfective le1 and experiential guo are telic. Just like other world languages as was noted by Givón (1995, 2001), Chinese finiteness is also characteristically gradient, with the least finite forms functioning like a noun and the most finite forms functioning as a declarative sentence with an obligatory aspect particle.