Lexical Aspect Classification for Unrelated Languages

Abstract

The present paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the verbal aspect in general and with special emphasis on the comparison of Chinese and Slovenian lexical aspect. Recognised discrepancies between the conceptualisation and verbalisation of actions in unrelated languages indicate that deeper cognitive differences affect our perception of reality, which is something that should be more widely recognized when learning and teaching foreign languages. The contribution of this article is a comparative analysis of available studies by authoritative linguists, based on which we have formulated a new and more comprehensive proposal that will help classify verb types in unrelated languages, and can be further exploited in the field of applied linguistic research.