An Introduction to The National Language Research Institute:
A Sketch of its Achievements
Third Edition(1988)/
HTML Version(1997)
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II.2.20 Aspect and Tense of the Modern Japanese Verb
(Report 82, 1985. 210 pages)
This report is a description of verb forms in modern Japanese
which are classified according to tense and aspect as follows:
(tense) non-past past
(aspect)
perfective verb suru sita
imperfective verb site iru site ita
The main characteristics of the study are given below.
(1) It is an empirical study based on examples taken from a great
number of literary works, expository discourse, movie scripts and
live radio broadcasts.
(2) It is the first detailed description of the aspectual nature
of perfective verbs and the tense-related characteristics of
continuative verbs.
(3) We also discussed the close relationship between the
tense-related meanings of the tense forms of a verb and their
aspectual meaning.
(4) Tense forms of a continuative verb function not only as
continuative verbs but also as expressions of relative tense. We
described these as (a) continuative non-past form equivalent to a
perfective anterior present or perfective anterior future form,
(b) continuative past form equivalent to a perfective anterior
past form.
(5) Verbs are freed from aspectual interpretation when their
lexical meaning or their denotational meaning in a context lack a
sense of motion. They are freed from their tense-related meaning
when they lack the sense of an event. In this connection we also
found it necessary to distinguish between the use of verbs to
express 'state' and to express 'character,' though both belong to
the derived meaning of the verb.
(6) We found several new meanings and uses for each tense and
aspect form.
TAKAHASI Taro~ directed this research.
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