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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