Temporal and Non-temporal Characteristics of the Category of Aspectuality of the Russian Verb in the Context of the Chinese Language

Lyu Xinyan Postgraduate student, Department of Russian Language and Methods of its Teaching, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 117198, Russia, Moskovskaya Oblast' oblast', g. Moscow, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya, 6, aud. - l.sinyan@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Today, the problem of marking the grammatical foundations of the Russian language in the context of linguistic phenomena that characterize other languages (in particular, Chinese) is of great interest: in the absence of linguistic tradition and the need to build up the theoretical base and solve some practical issues facing modern linguists, teachers, translators ^{[1, 2]}. At the same time, they are especially actualized Russian Russian language issues related to the implementation of the category of aspectuality in the context of Chinese, which (questions) require more careful study, including due to the fact that the species theory of the Russian and Chinese languages still does not have a single concept and interpretation in many aspects: it concerns the essence of the verb type, the grammatical meaning of the verb type, criteria for the pairing of specific verbs, etc. ^[3]. In addition, the relevance of the study is due to the need for a more detailed study of a number of practical issues related to the development of methods of teaching Russian in a Chinese audience, the selection of material, methods of explanation, fixing the category of aspectuality (in particular, in order to prevent language interference among students).

At the same time, there are many scientific papers devoted to the consideration of the problem of the implementation of the category of aspectuality in Russian ^[3-9] and Chinese ^[10-16], including in the comparative aspect ^{[1, 2, 17-20]}. Various aspects of the problem are investigated within the framework of scientific works (in particular, the features of the functioning of the marginal verbs of the perfect and imperfect form in the Russian and Chinese languages in a comparative aspect ^[2]; expressions of the aspectual-temporal characteristics of speech units ^[17]; verbs of the perfect/imperfect form of the past tense with aoristic meaning and the system of their Chinese correspondences ^[19], etc.), however, the specifics of the implementation of the category of aspectuality of temporal and non-temporal characteristics in the Russian language in the context of Chinese requires more detailed consideration, which ultimately led to the appeal to this problem.

Of course, aspectuality is one of the complexly organized phenomena of grammar, representing a linguistic category that acts as "the result of linguistic objectification of the temporal component of a structurally complex mental image represented by a certain construction" ^{[4, pp. 57-58]}. That is, aspectuality serves as a functional and semantic field of language grammar, and the core of grammatical tense is the specific affiliation of the verb as an expositor the actual action and its course in time. The specific feature of a verb is an important grammatical component around which other parts of speech are built and function, creating sentences and utterances. The characteristic (in the narrow sense) of the completeness / incompleteness of an action is an important structural element of any syntactic unit – such a predicate trait, its significance is characteristic of all languages of the world.

The category of aspectuality is closely related to temporality, which, in turn, is a projection of real time into the space of language: it (temporality) acts as an interdisciplinary category and is consistent with the concepts of time existing in the "general consciousness" of a linguistic personality ^[7]. At the same time, actionality (also related to the category of aspectuality) can be defined as the category of the actual action or mode of action manifested by the predicate: it is realized in the relativ (the relation of the subject of the utterance to the communicative situation and to the verbal signification of the action), further – in the action (the actual action expressed in the utterance) and in the excentive (the result of objectification (in a broad sense) "the concept of the process") ^{[9, p. 251]}. The relativ incorporates structural elements that model the speech situation: aspectuality, modality, instrumentality, instrumentality. Consequently, aspectuality is a grammatical link of the general linguistic concept of the mode of action, the transfer to the linguistic reality of which is the verb, the key feature of which is the species.

In accordance with the above, we note that the typology of verb types includes two forms (for Slavic languages) or a sign in time (for non-Slavic): "perfect view and imperfect view" / "ultimate action and unsaturated action" ^{[20, p. 68]}. Aspectuality in this way is not reduced to understanding an action only as a process of limit or non-limit, i.e. completed or incomplete. Along with the completeness and incompleteness of the action objectified by the verb, the concepts of integrity / incompleteness of the action are distinguished, as well as the principles of signifying the action through non–verbal lexemes of the "state" class - predicatives with an implicit verb ^[4], and the criteria of the predicate: multiplicity, phase, duration, limitation of action in time.

Thus, in a broad sense, the specific identity of a verb is a multidimensional grammatical phenomenon that coordinates the "subsystem" morphemic-morphological, syntactic, lexical-semantic units of a certain speech utterance. The methods of action determine the choice of verbal markers and the syntagmatics of speech utterance, which is realized through temporal and non-temporal characteristics of the aspectual field and translates signs of the category of time ^[18]. At the same time, it should be noted that the traditional species grammatical differentiation has predicative classes, which can be divided into two main groups: "situations lasting and situations completed" ^[7]. The continuing situations include predicates with the semes "process", "state", "position". The completed situations should include predicates with the semes "achievement", "result", "limited multiplicity". The above-mentioned key semes of predicates of the "perfect" and "imperfect" type (their analogues in other languages) are universal for the grammar of general linguistics ^[17]. In particular, the common position for all languages is the following: the view does not state the duration of the action on the time axis, but provides the ordering of time and its differentiation, for example:

- (rus.) I'm writing a book – I'll write a book;

- (kit.) [ [ [W? z?i xi? y? b?nsh?] / I am writing a book – [ [w? hu? xi? y? b?nsh?] / I will write a book.

As can be seen from these examples, the species belonging of the predicate coordinates not only the criterion of completeness / duration of action, but also the temporal form of expression and the general temporality of constructions. Consequently, there is a correlation and interdependence of the temporal and specific characteristics of verbs.

Of course, the implementation of the type category has different expressions in the languages under consideration. The type of verb as the core of grammar and the basis of the aspectual field is the most important and most complex category of language grammar ^[4]. But having comprehended and understood the power and completeness of its impact on the system of living verbal communication, the linguistic personality realizes the diversity of the entire morphological and syntactic system of the language. It is noteworthy that for all languages (to varying degrees), the principles of form change and word formation of verbs of perfect and imperfect form apply, which illustrates two fundamental species theories – inflectional and word-formation. Some scientists consider the species as a word–classifying category, within which species pairs are distinguished (such as sing – sing and similar pairs consisting of two different words), whose semantic community is determined only by the value of the root morpheme ^{[5, 6, 8]}. Such a commonality can be observed in lexemes with different partial affiliation – and this does not allow us to state the same-root verb and noun as forms of the word:

- (rus.) run – runner;

- (kit.) [t?op?o] / run - [s?ip?o zh?] / runner.

According to the theory of word classification, the temporality of the linguistic construction in which the predicate functions is the first proof of the "semantic differentiation of the marker of an action lasting or completed" ^{[6, p. 178]}. The categorical meaning of the specific forms of the verb always has a semantic base on which a new meaning is built, therefore, in Russian and Chinese, the degree of duration of action, its temporal extent does not act as a criterion of lexical selection. But the field of aspectuality, in addition to temporality, also includes non-temporal elements, among which the main content of the word (verb) has a special position. On the basis of the commonality of some signs-semes correlating with the linguistic reality of "time", the following aspectual classes are distinguished in verbs:

1) aspectual class – phase: represent the stages of action. Verbs belonging to this class are considered absolute, since they set the exact coordinates of the objectified action: either ingressive, transcursive, or terminative verbs. In a particular linguistic system, there may be no "single verbal means expressing the stage of action" ^{[8, p. 23]}. In this case, it can be represented in a special way defined by the language system. Thus, in the Russian language there are no phase verbs illustrating a transcursive action, therefore, for its designation, biverbal predicative constructions such as do not stop thinking, continue working, etc. are used.;

2) aspectual class – limitation (in time): represent the degree of duration of action on the internal scale of verbal temporality. Verbs belonging to this class are considered relative because they appear as unspecified quantifiers. We can say that relative verbs mean a certain period of time, such as: predural, delimitative, single-use verbs ^{[8, pp. 23-24]}. These aspectual categories occur in all existing languages, but the ways of expressing them may vary depending on the conventions of the chosen verbal system. For example, in Chinese there are suppletive forms of time-limited verbs, whose semantics are similar to verbs that are not time-limited:

- (chin.) [xi?le w? w?i n? y? sh?u g?] / I wrote a song for you – [w? z?i sh?ng zh? f?n w?nji?n qi?nz?] / I sign this document;

3) aspectual class – verbs with non-temporal semantics. This class has two subclasses: the first is a subclass of verbs that have indefinite numerical quantification (distributive, semelfactive verbs belong to it); the second is a subclass of verbs that do not have numerical quantification (it includes durative, saturative, attenuative verbs) ^{[10, 13]}. Examples of predicates of these groups can be found in any language, in particular, in Chinese, unlimited multiplicity is observed in attenuatives:

- (kit.) [w? d?le y?di?n] / I read a little.

The specific identity of the Russian verb is closely related to its temporal characteristics, therefore, in Russian aspectology, the temporal meanings of statements are calculated through the analysis of situational functions and potencies of predicates, the main feature of which is species attribution. Of course, in addition to this criterion, attention should also be paid to the "degree of semantic similarity of the elements of the verb pair" ^{[8, p. 24]}. Thus, the opposition of the verbs to do – to do is considered specific due to the semantic generality of the action and the coincidence of the meaning of the prefix c- with the meaning of the temporal completeness of the objectified action. Note that the prefix is not depersonalized and does not become "empty", but is consistent with the concept of the end of the action defined by the type of verb to do.

It should be noted that for the Chinese language, the presence of the species-temporal categories of the verb is partly conditional in nature: the verb in its definition is tied only to the species, the semantics of time is formally present. Based on the specifics of the specific form in Chinese, many modern researchers refer this language to "timeless" ^[14]. The perfective in Chinese is transmitted by attaching the following types of suffixes:

1) -le – gives the verb the meaning of completeness ( [ [t? z?i b?ij?ng zh?le li?ng ni?nle] / he has been living in Beijing for 2 years);

2) -guo – wears a shade of remoteness ( ? [N? xu?gu? zh?ngw?n ma?] / have you studied Chinese before?);

3) -zhe – expresses imperfect ( [t?ngzhe zu? f?ngbi?n] / l ezhat is the most convenient) ^[15].

Grammatical indicators of the category of aspectuality in the Chinese language have independence, while they are isolated, which allows them to take different forms. Depending on the context, they can act as an affix and as a service word ^{[12, 16]}. Depending on the lexical and grammatical meanings of the original verb, there is a replacement position from a certain to a neutral zone. The use of the general form of the verb occurs when the situation only comes into contact with a moment in time. If a verb in Chinese does not have a sign of processability, then the general appearance becomes its main characteristic.

In the Russian language, aspectuality is expressed by means of specific categories of verbs, and since they are not present in pure Chinese, this function is performed by the temporal phase. Through it, the expression of temporary signs of the deep structure in the sentence occurs. It is based on prolongation, on action in static form, dynamic phase and instantaneity. This phase finds its expression in Chinese in the lexical meaning, for example, ? / k?n / watch. In this case, the action is expressed in dynamics, while it has the character of "duration" ^{[11, p. 23]}. In order to express the specifics of an action, a temporary form is used, which is realized at the expense of grammatical and lexical elements. These include various kinds of service words:  ? and ? in their meaning are close to the expression of the past tense in verbs. In this case, the initial form will find its expression in the position with the service words / q?l?i / start.

Thus, it can be concluded that the field of aspectuality, its temporal and non–temporal components, are represented in the Russian language to a greater extent by verbs, to a lesser extent by predicatives and auxiliary non-verbal means. The core of the aspectual system is the category of the verb type. The basis of linguistic temporality is the lexico-grammatical opposition of the aggregates "ultimate action – unsubstantiated action". This opposition is expressed in the dichotomy of the Russian verb form "perfect form – imperfect form".

In turn, in the Chinese language, the category of aspectuality is expressed by lexical means (morphological signs of aspectuality are not clearly expressed), which is one of the main features of the Chinese language. The choice of linguistic means of expressing aspectuality is influenced by a whole range of factors, among which the communicative intention and the type of discursive process are distinguished. The zone of aspectually significant elements of the utterance necessarily includes elements of a predicative combination. In it, the main components are the subject and the object, which are endowed with a number of semantic and grammatical characteristics.  By its nature, the semantic shell of the verbal lexeme is endowed with a certain correlation between action and subject-object relations. Aspectual meanings tend to the zone of the verbal predicate, while the lexical meaning is taken as centralizing, since the context is built around it, which determines the presence of features of the expression of temporal and non-temporal characteristics of the category of aspectuality in Russian and Chinese.