Events and states

Turning to the diagnosis of aspectual classes in Èdó, I begin with the dichotomy between states and events. States differ from events in terms of separation of distinct parts in a temporal structure, opposition of terms, change, dynamism and agency.

I use the following tests for duration, dynamicity and agency to buttress the difference between states and events:

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a. Co-occurrence with the durative adverbial yé ágógó X 'use X hours' that is only licensed by eventualities expressing separation of distinct parts.

b. Co-occurrence with a pre-verbal modifier bá 'deliberately' and a verb mètín 'can' that occur only with eventualities expressing agency and control.

In addition, these tests also distinguish between the sub-types of events: activities, accomplishments and achievements.

I begin the discussion with the simple durative adverbial yé ágógó X 'use X hours'.

The scope of this adverbial defines the temporal phase of an eventuality. The adverbial is ungrammatical with an eventuality with no temporal distinct parts as in statives. States consist of an unbroken time schema as such; the test fails to highlight any part of a stative eventuality.

(81) a. *Òzó yé ágógó èvá yá mòsé.

*Òzó yé ágógó èvá yá mòsé.

Ozo use.PST.H clock two to beautiful

PN V CN NUM V V

b. *Ò yá ágógó èvà yá mú òhán Òzó.

.*Ò yá ágógó èvà yá mú òhán Òzó.

3.PL use.PST.H clock two to carry? fear Ozo

PRON V CN NUM V V CN PN

‘He used two hours to be afraid of Ozo.' c. Òzó yé ágógó èvá yá rhùlé.

Òzó yé ágógó èvá yá rhùlé. Ozo use.PST.H clock two to run

PN V CN NUM V V

'Ozo used two hours to run.' d Òzó yé ágógó èvá yá lè ìzé.

Òzó yé ágógó èvá yá lè ìzé. Ozo use.PST.H clock two to cook rice . PN V CN NUM V V CN 'Ozo used two hours to cook the rice.'

e. ? Òzó yé ágógó èvá yá sè Èdó.

? Òzó yé ágógó èvá yá sè Èdó.

Ozo use.PST.H clock two to arrive Benin PN V CN NUM V V PN 'Ozo used two hours to arrive in Benin.'

(81a) expresses an individual state, (81b) a stage level predicate (81c) an activity, (81d) an accomplishment and (81e) an achievement. (81a) cannot mean she used two hours to be beautiful⁴⁵ neither can it mean that she was beautiful for two hours.

In (81c), Ozo ran for two hours but it is unspecified whether he reached his goal, that is, the culmination point of the running event is not specified. The adverbial has scope over the preparatory phase (in the sense of Kamp and Reyle 1993). In (81d) the adverbial has scope over both the preparatory phase and the culmination point. This sentence cannot mean 'Ozo cooked the rice for two hours'. Rather, it states that the cooking event took two hours. (81e) is acceptable under the following interpretation;

Ozo used two hours to get to Benin implies that Ozo got to Benin. It implies in addition that he was expected to have arrived long before the actual time of arrival.

Here both the preparatory phase and the culmination point lie within the scope of the adverbial. The scope distinctions made for (81c-e) above is immediately apparent when further information is provided by subordinate clauses for each of the sentences:

45 This meaning can be expressed through the introduction of a matrix sentence containing an event related to the process of becoming beautiful :

Òzó yé ágógó èvá yá mùgbé ò ké dó ghá mòsé.

Òzó yé ágógó èvá yá mùgbé

Ozo use.PST.H clock two to dress

PN V CN NUM V V

ò ké dó ghá mòsé.

3.PL SECM SECM AUX beautiful

PRON AUX V

'Ozo used two hours to get dressed before he became beautiful.'

The durative adverbial has scope over the dressing event and the state event is the result of the dressing.

(82) a. Òzó yé ágógó èvá yá rhùlé sòkpán òmá rhùlé èré fòó.

Òzó yé ágógó èvá yá rhùlé Ozo use.PST.H clock two to run

PN V CN NUM V V

Sòkpán ò má rhùlé èré fòó.

But 3.SG NEG.PST run 3.SG finish

CONJ PRON V PRON ADV

Ozo used two hours to run but he did not finish the race.' b. Òzó yé ágógó èvá yá lè ìzé sòkpán òmá yé gá fòó.

Òzó yé ágógó èvá yá lè ìzé Ozo use.PST.H clock two to cook rice

PN V CN NUM V V CN

Sòkpán ò má yé gá fòó.

But 3.SG NEG.PST still be cooked finish

CONJ PRON V V ADV

'Ozo used two hours to cook the rice but it still wasn’t done.' c. *Òzó yé ágógó èvá yà sè Èdó sòkpán òmá sé èré fòó.

*Òzó yé ágógó èvá yà sè Èdó

Ozo use.PST.H clock two to reach Benin

PN V CN NUM V V CN

Sòkpán ò má sé èré fòó.

But 3.SG NEG.PST reach 3.SG finish

CONJ PRON V V ADV

'Ozo used two hours to reach Benin but he did not finish getting to Benin.'

In (82a) to (82c) it is not the adverbial that excludes the meaning extension, it is the aktionsart. In (82a) no culmination or termination point is provided by the activity

eventuality, thereby making it possible to expand it with an incompletive subordinate phrase. For accomplishments (82b), the incompletive subordinate clause has scope over the culmination sub-event. Lastly (82c) is ungrammatical because the main clause has a saturated state sub-event. The states of reaching Benin having been attained, attachment of the incompletive subordinate phrase is infelicitous.

Summing up the discussions so far, the above tests clearly distinguish between states and events in terms of separation of distinct parts in a temporal structure in Èdó.

A second fundamental distinction between states and other eventualities is that of dynamism and change. States also cannot occur with some lexical items expressing agency. The adverb bá 'deliberately' and the verb mètín 'be able to' are used as illustrations.

(83) a. *Òzó mètín mòsé.

*Òzó mètín mòsé.

Ozo be able to.PRES.H be beautiful

PN V V

'Ozo can be able to be beautiful.' b. Òzó mètín rhùlé.

Òzó mètín rhùlé. Ozo be able to.PRES.H run

PN V V

'Ozo can run.' c. Òzó mètín lè èvbàré.

Òzó mètín lè èvbàré.

Ozo be able to.PRES.H cook food

PN V V CN

'Ozo can cook.'

d. Òzó mètín sè Èdó.

Òzó mètín sè Èdó.

Ozo be able to.PRES.H arrive Benin

PN V V PN

'*Ozo can arrive in Benin.'

ok as

'Ozo can stop over in Benin on his way to somewhere else.'

Mètín requires a VP complement. It connotes that Ozo deliberately learned the act of running and cooking in (83b) & (83c). While in (83d), the speaker asserts that if it pleases Ozo, he can stop over in Benin on his way to somewhere else. (83a) is a state eventuality, (83b) an activity, (83c) an accomplishment and (83d) an achievement.

Yet another expression related to control is the adverbial bá ‘deliberately’. As with the English adverbial deliberately, it is typically used in propositions controlled by an agent. It is ungrammatical with states and is sometimes odd with some achievements.

(84) a. *Òzó bá mòsé.

*Òzó bá mòsé.

Ozo deliberately.PRES.H be beautiful

PN ADV V

'Ozo is deliberately being beautiful.' b. Òzó bá rhùlé.

Òzó bá rhùlé.

Ozo deliberately.PRES.H run

PN ADV V

'Ozo is deliberately running.' c. Òzó bá lé èvbàré.

Òzó bá lé èvbàré.

Ozo deliberately.PRES.H cook food

PN ADV V CN

'Ozo is deliberately cooking the food.'

d. Òzó bá sé Èdó.

Òzó bá sé Èdó.

Ozo deliberately.PRES.H reach Benin

PN ADV V PN

'*Ozo deliberately arrived in Benin.' ok as

'Ozo purposely stopped over in Benin.' e * Òzó bàá wú.

*Òzó bàá wú.

Ozo deliberately.PST.H die

PN ADV V

'Ozo deliberately died.'

Stative eventualities do not involve agency ((84a)) while activities ((84b)),

accomplishments ((84c)) and some achievements ((84d)) do. The ungrammaticality of ((84e)) is related to the fact that in the worldview of the Èdós, people do not

deliberately take their life. The event of dying is perceived as being outside the control of the subject.

Relating the discussion so far back to Pustejovsky (1991a, 2005) distinction between states and events, we find that situations that are evaluated relative to no other events – that is states - have the following characteristics:

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i. They are homogeneous, do not involve change and are therefore evaluated relative to no other event. They cannot be separated into distinct parts in an event schema. They do not license durative adverbials.

ii. They are non- dynamic and this is related to (iii) below.

iii. Do not license expressions depicting agency.

In contrast events must be evaluated relative to other events and involve change, dynamicity and license items expressing duration and agency. The data from Èdó discussed in this section reflects the above.

3.3.3. Events

As presented in section 3.2, events refer to situations consisting of two or more sub-events that are evaluated relative to each other. Events are dynamic and involve change. Tests used to distinguish subtypes of events are co-occurrence with durative adverbials, frame adverbials and point adverbials as discussed in section 3.1. Events in Èdó exhibit the same linguistics behavioural patterns as in English, I therefore discuss salient points.

A first bifurcation of event classes is the distinction between activities and transitions.

Co-occurrence with the durative adverbial phrase for X time as in John ran for one hour in English reflects this distinction. In Èdó, the facts are the same:

(86) Òzó rhùlé-rè lá ífúnàrò ìgbè.

Òzó rhùlé-rè lá ífúnàrò ìgbè.

Ozo run.PST-rV for minute ten

PN V PREP CN NUM

'Ozo ran for ten minutes.'

But transitions are not compatible with this adverbial:

(87) a. *Òzó lé ìyán òkpà lá ífúnàrò ìgbè.

*Òzó lé ìyán òkpà lá ífúnàrò ìgbè.

Ozo cook.PST.H yam one for minute ten

PN V CN NUM PREP CN NUM

'Ozo cooked one yam for ten minutes.' b. *Òzó sé Èdó lá ífúnàrò ìgbè.

*Òzó sé Èdó lá ífúnàrò ìgbè.

Ozo reach.PST.H Benin for minute ten

PN V PN PREP CN NUM

'Ozo reached Benin for ten minutes.'

Conversely, the degree of acceptability when activities occur with frame adverbials is minimal while transitions are felicitous:

(88) a. ?Úwé èháwà èvá òré Òzó yá rhùlé.

?Úwé èháwà èvá òré Òzó yá rhùlé. Inside hour two FOC Ozo use.PST.H run

CN CN NUM PN V V

'Ozo ran in two hour.'

b. Úwé èháwà èvá òré Òzó yá lé òghèdè òkpá.

Úwé èháwà èvá òré Òzó yá lé òghèdè òkpá.

Inside hour two FOC Ozo use.PST.H cook plantain one

CN CN NUM PN V V CN NUM

'Ozo cooked one plantain in two hours.' c. Úwé èháwà èvá òré Òzó yá sé Èdó.

Úwé èháwà èvá òré Òzó yá sé Èdó.

Inside hour two FOC Ozo use.PST.H reach Benin

CN CN NUM PN V V PN

'Ozo reached Benin in one hour.'

(88a) is an activity, (88b) an accomplishment and (88c) an achievement.

Also as with English, the occurrence of an activity verb with an NP object results in a shift in type to an accomplishment. Khué in (89a) is an activity but in (89b), it

behaves like an accomplishment when it occurs with the NP ìbiékà nìí 'the children'. It becomes infelicitous with the adverbial phrase làá ífúnàrò ìgbé:

(89) a. Òzó khué-rè lá ífúnàrò ìgbé.

Òzó khué-rè lá ífúnàrò ìgbé.

Ozo bath.PST-rV for minute ten

PN V PREP CN NUM

'Ozo bathed for ten minutes.'

b. ?Òzó khué ìbiékà nìí lá ífúnàrò ìgbé.

?Òzó khué ìbiékà nìí lá ífúnàrò ìgbé.

Ozo bath.PST child.PL those for minute ten

PN V CN DET PREP CN NUM

'Ozo bathed those children for ten minutes.'

In turn the occurrence of an accomplishment with a bare NP with a plural interpretation results in a type shift to a process.

(90) a. Òzó lé òghèdè lá èdé èvá.

Òzó lé òghèdè lá èdé èvá.

Ozo cook.PST.H plantain for day two

PN V CN PREP CN NUM

'Ozo cooked plantains for two days.' b. *Òzó lé òghèdè òkpá lá èdé èvá.

*Òzó lé òghèdè òkpá lá èdé èvá.

Ozo cook.PST.H plantain one for day two

PN V CN NUM PREP CN NUM

'Ozo cooked one plantain for two days.'

A second bifurcation is that between transitions and non transitions and the duration/

non duration dichothomy. Achievements are instantaneous and express only

opposition of terms expressed by the BECOME operator as discussed in 3.2, and they permit modification by point adverbials:

(91) a. Òzó sé Èdó vbé ágógó ìgbé.

Òzó sé Èdó vbé ágógó ìgbé.

Ozo arrive.PST.H Benin at clock ten

PN V PN PREP CN NUM

'Ozo arrived Benin at ten o’clock.'

b. Òzó wú vbé ágógó ìgbé.

Òzó wú vbé ágógó ìgbé.

Ozo die.PST.H at time ten

PN V PREP CN NUM

'Ozo died at ten o’clock.'

This is not possible for activities and accomplishments. (92a) is an activity and (92b) an accomplishment. Both are durative in nature:

(92) a. *Òzó rhùlé-rè vbé ágógó ìgbé.

*Òzó rhùlé-rè vbé ágógó ìgbé.

Ozo run.PST-rV at clock ten

PN V PREP CN NUM

'Ozo ran at ten o’clock.'

b. *Òzó lé nèné òghèdè vbé ágógó ìgbé.

*Òzó lé nèné òghèdè vbé ágógó ìgbé.

Ozo cook.PST.H the plantain at clock ten PN V DET CN PREP CN NUM 'Ozo cooked the plantain at ten o’clock.'

At this point, I present the classification of aspectual classes in Èdó as depicted in verbs and constructions in figure 3 below:

Figure 3

In chapter 4, I examine the co-occurrence restrictions governing these eventualities in multi-verb constructions. I now present in 3.4 below the basic architecture of how I incorporate Pustejovsky’s Event-Structure templates in the Matrix grammar as sub-types of the event-relation.

In document Multi-Verb Constructions in È̱DÓ (sider 173-184)