Further Empirical Evidence on the Role of Verbal Root in the Computation of Telicity

• Published in: 영어학 Vol. 22; pp. 767 - 781
• Main Authors: Jihyun Kim, Wooseung Lee
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 한국영어학회 2022
• Subjects: 영어와문학; types of verbal roots; completion entailment; telicity; accomplishment predicates
• ISSN: 1598-1398; 2586-7474
• DOI: 10.15738/kjell.22..202208.767

Though the type of verbal root plays a role in the computation of telicity, very little work has been done on this issue. Given the scarcity of the research on this issue, the present study aims to highlight the role of verbal root in the computation of telicity by providing statistical evidence that English accomplishment predicates behave not uniformly in several diagnostics for telic/atelic distinction: the compatibility with in/for adverbials and the ambiguity of in adverbials between event duration interpretation and event delay interpretation. We test whether English accomplishment predicates behave differently with respect to these diagnostics depending on their verbal root on 65 Korean learners of English and 48 native speakers of English. The result of the first test shows that in adverbials are chosen more often when the accomplishment predicates focus on result rather than manner. Likewise, for adverbials are chosen more often when the accomplishment predicates focus on manner rather than result. The result of the second test shows that in adverbials are interpreted as more ambiguous between the two readings when the predicates focus on result rather than manner. Event duration interpretation is more likely to arise when the predicates focus on result rather than manner, while event delay interpretation is almost equally available for both verbal roots. Taken together, the findings in the present study validate that the aspectual value of the predicate is conditioned, at least partially, by the verbal root. KCI Citation Count: 0