Perspectives on lexical and grammatical aspect

Abstract

The family of Afro-Caribbean Creoles with an English lexicon, here referred to as the AECs (e.g. Jamaican, Sranan, Nigerian Pidgin), share a common ancestry, lexicon and grammar. However, there are great differences in the way linguists have analysed grammatical aspect (e.g. imperfective vs. perfective) and lexical aspect (e.g. dynamic vs. stative verbs) in these languages. This has led to a bewildering variety of approaches, definitions and analyses. By drawing on my field data on Pichi (the English-lexicon Creole of Bioko island, Equatorial Guinea) I will present a unified analysis of aspect which places the notions and terminology of this functional area within a broader typological perspective. I conclude that there is no need to maintain an idiosyncratic terminology for the description of aspect in the AECs.