The Interaction of the Category of Aspect and Deixis in Belarusian and English

About the author:

Olga A. Artsiomava, Cand. Sci. (Philol.), Associate Professor, Department of the Belarusian Language and Literature, Minsk State Linguistic University; olgaivanovaolga3@gmail.com

Abstract:

Today, the scientific interest to deixis as a system of pragmatic signs with personal (personal deixis), spatial (spatial deixis), and temporal (temporal deixis) orientation has increased significantly in connection with studies devoted to the communicative aspect of language. Previously, the deixicality of the aspect was denied due to its characterization of an action or condition irrespective of the act of communication. However, the contemporary linguistics demonstrates the urgent need for the analysis of the verbal aspect in a new perspective, since deictic elements are sometimes revealed as hidden categories. The purpose of this study is to answer the question about the deixicality of the aspect in Belarusian and English languages with taking into account the observer, who is the cognitive basis of linguistic concepts. As a result of the analysis of the Belarusian and English factual material selected from the National Russian Corpus, it has been revealed that the verbal aspectual forms in these languages are deictic and dependent on the peculiarities of the perception of the surrounding reality by the speaker. In the case of perfective aspect, the time and space of the event described are included in the personal spatial and temporal continuum of the speaker. In the case of imperfective aspect, the spatial and temporal position of the speaker or observer is included in the temporal and spatial location of the situation. In Belarusian, the aspect predetermines the semantics of the imperative in contrast to the English language, where the imperative does not interact with this verbal category.

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