Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Rolf" <rolf.furuli AT sf-nett.no>]

Dear Ruth,

Because you are a member of SIL, I address these comments to you. I looked at 
the SIL definition of aspect, and I am very surprised, to say the least. The 
definitions are misleading  because 1) they imply that aspect is one thing in 
all languages, which definitely is not the case, and 2) aktionsart and aspect 
are sometimes mixed (as Comriee does), but they must be strictly 
differentiated, as George has said.

I add a few other definitions of aspect, from a table with the heading 
"Confusion of aspect terminology" in "The Development of English Aspectual 
Systems," L:J: Brinton, 1988, p. 4:

"perfective punctual, aorist, resultative, momentaneous, imperfective, 
progressive, imperfect,  linear, continuative, durative, cursive, inchoative, 
ingressive, inceptive, continuative, progressiv, egressive, resukltative, 
terminative, iterative, effective, finitive, frequentative."


If anynone starts the study of Hebrew verbs on the basis of the SIL 
definitions or the other definitions or terms, he or she will be completely 
lost.



Best regards,


Rolf Furuli
Stavern
Norway