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Re: Aspect vs. case; stative and dynamic verbs

From:Roger Mills <rfmilly@...>
Date:Sunday, November 14, 2004, 19:39
> STATIVE > "[adjective] Denoting a form or construction which expresses a state of > affairs, rather than an event. English does not always distinguish > statives from dynamic passives. The sentence _The window was broken_, for > example, is ambiguous between a stative reading and a dynamic reading, > though the addition of adverbials may force one or another reading: _The > window was broken by John_ (dynamic): _The window was broken all week_ > (stative). Many other languages, however, have explicit stative > constructions: in German, _Das Fenster war gebrochen_ can only have a > stative reading (i.e. 'it had a hole in it already') while _Das Fenster > wurde gebrochen_ is strictly dynamic (i.e. 'the window got broken'). > 'Stative' is a superordinate aspectual category contrasting with *dynamic* >
I don't know whether this will help...but IIRC one of the tests for a stative/dynamic verb (or adj.) IN ENGLISH is whether it can occur in the "...is being VB/ADJ" construction: X is red -- *X is being red John knows Latin/Mary -- *John is knowing Latin/Mary There is unfortunately a fair amount of confusion and cross-over, since so many Engl. adjs/vbs can be both stative and dynamic, e.g. "break". And sometimes there are shifts in meaning-- John is smart (inherently intelligent) vs. John is being smart (he's being a smart-ass, temporarily we hope) John loves Mary (a state of mind) vs. John is loving Mary (idiomatic--he's doing something to her...)