Aspect: aspect
| Values: | Dur | Imp | Iter | Perf | Prog | Prosp |
Aspect is a feature that specifies duration of the action in time, whether the action has been completed etc. In Western Armenian some tenses are actually combinations of tense and aspect.
Note, that some aspectual meanings in (secondary) compound tenses may be expressed at participles.
Imp: imperfect aspect
The action took / takes / will take some time span and there is no information whether and when it was / will be completed.
Examples
- նոյն համոզումը ունէր; “…”,
- որոշապէս թուականը չեմ յիշեր; “…”
Perf: perfect aspect
The action has been / will have been completed. Since there is emphasis on one point on the time scale (the point of completion), this aspect does not work well with the present tense.
Examples
- պուլկարական բանակը թողուցի ու փախայ; “…”,
- շատ ուշ ճանչցած էր զայն; “…”,
- այլեւս մնացեր էր հոն; “…”
Prosp: prospective aspect
In general, prospective aspect can be described as relative future: the action is/was/will be expected to take place at a moment that follows the reference point; the reference point itself can be in past, present or future.
In some contexts subjunctive and conditional forms may also indicate prospective aspect and signal an event that expected to take place. Prosp meaning prevails in conditional imperfect forms.
The future participle also indicate progressive aspect.
Examples
- ալ անկարելի է որ հոս մնամ; “…”,
- երբոր խօսքս աւարտեմ, պիտի թողուք որ մեկնիմ; “…”,
- մեր գիտնալիք բանը չէ; “…”,
- որ բան մը ունէր ըսելիք; “…”,
- դեռ բաւական բաներ մը ունէին պատրաստելիք; “…”
Prog: progressive aspect
Action is in progress with respect to current or a reference time. The (AUX_)[] կոր indicate progressive aspect.
Examples
- սարսափելի օրերու մէջ կ՚ապրինք կոր; “…”,
- չեմ կրնար կոր ընկա “…”,
- բայց ան կը սիրէ կոր քեզ; “…”,
Dur: durative aspect
A situation or action that has persisted over a period of time and still continues.
The subject participle indicate durative aspect.
Examples
- խաւարի մէջ ապրող դիւային էակ մը; “…”,
- ասդին անդին քուրջեր հաւաքող մարդիկ; “…”,
- պատուհանէն հոսող առատ լոյսին տակ; “…”,
Iter: iterative
Denotes repeated action, with multiplicative or distributive meanings. Western Armenian has three main iterative markers -ատ, -ըտ, -ուըռտ, -կլտ, -կոտ, -կռտ, -շտկ, -ոտ, -ուըտ, -ռտ, -տ, -տկ or root reduplication.
Note, that in Western Armenian iterative is considered as a lexical feature of verbs, thus they have morphologically related not iterative counterparts, but it is not a regular system and the two verbs are represented by different lemmas. We mark them as biaspectual.
Examples
- թռչիլ “jump”, թռչկոտիլ “jump several times”,
- կտրել “cut”, կտրտել “chop, cut in pieces”,
- կռուիլ “to quarrel”, կռուըտիլ “to quarrel”
Aspect in other languages: [arr] [bej] [bg] [bm] [cs] [el] [eme] [ga] [gn] [gub] [hu] [hy] [hyw] [jaa] [ka] [ky] [la] [mdf] [myu] [myv] [pcm] [qpm] [ru] [say] [sl] [tpn] [tr] [tt] [u] [uk] [urb] [urj] [yrl]