关键词: 系统功能语言学; 英语单一体; 汉语单一体; 体现形式; 比较研究

Abstract: “Aspect” refers to the state(s) of an event observed by a speaker from a certain or a series of temporal viewpoints. According to the number of temporal viewpoints a speaker chooses or the event state(s) observed in a clause, aspects fall naturally into two types in both English and Chinese, viz. simple aspect and complex aspect. Simple aspect refers to the state of an event observed from one temporal viewpoint, and is realized by one form, while complex aspect refers to the states of an event observed from a series of temporal viewpoints, and is realized by a series of forms. As one of the essential components in time system, aspect exists in both languages at the level of meaning, while its realization forms are language specific. Based on the above re-definition and re-classification of aspect within the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics, this paper continues to compare the realizations of simple aspects in English with those in Chinese. The research results show that in either English or Chinese, there are grammatical, quasi-grammatical and lexical simple aspects. However, in both languages, aspects of different grammaticalization degree present similarities and divergences on their components and numbers in a clause.

Keywords: Systemic Functional Linguistics; English simple aspect; Chinese simple aspect; realization; comparison