Grammatical Aspect in Bulgarian and English: A Comparative Analysis

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Pages: 125-139
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/BQKL9029

Abstract:

This article is part of a larger study on the acquisition of English aspect by instructed Bulgarian adult learners. Before analysing the acquisition of this complex category, it is necessary to analyse its characteristic features and find similarities and differences, which could facilitate or hamper Bulgarian L2 learners in the process of acquisition. The article compares and analyses the grammatical aspect in the two languages, pointing out the main difference: while in Bulgarian verbs are paired with respect to this grammatical aspectual opposition ‒ for each imperfective base verb form, there is a corresponding perfective one, formed by derivation, in English this opposition is mostly expressed through tenses. Having in mind that Bulgarian language lacks tenses such as Present Progressive or Present Perfect, it is interesting to see how the opposition perfectivity/imperfectivity, expressed in English by means of these tenses, is achieved in Bulgarian.

Keywords:

aspect; grammatical aspect in Bulgarian and English; perfectivity/imperfectivity.

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