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In sentences such as "birds fly" and "people die," the sentences don't talk about habituality but have the gnomic aspect instead. Can words of frequency like "always" and "sometimes" that are usually associated with the habitual aspect be used with the gnomic aspect? For example, is

Bob always cries at funerals, which don't happen habitually.

valid, in that it doesn't necessarily mean that Bob cries at funerals habitually?

tchrist
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Joe
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  • I finished reading the link. The writer made some mistakes. For example, the difference between "estar doente" and "ser doente" in Portuguese isn't "to be sick" and "to be sickly" as the author suggests, but "to be sick" and "to be mentally ill." Likewise, with "enfermo" in Spanish, switching from "estar" and "ser" isn't usually a shift to the gnomic but changes the meaning entirely. One exception is "estar casado" and "ser casado." Men generally say "estoy casado" for "I am married," which is gnomic despite the verb "estar," but "ser casado" is something people say to make it extra-gnomic. – Benjamin Harman Jan 10 '16 at 06:17
  • Basically, my point is I'm not quite sure that the research nails the gnomic aspect. In regard to your question, I'm still mulling it over. I don't think that adding "sometimes" to adverbially modify the verb of a clause can be construed as giving it a gnomic aspect, but "always" seems like it maybe could. My only caveat, what I'm struggling with, is that any modifier at all time related, even if it is as seemingly permanent as "always," makes it not gnomic by default. Still mulling and reading. Good question, though. – Benjamin Harman Jan 10 '16 at 06:22
  • There is no difference in verb form in English between gnomic and habitual. And I think trying to classify sentences as gnomic or habitual in English the way you're trying to do is a fairly useless exercise. For example: Birds sing: gnomic; Birds sing every morning: habitual; Birds always sing in the rain: is this gnomic or habitual? Does it depend on whether you live in a desert or a rain forest? How about: Birds sing in the morning. – Peter Shor Apr 09 '16 at 11:03
  • So I think every time an English grammar says habitual about a verb, you could just think of this as meaning gnomic or habitual, which are essentially the same aspect in English. I don't think you'll go wrong. There are sentences with a gnomic meaning in English, but this is determined by articles and not verbs: e.g., the nightingale sings at night. – Peter Shor Apr 09 '16 at 11:11

1 Answers1

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I don't think that "always" matters. I can't imagine a situation in which it would change anything. For example:

Bob cries at funerals.

This is in the gnomic aspect without "always." In as much as funerals don't happen habitually for Bob, Bob's crying at them is habitual. If there's a funeral, Bob has a habit of crying at it. Adding "always" doesn't change the aspect.

The same goes for generics:

Twenty-year-olds become twenty-one-year-olds.

You may be thinking that this can't be generic because all 20-year-olds don't turn 21, some die. You may be thinking it's not habitual because 20-year-olds only become 21 once, hardly a habit. But it is generic because it is being applied to a class or group, and it is habitual because it is what 21 year-olds do. "Always" doesn't change that.

Basically, in English, the gnomic aspect is created by the subject, particularly its number, and the verb, particularly its tense. Given a subject with the correct singularity or plurality coordinating with specific verb tenses, things gain the gnomic aspect. Adjectives can't eek sentences into a gnomic aspect.

http://linguistica.sns.it/QLL/QLL95/ALPMB.AspAdvEvents.pdf

Benjamin Harman
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  • I don't see how something can have the habitual aspect if it doesn't actually happen regularly though. How can Bob have a habit of crying at funerals if funerals are irregular events and habits are defined as habitual events? – Joe Jan 10 '16 at 07:29
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    If I say that I have a habit of crying at weddings, it doesn't mean that I habitually go to weddings. It just means that at weddings, I have a habit of crying. I cry at weddings. The same is true for Bob at funerals. His habit isn't going to funerals. The habit kicks in at the funeral, his habit of blubbering like a little girl around dead people. – Benjamin Harman Jan 10 '16 at 08:56
  • It seems misleading to say a sentence like this has the habitual aspect if it doesn't occur frequently. Does this mean that sentences like "this program sometimes gives errors" doesn't entail that people use it? Like, does the sentence "the program that no one uses sometimes gives errors" still make sense? – Joe Jan 10 '16 at 09:23
  • You're taking it to an extreme, but still: if an event never occurs, or only occurs once, then it is vacuously true that something "always" happens at an event. "The program gives errors" has an implied "when it is used." As BenjaminHarman already said, the frequency of the event (funeral, using the program) is not the part you are describing as habitual. For example, if poor Bob went a funeral a week, but only cried a couple times a year, you would not say "Bob cries at funerals". At the extreme of very few or no occurrences, it might be taken as intentional exaggeration. – AlannaRose Jul 08 '16 at 16:54