TAM Space와 체코어 명령법의 상적 변별성

TAM space and aspectual distinction of imperatives in the Czech language

Verbal aspect is one of the most important grammatical categories in the Czech verb system, in which each verb is either perfective or imperfective. Most Czech verbs exist in aspectual pairs. The concept of verbal aspect is closely related with tense and modality. These three elements are already covered by several linguists in their work involving TAM(tense-aspect-modality) space that emphasize their diachronic, synchronic, ontogenetic interrelationships. However, in Czech tenses, the direct imperative as a grammatical category is completely excluded. Imperatives explicitly express the will of the speaker to accomplish an action by the hearer or the addressee of the speech and implicate if the action according to the command will be realized in the future. Thus, imperatives are semantically related to future and possibility. In indirect imperatives as used in the Czech language, TAM space is fully applied while past tense and compound future with an imperfective verb are excluded. Aside from this, the second person sg. and pl. indicate semantically emotive expression of the speaker towards the addressee. Imperatives clearly recognize the distinction between epistemic and deontic modalities. One indicates the degree of commitment by the speaker to what he says and is primarily concerned with matters of knowledge, belief or truth. The other is concerned with action by others and by the speaker himself. Imperatives are included within the deontic system. Imperatives in Czech are closely related to verbal aspect, which in tum plays a decisive role in positive and negative imperatives. In positive imperatives, aspectual distinction is sometimes weakened or neutralized when dealing with a very limited set of verbs. But in most cases, the perfective form is used for accomplishing whole action to its terminative point, while the imperfective form emphasizes the process or the method of how an action is completed. When an imperfective verb is used in positive imperative having emotive nuance like necessity or urgency toward the addressee of the speech to complete an action, it becomes a marked member in this morphological opposition. The negative imperative with an imperfective verb is generally used with a prohibitive function toward the action in process or meaning completion. This feature takes off from the fact that imperfective verbs are concerned with the internal structure of the situation, since this nature of imperfectivity enables the speaker to enter the situation as it happens. A perfective verb in negative imperative is marked and represents an explicit warning against the realization or result of the action. While negative imperatives using imperfective verbs include the intentional character of the agent for realizing an action, negative imperatives using perfective verbs do not. This feature takes off from the notion that perfective verbs indicate that the speaker can neither enter nor intervene in any phase of the situation and that he is outside the situation without distinction of the various separates phases that make up the situation. This corresponds to the warning against the realization and result of possible action. Prohibition and warning each represents differential deontic modality. As such, verbal aspect plays its own essential role in determining modality.