Aspect and the organization of argument structure and phrase structure: evidence from Malay

Abstract

This thesis investigates the role of aspect in the organization of Argument structure and Phrase structure. We propose that aspectual roles are linked with the theta roles of the arguments in Argument structure. On the basis of constructions with the ter- prefix and the -kan suffix in Malay, we argue that it is possible to delink or add an aspectual role to a given argument. The delinking and adding mechanisms enable us to provide a unified account of ter- and -kan and permit finer operations on arguments. We also associate the aspectual roles with the projections of Phrase structure. We argue for an aspect phrase outside VP based on the prefix ter- and certain aspectual markers. We show that the outer aspect identifies the occurrence of the event, and whether the outer aspect is filled or not is determined by the aspectual tier of the verb's argument structure.