The problem of the notion of aspect: The case of the French verb phrase

Abstract

This paper is divided into two parts. In the first part Dr. Chilipaine examines the  problems raised by the study of the notion of aspect, which was initially very closely linked to the study of the morphology of Russian and other Slavonic languages. He concludes this part by pointing out that there are many divergent views in the study of aspect.

The second part of the paper discusses the use of and syntactic criteria for interpreting some French modal auxiliaries and expressions which were divided into  three groups: clear cases (aller + infinitif, venir de + infinitif, etre en train de + infinitif), marginal cases (devoir + infinitif, voulor + infinitif, pouvoir + infinitif), and doubtful cases
(entre sur le point de + infinitif, se mettre a + infinitif, avoir a + infini tif).