Download Key words: present tense, auxiliary, main verb, and equivalence.

THE PROBLEM OF EQUIVALENCE IN CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
Miroslava Tsvetkova
Abstract: The paper is a contrastive research of Bulgarian and English temporal
systems and outlines the present tense in particular. Bulgarian and English are rather different
and what is typical of the one, is quite uncommon and rarely met in the other. Besides the
meaning and use of the tenses, the form in both languages is also discussed.
The lack of equivalence between languages is one of the reasons for Bulgarian young
learners’ errors in acquiring the English present tenses. That’s why the influence of mother
tongue cannot be ignored.
Key words: present tense, auxiliary, main verb, and equivalence.
The question that this paper raises and attempts to answer is: How do we know
what to compare?
It is not sufficient to contrast formal categories. What is expressed in one
language by auxiliaries, for example, could be expressed in other languages in quite
different ways.
This is a contrastive research of Bulgarian and English temporal systems, which
outlines the present tense in particular. Talking about tense we have in mind both form
and meaning. Bulgarian and English are rather different and what is typical of the one, is
quite uncommon and rarely met in the other.
In foreign language learning the influence of mother tongue cannot be ignored.
The lack of equivalence between languages is one of the reasons for Bulgarian young
learners’ errors in acquiring the English present tenses. Native language interference and
the lack of grammatical knowledge in the early stages of foreign language learning can
explain the main types of errors.
There are nine tenses in Bulgarian language (Ivanova, Parvev, Stankov 1983),
and 16 in English (Katsarova and Pavlova 1990). Obviously, there is no correspondence
between English and Bulgarian tenses. Sometimes different tenses in English can be
translated with the same tense in Bulgarian and vice versa.
Present tense in Bulgarian is used to express an action or state that is
contemporary to the time of speaking (работя, лежа).
Besides the main meaning and use, there are some other as well:




to express a general truth (Човек се учи, докато е жив.);
to express a habitual repetitive activity (Всяка сутрин ставам рано,
обличам се, закусвам и излизам.);
a constant activity or state (дишам, зная, обичам);
present historical tense is used to express a past activity (През 1878
година България се освобождава от турско робство.).
Even rarely, mainly in colloquial speech, forms of the present tense are used to
refer to future actions that we are sure they will happen (Утре заминавам за
чужбина). These forms are not, however, stylistically neutral and they express greater
confidence that the action will take place.
Another future activity can also be expressed by present tense in Bulgarian.
That’s the activity that takes place in near future (Идвам след малко.).
Expressing an order (Вземаш пари, отиваш в магазина и купуваш захар!) is
yet another meaning or an explanation (Вземате трамвая, слизате на третата
спирка и тръгвате наляво.).
While there is only one present tense in Bulgarian, there are four in English:
present simple (I write), present continuous (I am writing), present perfect (I have
written) and present perfect continuous tense (I have been writing). Three of them are
translated into Bulgarian with present tense (пиша) and only one (present perfect) has
past time reference (писал съм).
tense
example
Present simple
I write
Present progressive
I am writing
Present perfect
I have written
Present perfect progressive
I have been writing
Table 1. English present tenses.
All these examples reveal the inconsistency of tense in both languages that are
compared.
As Tsvetkova, Seizova (2009) state in present simple, tense is expressed only by
the main verb (write). In two other cases, however, with present time reference, the main
verb does not change with the change of tense (I am writing, I have been writing). The
tense is expressed by the auxiliary verb, which is a form of be. Together with the form
of be, there is another morpheme -ing (which cannot be divided into smaller units). This
morpheme is added to the word that immediately follows the auxiliary verb be: am
writing, have been writing.
On the other hand, Quirk et al. (1985) cite two sentences which according to
them illustrate a case where we have one and the same tense, but different aspect: e.g.
“Joan sings well.” as opposed to “Joan is singing well.” The first example expresses
Joan’s ability to sing, whereas the second sentence refers to a “performance on a
particular occasion”.
In Bulgarian present tense expresses simultaneous events and states. In order to
express habitual events, adverbs should be used (обикновено, всеки ден) or a context
but the verb form does not change.
Progressiveness is an aspect of the activity. It generally means “a happening in
progress at a given time” (Quirk et al. 1985, 197). That’s why, to a certain extent, the
imperfective aspect of the verb in Bulgarian is analogous. But while verbs used to
express unfinished actions in Bulgarian are related to activities that take place at a
certain moment, the English progressive expresses only activities that take place at the
moment of speaking or a period of time.
According to Kabakchiev (2000), however, the “progressive” aspect is not equal
to Bulgarian verbs in imperfective aspect. The English “progressive” indicates an
incomplete activity that is going on at a given time and it is not opposed to any
completed or perfective form. English is deprived of verbal forms that denote
perfectivity or completeness. English expresses aspectuality by different syntactic
means, i.e. using the direct object, adverbial modifier or the meanings of the nouns and
the verbs that enter the sentence. Hence, the notions of perfectivity and imperfectivity
are predetermined by such additional elements that are attached to the verb.
The learners’ failure to grasp the significance of auxiliary verb used in
combination with the inflectional suffix of the main verb, in particular, has been
identified as a factor causing learning difficulties. Contrastive methodology consists of
subtracting grammars of base and target languages from each other, thus noting
differences (or similarities). Similarities facilitate learning, and differences cause
difficulties for learning, differences can be graded according to difficulty and the must
be systematically incorporated in teaching materials.
Present tense forms in English (present simple, present progressive) can also be
used to express that something is taking place or not in the future (The train arrives at 3
o’çlock. I am meeting some friends after work).
In English, present progressive tense is used to express the idea that something
is happening now, at the moment of speaking. It can also be used to show that
something is not happening now (You are learning English now. You are not swimming
now. Are you sleeping? Why are you not doing your homework?) or sometimes say that
we are in progress of a longer activity, which is not happening right now (I am studying
to become a doctor).
While in Bulgarian the same action is expressed by a notional verb + suffix only
(играя, пея), a complex construction is used for the same activity in English.
Auxiliaries are verbs that can change the tense and aspect of another verb
though they haven’t got their own meaning. In fact there aren’t purely auxiliary verbs;
all verbs that can function as auxiliaries can be used in other ways as well. Even to be,
the auxiliary that takes an important part in the present progressive construction, in To
be or not to be or That powers that be. Frequently it connects the subject and the
predicative (He is a doctor./ He was ill.) and it is classified as a copula in its function.
As an auxiliary it is an element of the passive (He was seen.) or the progressive (I am
writing.).
In English it is the auxiliary be in the present progressive construction that is
coordinated with the subject, it carries the negation and takes part in the formation of
questions (inversion). While in Bulgarian, it is the suffix that is coordinated with the
subject. The negative particle (не) as well as the interrogative particle (ли) in general
questions and a question word (wh- word) in special questions are responsible for the
type of sentences.
(4) I am cooking./ Аз готвя.
(5) She is making a pizza./ Тя прави пица.
(6) He isn’t playing football./ Той не играе футбол.
(7) Is the boy skiing?/ Момчето кара ли ски?
(8) What is she doing?/ Какво прави тя?
Auxiliaries play an important role in the grammar of some languages, even
those with free word order. They can take initial, second or final position in the sentence
(Steel 1981). In English they are important for the formation of questions as well:
General questions
Are you coming?
Special questions
Who do you like?
Table 2. Position of auxiliaries in questions.
The paradox in learning the syntax of the target language is that while Bulgarian
learners of English do not know what to learn, they will not be able to learn the grammar
of the language. In spite of the existence of an innate mechanism that allows them to
learn the categories of words, these mechanisms are not specifically linguistic
(Stromsvold 1994). The acquisition of auxiliary and notional verbs can be used to
determine whether a particular linguistic mechanism exists that allows them to learn a
language because these two types of verbs are semantically, syntactically and lexically
similar and one can easily mistake them.
Learners’ confusion in the combination of auxiliary and main verbs needs to be
sufficiently dealt with. The subjects’ tendency to use erroneous combinations of
auxiliary and main verbs suggests that they might not be familiar with the rules
governing the combination of these verbs indicating tense and aspect.
Furthermore, auxiliary and notional verbs usually have identical forms (copula
and auxiliary verb be). Similarity reflects clearly in the following sentences:
(9) He is sleepy / He is sleeping.
There is a syntactic and functional link between the auxiliary and the main verb,
especially in cases of subordination and dependence. From Huddleston’s view (1984,
128), auxiliary verbs are subordinated or dependent on the main verb. “The auxiliary
verbs are exactly those verbs which function as dependent in the structure of the verb
phrase and are opposed to the main verbs, which act as the main word.”
The author’s research comes to the conclusion that if children do not distinguish
auxiliary verbs from notional verbs, they will summarize what you learn about one of
the other type of verbs. This will lead to errors that may result from negative influence.
Unfortunately, if the children do not distinguish auxiliary verbs from lexical verbs, they
are bound to admit a certain type of error associated with the endings (* I aming go. * I
musts eat) and combined errors involving several lexical verbs (* I hope go Disneyland),
negative lexical verbs (* I eat not cookies), independent auxiliary verbs (* I must coffee)
and unacceptable combinations of auxiliary verbs (* I may should go). They also make
mistakes related to word order as rearranging the locations of lexical and auxiliary verbs
(* I go must) or do not follow the order of the auxiliary verbs (* He have must gone), or
use inversion with lexical verbs incorrectly (Eats he meat?). If, on the other hand,
children are born predisposed to distinguish auxiliary verbs from lexical verbs, they will
not make such errors.
On the other hand, a child’s ability to distinguish auxiliary from notional verbs
may have an impact on the more general ability to distinguish between functional
categories (e.g. demonstrative pronouns, auxiliary verbs, endings of nouns and verbs,
pronouns, etc.) and lexical categories (e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.).
The review of Bulgarian and English temporal systems illustrates in a
convincing way that the two languages are different in many respects. Although many
linguists note parallels and similarities in the tense system, the categories of aspect, the
temporal variations, the historic present, I tried to focus mainly on the differences
because these are only a small portion of the vast territory of interesting points of
comparison between the two languages.
References:
Huddleston 1984. Huddleston, R. Introduction to the Grammar of English (Cambridge Textbooks
in Linguistics). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.
Quirk et al. 1985. Quirk, Randolph [et al]. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language.
London: Longman, 1985.
Steele 1981. Steele, S. An encyclopedia of AUX: a study in cross-linguistic equivalence.
Cambridge, Ma: MIT Press, 1985.
Stromswold 1994. Stromswold, K. The nature of children’s early grammar: Evidence from
inversion errors. Linguistic Society of America Conference. Boston, Massachusetts, 1994.
Ivanova, Parvev, Stankov 1983. Иванова, К., Хр. Първев, В. Станков. Граматика на
съвременния български книжовен език (ГСБКЕ). т. ІІ. Гл. ред. проф. Ст. Стоянов. София:
БАН, 1983.
Kabakchiev 2000. Kabakchiev, K. Aspect in English: a “common-sense”view of the interplay
between verbal and nominal referents. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht (Netherlands),
Boston, Mass, 2000.
Katsarova, Pavlova 1990. Кацарова, В., А. Павлова. Практическа английска граматика.
Народна просвета, София, 1990.
Tsvetkova, Seizova 2009. Цветкова, M., T. Сеизова. Езикът на всекидневието: сравнителен
анализ на сегашно време в българския и английския език. Сборник: „Всекидневието: места,
памет, езици”. Университетско издателство „Епископ Константин Преславски”, Шумен,
2009: 268-276.