30 The Linguist Vol/62 No/4
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OPINION & COMMENT
A translator shares her passion for these dynamic words
I have often wondered which part of speech
would be most important if you moved
somewhere where you didn't understand the
language. What would be crucial to know so
you could get by? The first thing that always
comes to mind is a verb. Verbs are the core of
a sentence. In fact, a single verb can comprise
an entire sentence. Examples using the
imperative form include 'Eat!', 'Go!' and 'Wait!'
Over the centuries, verbs have been the
subject of many philosophical works, research
projects, discussions and publications. They
have been grammatically 'sliced and diced',
categorised and, to some extent, over-
analysed. For philosophers like Aristotle, they
were associated with logic and logical
thinking. So why are verbs so powerful and
what is so special about them?
Verbs are more dynamic and adaptable
than other parts of speech. This could be
because they generally express actions ('to
go', 'to fly') or states ('to sleep', 'to sit'). They
can represent conditions ('to rain'), emotions
('to worry'), states of mind ('to think about'),
processes ('to decide'), occurrences ('to be'),
tasks ('to clean') and relations between people
('to love someone'). They demonstrate
positivity ('to smile') or negativity ('to destroy').
Verbs play a crucial role in a child's speech
and general development. Acquiring a new
verb lexicon allows children to communicate
faster and more effectively. They can articulate
their needs, show excitement and frustration,
and engage with others by formulating
sentences. Current research suggests that a
poor or non-existing verb lexicon at the age
of 24 months puts a child at significant risk of
developing language difficulties.
1
Some encyclopaedias
2
and linguistic
studies indicate how many verbs a specific
language contains, but such figures can
never be up to date. We constantly add new
verbs to our lexicons, while some verbs
change their meaning over time or retire
from use. Others migrate from one language
to another and tend to absorb the grammar
rules of the new language. In the sentence
Ich habe mit ihm gechattet ('I have chatted to
him') the English verb 'to chat' takes the form
of the German past participle.
Paying attention
The ancient Greeks and Romans paid special
attention to verbs. Their philosophers loved
debates around verbs. It was Aristotle who
noticed the relation between verbs and time
(later known as tempus; 'tense').
3
He
recognised that verbs allow the expression of
actions and status in a specific timeframe –
the past, present and future – something that
other parts of speech are not able to register.
More than two millennia later, the French
for the
love of
verbs
JOANNA BIERNAT
©
SHUTTERSTOCK
