Stative verbs
In English, there is a class of verbs called stative verbs, which are normally presented as being verbs that refer to a state of condition which is not changing or likely to change. For example, know is taken as being a permanent condition; if I know something now, it is taken that the normal condition is that I am in the state of knowing it, and the knowledge will not come and go. Similarly, "I like broccoli" is a stative verb, as it is taken that such likes and dislikes are more or less permanent conditions.
The most common test for determining if an English verb is a stative verb is whether or not it can take the progressive case (is verb-ing). We do not ordinarily say *I am knowing something or *"I am liking broccoli".
There are other diagnostic tests of statives1; One is statives do not occur in what has been called the pseudo-cleft construction: What happened was that ...; which is used by Jackendoff2 as a diagnostic to distinguish states of affairs and events; his "BE" verbs (states) from his "STAY" and "GO" verbs.
Statives do not appear in imperatives, for instance (*Know the answer), and do not take take the adverbs deliberately or carefully (*I deliberately like broccoli, *I carefully know something). Only non-statives can be something that is forced or persuaded: (*I forced him like broccoli, *I persuaded her know something). These tests for stative verbs appear to be tests for agency, that is, something an person call do voluntarily; one suggestion2, that one difference between stative and non-stative verbs can be though of as willed vs. nonwilled; one does not will to know, or will to like; these are construed in English as being unwilled characteristics. This agency test, while useful, is too narrow to a a complete test, as there are non-willed verbs that are not stative: I lost my keys., where lost appears to be non-stative.
In other languages stative verbs can play a larger role in the grammar than they do in English. In Hawaiian, for example, all of what English considers adjectives and adverbs are stative verbs:
In terms of my verb-type categories above, stative verbs are AT and ABSENT verbs, although there are other uses in the uses of these AT-verbs which are not statives. But it appears that stative verbs are AT-verbs; they do not posit any kind of change in position, or cause of a change in position, but as merely a statement of the (perhaps metaphorical) location (LOC) of the THEME.
1 Levin gives the diagnostics for stative/non-stative verbs mentioned here, in Levin, Beth, The Lexical Semantics of Verbs II: Aspectual Approaches to Lexical Semantic Representation, course notes for Stanford University course LSA.113P, dated July 1-3, 2007; see section3.3.2, pages 5-6 in particular. An on-line copy here: (pdf). Also see section 5.2 for a discussion of stative verbs and agency.
2 Jackendoff, Ray, A System of Semantic Primitives (pdf), in Theoretical Issues in Natural Language Processing, 10-13 June 1975
2 This will/nonwilled distiction is in Progressive, Stative and Dynamic Verbs.
4 Elbert, S. H., & Pukui, M. K. (1979). Hawaiian grammar. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, p.49
The most common test for determining if an English verb is a stative verb is whether or not it can take the progressive case (is verb-ing). We do not ordinarily say *I am knowing something or *"I am liking broccoli".
There are other diagnostic tests of statives1; One is statives do not occur in what has been called the pseudo-cleft construction: What happened was that ...; which is used by Jackendoff2 as a diagnostic to distinguish states of affairs and events; his "BE" verbs (states) from his "STAY" and "GO" verbs.
Statives do not appear in imperatives, for instance (*Know the answer), and do not take take the adverbs deliberately or carefully (*I deliberately like broccoli, *I carefully know something). Only non-statives can be something that is forced or persuaded: (*I forced him like broccoli, *I persuaded her know something). These tests for stative verbs appear to be tests for agency, that is, something an person call do voluntarily; one suggestion2, that one difference between stative and non-stative verbs can be though of as willed vs. nonwilled; one does not will to know, or will to like; these are construed in English as being unwilled characteristics. This agency test, while useful, is too narrow to a a complete test, as there are non-willed verbs that are not stative: I lost my keys., where lost appears to be non-stative.
In other languages stative verbs can play a larger role in the grammar than they do in English. In Hawaiian, for example, all of what English considers adjectives and adverbs are stative verbs:
[T]here is no formally distinguished class of adjective or of adverb in Hawaiian. Words performing as English adjectives and adverbs are stative verbs in Hawaiian.4.
In terms of my verb-type categories above, stative verbs are AT and ABSENT verbs, although there are other uses in the uses of these AT-verbs which are not statives. But it appears that stative verbs are AT-verbs; they do not posit any kind of change in position, or cause of a change in position, but as merely a statement of the (perhaps metaphorical) location (LOC) of the THEME.
1 Levin gives the diagnostics for stative/non-stative verbs mentioned here, in Levin, Beth, The Lexical Semantics of Verbs II: Aspectual Approaches to Lexical Semantic Representation, course notes for Stanford University course LSA.113P, dated July 1-3, 2007; see section3.3.2, pages 5-6 in particular. An on-line copy here: (pdf). Also see section 5.2 for a discussion of stative verbs and agency.
2 Jackendoff, Ray, A System of Semantic Primitives (pdf), in Theoretical Issues in Natural Language Processing, 10-13 June 1975
2 This will/nonwilled distiction is in Progressive, Stative and Dynamic Verbs.
4 Elbert, S. H., & Pukui, M. K. (1979). Hawaiian grammar. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, p.49
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