Aspects of aspect in and out of counterfactuals.

• Applicant: Hadil Karawani, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 560321543

Counterfactual (CF) constructions, like "If kangaroos had no tails, they would topple over," are not just playful "what-ifs"; they are pivotal to understanding human cognition across disciplines. In linguistics, they provide rich ground for exploring modality (possibility and actuality), tense (temporality), and aspect (how events unfold over time). CFs have been studied primarily in relation to tense and modality. The study of aspect in CFs has mostly focused on one dimension: viewpoint aspect, particularly the imperfective, leaving other “aspects of aspect” unexplored and overlooking the complex interplay of multiple layers of aspect. My project seeks to break new ground by examining aspect in CFs more comprehensively, considering lexical aspect at the verb level and more complex morphosyntactic structures at the verb phrase (VP) and vP levels. This research aims to fill a significant gap, not only deepening insight into CFs but also offering valuable perspectives on aspect research beyond this context. A key driver of this project is realising that to fully understand either aspect or CFs, findings from one domain must align with the other. This project scrutinises the role of aspect in both the temporal aspectual and purely aspectual strategies used in CFs and beyond, juxtaposing foundational theoretical proposals with crosslinguistic empirical evidence. I will explore how aspect operates across unrelated and understudied languages, by adapting a questionnaire from a prior DFG project on tense to focus on aspect, and starting with the collection of empirical data. I will compile a data repository on four language types: those with both tense and aspect in CFs, only tense, only aspect, and no clear boundaries between the two. The project will analyse around 12 languages, focusing on semantic interpretations and morpho-syntactic patterns, and contribute 5 publications, including a survey article that consolidates empirical findings and discusses the methodology. I bring substantial experience from two previous DFG projects focused on the morpho-syntax and semantics of counterfactuals, equipping me to execute this project successfully. Additionally, my publications will benefit from collaborations with international experts. This project will deepen understanding of modality, aspect, and temporality, significantly enhancing knowledge of aspect in CFs while offering new insights into broader linguistic debates on aspectual oppositions and temporal strategies. It will also provide a valuable crosslinguistic perspective, benefiting the wider research community, including those working on conditionals, imperatives, optatives, and other modality-related phenomena, and contribute to discussions on time, possibility, and actuality in human cognition.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants