The Semantic Construction of the Event

Abstract

The recognition of continuity in discourses opens the possibility of an aspectual analysis of processes and actions in stories. The article presents some methodological problems linked with aspectual description, such as the definition of the notion of event and the possibility of a compositional analysis. The classification of events in four basic types —activities, states, achievements and executions— is used in the description of a brief fragment of the General History of Things of New Spain by fray Bernardino de Sahagún (XVI century).