Dictionary

telic en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈtiːlɪk/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From the Ancient Greek τελῐκός (telĭkós, “final”), from τέλος (télos, “end”).

Meanings

1. Tending or directed towards a goal or specific end.
   • I have certainly become more telic as I strive to achieve my goals set, but I am not really enjoying any of it. 2002, John Kerr, Counselling Athletes: Applying Reversal Theory, page 62:
   • They were asked to rate the 36 activities for how purposeful they were.[…]Comparing the 10 most telic and the 10 most paratelic we found that the paratelic leisure activities were thought to involve less skill or challenge; they were also judged to satisfy social needs more, and to be more enjoyable. 2001, Michael Argyle, The Psychology of Happiness, 2nd edition, page 129:
   • Several theorists of the previous chapters are supportive of this more telic view of human nature. 1993, Brent D. Slife, Time and Psychological Explanation, page 226:
2. That expresses an end or purpose.
   • Similarly, verb forms that can govern either transitive or middle-case marking (cf. 2.1.3.1.2(c)) are more telic in their transitive manifestations. 2000, Niko Besnier, Tuvaluan: A Polynesian Language of the Central Pacific, published 2002, page 495:
   • 1995, Michela Cennamo, Patterns of 'Active' Syntax in Late Latin Pleonastic Reflexives, John Charles Smith, Delia Bentley (editors), Historical Linguistics 1995: Selected Papers from the 12th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Volume 1: General Issues and Non-Germanic Languages, page 39, In this framework, verbs denoting directed change of location, such as Italian andare 'go', instantiate Core Unaccusativity, in that they have a Theme subject and are the most telic, concrete, dynamic.
   • Moreover, let us remember that some verbs can be telic and agentive at the same time: if one looks at the ASH category n°1 (change of location), i.e. the verbs considered the most telic, like FF arriver (arrive), partir (leave), venir (come), revenir (come back) (Sorace 2000:256), old Spanish huir (run away) and escapar (escape) (Legendre 2007), do they not bear an agentive component? 2015, Pierre-Don Giancarli, “Auxiliary selection with intransitive and reflexive verbs: the limits of gradience and scalarity, followed by a proposal”, in Rolf Kailuweit, Malte Rosemeyer, editors, Auxiliary Selection Revisited: Gradience and Gradualness, page 82:
3. That expresses the perfective aspect.

Forms

Antonyms

paratelic · atelic

Deriveds

paratelic · nontelic · telic aspect · telically

Relateds

-tely · telicity · teleo- · teleology

Translations (1)

pl teliczny (that expresses an end or purpose)