| The basic semantics notions actionality and aspectuality have been least understood by semantics teachers. This might emanate from the fact that these notions are by their very nature complex ones, and that there is an interchangeable use of these two notions in semantics literatures, often resulting in a terminological perplexity. The purpose of this article is to present a coherent and in-depth account of these notions by arguing that they are, though closely related, fundamentally distinct in some respects. Actionality denotes the speakers' viewpoint of the real situations or situation types of verbs, while aspectuality denotes the speakers' viewpoint of the internal or temporal structure of verbs. This article also discusses the close interaction between aspectuality and temporality, as well as actionality and aspectuality. A clear and profound understanding of these notions can help enrich our perspective. |