Tense (II)

A framework for
analysis
TENSE

temporal interpretation is the result of the

meaning conveyed by the tense morpheme
and by the time adverbial (if any)

a. Anchored time adv.

b. Unanchored time adv.
Tense

Temporal interpretation : tense morphemes

and time adverbials (if any)

Temporal interpretation : relative to ST 

ET before ST = past
ET at ST = present
ET after ST = future
Tense

BUT:

Does temporal interpretation rely only on the

relationship between ST and ET?
Tense

(1) Next Friday I will be working here.

ST= now
ET after ST (next Friday) = future
(2) Next Friday I will have been working here
for a week.
ST= now
ET after ST (next Friday) = future
 Do (1) and (2) have the same interpretation?
Tense

(3) John has killed the pig.

ST= now
ET before ST = past

(4) John killed the pig.

ST= now
ET before ST = past
Tense

(5) Yesterday I fixed the computer.

ST= now; ET before ST = past

(6) Yesterday I had fixed the computer for two

days.

ST= now; ET before ST = past

Tense

 Temporal interpretation is incomplete if we take

into account only ST/ET

(7) At 2.00, John had left for two hours.

at 2.00 = ?
for two hours = ?
Tense

at 2.00 = the point in time/the time interval

which the speaker has chosen as the time
relative to which the situation is located in
time , i.e. it is the time of reference (RT)

RT= the time about which a specific claim is

made/TOPIC time (Klein 1992)
Tense

 RT=ST [ PRESENT]
 RT before ST [PAST]
 RT after ST [FUTURE]

RT < tense marker (+ time adverbial)

Tense

(8) I like movies now.

ST= now
RT=ST [ /z/ and ‘now’]

(9) At 5.00 I had already handed in the essay.

ST= now
RT before ST [ /d/ and ‘at 5.00’]
Tense

(10) Tomorrow in the morning I will have killed

the pig.
ST= now
RT after ST [will and “tomorrow”)
Last week ....

ET = the time when the situation obtains

ST= anchored in the speech situation
RT= the point in time relative to which the
event is located in time.

 The temporal interpretation of Ss mirrors the

relations between these time intervals
(Reichenbach 1947)
Tense

ST/RT
RT/ET
 ST/ET : mediated by RT.
Each tense is analyzed in terms of :

A. The REFERENCE COMPONENT (ST/RT)

B. The RELATION COMPONENT (RT/ET)
Tense

A tense is interpreted COMPOSITIONALLY

 The EXISTENTIAL STATUS of a sentence

(ET/ST) derives from A and B.
Tense

RT = given by the tense morpheme and the

time adverbial
(11) I am here now.
RT=ST [present]
(12) I was here yesterday.
RT before ST [ past]
(13) I will be here tomorrow.
RT after ST [future]
Tense

ET: different from RT

 the auxiliary HAVE
(14) They have left.
ST= now
RT = ST [ present]
ET before RT [ perfect/ closed situation]
ET before ST [historical ES]
Tense

 PPs
(15) I left before 2.00.
ST= now
RT before ST [past]
ET before RT [before 2.oo, i.e. perfect]
ET before ST [ historical ES]
Tense

(16) It was 1991; they would get married two

years later.

ST= now
RT before ST [ past]
ET after RT [ two years later; prospective]
Tense TASK

(17) John is here now.

ST =
RT ST
ET RT
ET ST
Tense

(17) John is here now.

ST = now
RT= ST [Present ]
ET = RT [“neutral’]
ET = ST [ situation on-going at ST]
Tense

(18) John leaves tomorrow.

ST=
RT ST
ET RT
ET ST
Tense

(18) John leaves tomorrow.

ST= now
RT after ST [future]
ET = RT [“neutral”]
ET after ST [non-historical ES]
Tense

(19) John came home at midnight.

ST=
RT ST
ET RT
ET ST
Tense

(19) John came home at midnight.

ST=now
RT before ST [past]
ET = RT [neutral]
ET before ST [historical ES]
Tense

(20) John has already left.

ST=
RT ST
RT ET
ET ST
Tense

(21) John has already left.

ST=NOW
RT = ST [ present/ “has”]
ET before RT [perfect]
ET before ST [historical ES]
Tense

(22) AT 10.00 John had already left.

ST =
RT ST
ET RT
ET ST
Tense

(23) AT 10.00 John had already left.

ST = now
RT before ST [past]
ET before RT [“perfect”]
ET before ST [historical ES]
Tense

(24) Next week John will visit London.

ST =
RT ST
ET RT
ET ST
Tense

(24) Next week John will visit London.

ST = now
RT after ST [ future]
ET = RT [neutral]
ET after ST [non-historical ES]
Tense

(25) Next week John will have visited London.

ST =
RT ST
ET RT
ET ST
Tense

(26) Next week John will have visited London.

ST = now
RT after ST [future]
ET before RT [perfect]
ET after ST [non-historical situation]
Tense

RT/ST: tense morphemes +…

 Tense relates RT to ST

ET/RT= ?
Tense

(27) John smokes.

John is smoking.

ST=now
RT=ST [present]

 Do they have the same interpretation?

Tense

John is smoking. = the situation is seen as

going on/holding at/around a point in time
RT=ST; ET at/around RT; ET at/around ST
 the event may be complete/progressing
towards completion/etc. = information about
the INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE
EVENT.
Tense

The internal structure of events takes up

intervals of time in different ways:

(i) Presented as a WHOLE

(ii) Focus on their progressiveness
(iii) Focus on their iterativity
Etc.
Tense

(28) John has built a house.

John is building a house.
John is jumping up and down.
John builds a house every year.
Tense

The internal structure of events: ASPECT

Tense

 ET/RT : Aspect

(29) John has left.

ET before RT [perfect]
(30) John is running.
ET at/around RT [progressive]
Tense

Temporal interpretation is COMPOSITIONAL.

= it is the mirror of the relations which obtain

between three time intervals: ST/RT/ET.
So far

A. The reference component = RT/ST< tense

morphemes + T Adv (if any). = TENSE
B. The relational component = ET/RT ,
information about the INTERNAL
STRUCTURE OF THE EVENT = ASPECT
C. The existential status of the sentence = ET/
ST
Aspect

= ST/RT < tense morpheme (+ time adv.)

= ET/RT < aspect markers + the aspectual
class of the predicate
Aspect

Aspect = ?
Aspect markers = ?
Aspectual class = ?
Aspect

Aspect informs about the contour of an event,

referring to the internal structure of situations.

It describes "the quality of an event while it is

observed by the speaker, the way in which the
speaker 'sees' the event" (Dutescu-Coliban,
1983:351).
Aspect

 He was dancing.
 He has fixed the car.
 He was knocking at the door.
 He noticed her at once.

= a way ‘of viewing the internal temporal

constituency of a situation.’ (Comrie 1976).
Aspect

 complete / in progress
 with/ without endpoints
 single/repeated
Aspect

 Aspect = non-deictic
< it does not locate the event in time. Its
interpretation is not related to ST.

tense = the ‘situation external time’

aspect =the ‘situation-internal time’
Aspect

 To speak of aspect is to speak of a time-

ordering separate from tense that deals with
the internal temporal structuring, e.g. the
relative duration, inception, and completion
of verbal activities.
Aspect

 He was dancing.
 He was knocking at the door.

 aspectual information is rendered both

morphologically and lexically.
Aspect

a. Lexical aspect / situation-type aspect

b. Grammatical aspect/ viewpoint aspect
Aspect. Viewpoint …

the speaker chooses to present/to view the

situation:

 as a whole [ +perfective]
 only incompletely, with a focus on one stage
of the situation. [+progressive]

= viewpoint aspect
Aspect

Viewpoint aspect is grammaticized, i.e. it has

grammatical markers:

a. [be + ing] = the imperfective// progressive

viewpoint.
b. [have + en] = the perfective viewpoint
Aspect

It was Frank’s bad leg that woke him; it was

paining him worse than ever in his old age.

Something was slithering towards him along

the dark corridor floor.

America’s anti-hunting movement is tiny by

British standards. But it is gathering
momentum.
Aspect

 the sentences refer to stages of an event

 focus on an internal stage/ on internal stages
which lack both the initial and the final
boundary
 The situation is perceived as
open/incomplete/going on
Aspect

= the predicate denotes only a ‘time-space

slice’ (Carlson 1977) of an ‘open’ situation
whose limits are indefinite.

=the event does not end, it does not culminate,

it is simply going on. It ‘holds’ (Parsons 1993)
at RT.
Aspect

John is building a house.

I was making a cake when I remembered I
should have been somewhere else.

Q: how many possible outcomes?

Aspect

A: for each of the two sentences, there is more

than one possible outcome  the progressive
has a modal value (Dowty 1981)
Aspect

the imperfective viewpoint presents

situations as open, focussing on the internal
stages of an event in progress.

 It has grammatical markers in English

(i) [be – ing]
(ii) -ing
Aspect

John is dancing.

present 3rd sg , i.e. Tense and Agr.

They were dancing.


past 3rd pl.
Aspect

 be= an auxiliary which carries tense and

agreement information

 -ing = the grammatical marker of the

imperfective viewpoint (the progressive)
Aspect

-ing: locates an event at/around RT

John is dancing.

ST=now
RT = ST [present]
ET at/around RT [imperfective viewpoint]
ET at/around ST [open situation]
Aspect

John was dancing.

ST=
RT ST
ET RT
ET ST
Aspect

John was dancing.

ST= now
RT before ST [PAST]
ET at/around RT [imperfective viewpoint]
ET at/around ST [open situation/on-going]
Aspect :the perfective viewpoint

THE PERFECTIVE VIEWPOINT:

the situation is presented as a WHOLE , it is
“over”:

They have already washed the dishes.

John has fixed the computer.
Aspect

there grammatical markers of the perfective

viewpoint in English

[have –en]
Aspect

 Whenever [have –en] is present, ET presented

as a whole and it is interpreted as instantiated
before RT.
 Whether the situation is complete or not at RT
depends on the lexical meaning of the verb.
Aspect

John has fixed the computer.

John has been sick.
John has been sick for three days.
Aspect

So far:

the perfective viewpoint (-en) : ET prior to RT

the imperfective viewpoint (-ing): ET at/around
RT (or ET includes RT)
neutral viewpoint (0 marker): ET=RT.
Situation-type aspect

Situation types classify events/states in terms of

clusters of semantic features

The linguistic unit which realizes situation-types is

"the verb constellation"
Aspect

 situation-type aspect represents an interaction

of:

(i) the lexical meaning of the verb

(ii) the internal and external arguments of the verb
(iii) certain adjuncts
Aspect

John ate an apple. = [+telic]

John ate popcorn. = [-telic]

 the type of DO is relevant for the aspectual

value of the predicate
Aspect

Students have been discovering this library for

ages.
??John has been discovering this library for
ages.

 The type of subject is relevant for the

aspectual value of the predicate
Aspect

John ran in the park. [-telic]

John ran to the park. [+telic]

 Certain adjuncts are relevant for the aspectual

value of the predicate
Aspect

John is intelligent.
John knows Chinese.
John believes linguistics is fun.
= state predicates
 no internal change /no dynamics
 no natural endpoint (no result)
 Duration
Aspect

John danced with Mary.

It was snowing.
They are eating cherries.
= activity predicates
 dynamics
 no natural endpoint
 Duration
Aspect

 He wrote a book.
 They built a house.
 She baked a cake.
= accomplishments
 change of state
 natural endpoint
 duration
Aspect

Dinamo won the game on Saturday.

She noticed a spot on the tablecloth.
= achievements
 Change of state
 Natural endpoint
 No duration
Aspect

Situation-type +/- +/- +/- Examples

stative durative telic
STATES + + - be tall; stand,
sit; know, love
ACTIVITIES - + - run, dance,
rain, snow
ACHIEVEMENTS - - + notice, spot,
win a game
ACCOMPLISHMENTS - + + build a house,
draw a horse
Aspect

John sneezed.
They hiccupped.
She knocked on the door.
The child jumped up and down.

+/- durative?
+/- stative?
+/- telic?
Aspect

[-stative]
[-durative]
[-telic]

= semelfactives
< Latin semel (once, a single time)
< Latin factum (event, occurrence)