COST MANUAL – 1.2 Tense
Jette Hedegaard Kristoffersen, 09-04-14
COST MANUAL – Section 1.2: Tense
In this sample chapter on Tense the term tense is defined from a semantic point of view, and
useful distinctions in the semantic analyze of tense are presented and explained.. The
Absolute tenses are defined in 1.2.1 and the relative tenses are defined in 1.2.2. In 1.2.3 the
possibility of coding degree of remoteness is presented. All through the chapter, a few
examples from both sign languages and spoken languages are provided.
General Definitions and Analytical Challenges
(i) Tense
Tense is grammaticalised expression of location in time (Comrie 1985:9). Tense
marking serves to locate situations in time; it is the basic grammatical category that,
together with adverbial and aspectual encoding of temporality, enables us to reconstruct
the temporal relation between the speech situation and the situation described in a
sentence and to reconstruct the relative order of situations described in an utterance
(Fabricius-Hansen, 2004).
Traditionally the term Tense is used for temporal meaning as well as form expressing
the temporal meaning. In this section, it is used for meaning, and I will refer to form as
tense marking.
When we analyze the ways tense is coded in languages we look for the relation between
the time of reference and the time of utterance
(ii) Further explanations/distinctions
a. Utterance time (UT) also known as the speech time is the time the sentence is
uttered.
b. Reference time (RT) also known as the time of orientation (Fabricius-Hansen,
2004)
c. Event time (ET) also known as the time of situation is the time at which the
relevant event take place
d. Topic time (TT) is the time about which a claim is made (Klein 1994:3)
The difference between the TT and the ET can be illustrated as follows:
(a)
YESTERDAY I ATTEND DEMONSTRATION PROCESSION
‘I attended a demonstration procession yesterday’
(DTS, adapted from Kristoffersen et al, 2008)
In the sentence (a) the TT is the day before the UT and the ET is a specific interval at
the day before the UT (e.g. 4 pm – 5 pm). The ET is part of the TT. In sentence (b) the
ET is identical to the TT, the UT is after the ET and TT.
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COST MANUAL – 1.2 Tense
Jette Hedegaard Kristoffersen, 09-04-14
__past
(b)
COME O´CLOCK FOUR
‘I arrived four o’clock’
(DTS, adapted from Kristoffersen et al, 2008)
The RT, TT and the ET may be points e.g. Monday 4 pm or they may be intervals e.g.
Monday 4 pm – 5 pm as in the examples from DST. The UT is a point.
UT can be simultaneous to or included in ET:
pres
GIANNO HOUSE BUY
‘Gianno is buying a house’
(LIS, Zucchi 2009: 103)
(Translating the sentence into English forces the translator to decide whether the aspect
is Progressive or not. Judged by the transcription available the sentence may be
translated into ‘Gianno buys a house’. In both cases the UT is included in the ET, in the
latter the UT may be identical to the ET)
In the sentence that follows, the TT and the ET precede the UT. The ET is included in
TT:
past
GIANNO HOUSE BUY
‘Gianno bought a house’
(LIS, Zucchi 2009: 103)
In the next sentence the UT precede the TT and the ET. The ET is included in the TT:
fut
GIANNO HOUSE BUY
‘Gianno will buy a house’
(LIS, Zucchi 2009: 103)
Tense do not establish reference times or event times. Tense indicate the relation
between ET and the RT. The relations can be deictic (the UT is the same as the RT or is
included in RT) labeled ‘absolute’ or ‘deictic tense’, or it can be relational non deictic
(the UT is not identical to or part of the RT) labeled ‘relative’ or ‘anaphoric tense’.
(iii) Analytical challenges (if applicable)
The event time may represent a complete situation (perfective point of view) or a
situation that is a part of a situation of the same type (imperfective point of view)
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Jette Hedegaard Kristoffersen, 09-04-14
depending on the situation type and aspectual properties of the sentence. Here, we are in
an area where tense interacts with aspect and aktionsart. Thus, many languages
distinguish formally between perfective and imperfective aspect within the past tense
(Fabricius-Hansen, 2004), and alleged tense markers may not really code relations
between ET and UT but between TT and ET. The relations between TT and ET are
aspectual relations as progressive, perfective, perfect and prospective (se Klein 1994;
Binnich 1991). References to the section on aspects – aktionsart This section on Tense
will focus on relations between RT, UT and ET.
Guide to Table of Contents: Section Tense
This is useful, but should be in the beginning of the chapter – as a paragraph just below
the header 1 – parallel to what I did in Section Possession. It could be like the example
in the template, but it could also be more prose as the one I have suggested, guiding the
reader on what to expect in the following parts of this chapter. Placed here it gives not
sufficient help to the user in my opinion, since a lot of information is in the parts
preceding this part.
Section 1.2.1: Absolute tense
The term ‘absolute’ is used for tenses that, in their normal use, are anchored directly in
the time of utterance, for example, the present (happens, is happening), (simple) past
(happened, was happening), and future (will happen, will be happening) tenses in
English. There are three basic ordering relations between ET and UT (=RT) to be
distinguished, corresponding to the three deictic notions of present, past, and future: The
described situation may overlap with the time of utterance, it may precede the time of
utterance, or it may be located after the time of utterance. These relations can be
encoded cross linguistically by the present, past, and future tenses, respectively
(Fabricius-Hansen, 2004). Figure 1 gives a schematically overview of the absolute
tenses:
Tense
Definition
Present
Event time overlaps utterance time
Past
Event time precedes utterance time
Future
Event time follows utterance time
Figure 1: Absolute tense
Section 1.2.2: Relative tense
3
Formalism
ET ≥UT or ET ≤UT
ET < UT
ET > UT
COST MANUAL – 1.2 Tense
Jette Hedegaard Kristoffersen, 09-04-14
Relative tenses differ from absolute tenses by locating the event time not directly with
respect to the utterance time but as preceding or following a secondary time of
reference, that may precede, follow, or overlap with the utterance time. (FabriciusHansen, 2004). Figure 2 gives a schematically overview of the relative tenses:
Definition
Formalism
Example 1
Event time precedes reference ET <RT< UT
(a)
time and reference time
precedes utterance time
Future
Event time precedes reference ET <RT> UT
(b)
perfect/anterior
time and reference time
follows utterance time
Past posterior
Event time follows reference
ET >RT< UT
(c)
time and reference time
precedes utterance time
Future posterior
Event time follows reference
ET >RT>UT
(d)
time, and reference time
follows utterance time
Figure 2: Relative tense
INDEX1 BUY CANDY BUT PRIOR GOING-TO CINEMA EAT-PILL ALREADY EMPTY
(a)
‘I bought candy, but I had eaten all of it before I arrived to the cinema’
(DTS, adapted from Kristoffersen et al, 2008)
Tense
Past
perfect/anterior
(b)
(c)
(d)
INDEX2 MUST REGISTER WITH-IN FIRST MAY MUST
‘You have to register before May 1th’
(DTS, adapted from Kristoffersen et al, 2008)
INDEX3 CRAFTSMAN SAY RELY-ON HOUSE DONE PRIOR OCTOBER
‘The craftsmen had said that they expected the house to be ready a bit before
October’
(DTS, adapted from Kristoffersen et al, 2008)
INDEX1+PLURAL WALK TOUR AFTERWARDS EVENING EAT
‘After dinner we will go for a walk’
(DTS, adapted from Kristoffersen et al, 2008)
1.2.3 Degree of remoteness
A small number of the world's languages have the capacity to express grammatically
not only simple tense relations of past and future, but also finer distinctions indicating
the distance or “degree of remoteness” from the RT. These tense systems give the
possibility to grammatically encode the distance in time between ET and RT/UT. This
1
Note that the examples is not necessarily examples of tense marking in DTS, only
examples of the temporal meanings
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COST MANUAL – 1.2 Tense
Jette Hedegaard Kristoffersen, 09-04-14
capacity to express grammatically various degrees of remoteness constitutes an
important dimension of the tense-aspect-mood systems in these languages (Botne, R.
2012). Some tense systems encoding degree of remoteness in a very detailed manner.
Figure 3 shows an example of the system from Korafe, a Papuan Language of Papau
New Guinea.
Morfem
Tense
-teni
Hodiernal past (from sunrise the day of
speaking up to time of speaking)
-ani
Diurnal past ( after noon preceding day up
to time of speaking)
-mutani
Diurnal past 2 (24 hours before Diurnal
past)
-seni
Remote (from two days before the day of
speaking till very distance past
Figure 3: Past tense paradigm in Korafe
(adapted from Farr, C.J.M 1999)
Elicitation Materials
Reference to the section on tense marking.
References
Main sources on Tense in sign languages:
Aarons, D., B. Bahan, J. Kegl and C. Neidle. (1995). Lexical tense markers in American Sign
Language. In K. Emmorey and J. Reilly (eds.), Language, gesture and space. Hillsdale,
NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 225-253.
Grose. R. D. 2008. The geometry of events: Evidence from English and American Sign
Language. PhD dissertation, University of Purdue, West Lafayette, Indiana
Zucchi, S. 2012. Formal Semantics of Sign Languages In: E. Battistella and N. Schilling (eds.),
Language and Linguistics Compass Vol 6, Issue 11. John Wiley & Sons. 719–734
Zucchi, S. 2009 Along the time line: Tense and time adverbs in Italian Sign Language In: I.
Heim & A. Kratzer. (eds.), Natural Language Semantics Vol 17, Issue 2.Springer. 99139
Rathmann, C. G 2005. Event structure in American Sign Language. PhD dissertation,
University of Texas, Austin.
General sources on Tense
Binnick, R.I.1991. Time and the Verb. A guide to tense and aspect. Oxford: Oxford University
Press
Botne, R. 2012. The degree of remoteness. In Binnick R. I. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Tense
and Aspect. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 536-562
Comrie, B. 1985. Tense. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Fabricius-Hansen, C. 2006. Tense. In Brown, E. K & Anderson A (eds.) Encyclopedia of
Language & Linguistics (Second Edition) Boston: Elsevier. 566-573
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COST MANUAL – 1.2 Tense
Jette Hedegaard Kristoffersen, 09-04-14
Farr, Cynthia. 1999. The Interface Between Syntax and Discourse in Korafe, a Papuan
Language of Papua New Guinea. Pacific Linguistics, Series C, 148. Canberra: Australian
National University.,
Klein, W. 1994. Time in Language. London: Routledge.
Reichenback, H. 1947. Elements of symbolic logic. Berkeley, CA: Univ. of California Press.
Other related sources for sign languages:
Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics
(Second Edition)
Kristoffersen, J, T Troelsgaard, and B Hårdell. B 2008: Ordbog over Dansk Tegnsprog 2.
ed.,København: KC. www.tegnsprog.dk
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COST MANUAL – 1.2 Tense
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Complete list of references
Aarons, D., B. Bahan, J. Kegl and C. Neidle. (1995). Lexical tense markers in American Sign
Language. In K. Emmorey and J. Reilly (eds.), Language, gesture and space. Hillsdale,
NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 225-253.
Grose. R. D. 2008. The geometry of events: Evidence from English and American Sign
Language. PhD dissertation, University of Purdue, West Lafayette, Indiana
Binnick, R.I.1991. Time and the Verb. A guide to tense and aspect. Oxford: Oxford University
Press
Botne, R. 2012. The degree of remoteness. In Binnick R. I. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Tense
and Aspect. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 536-562
Comrie, B. 1985. Tense. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Fabricius-Hansen, C. 2006. Tense. In Brown, E. K & Anderson A (eds.) Encyclopedia of
Language & Linguistics (Second Edition) Boston: Elsevier. 566-573
Farr, Cynthia. 1999. The Interface Between Syntax and Discourse in Korafe, a Papuan
Language of Papua New Guinea. Pacific Linguistics, Series C, 148. Canberra: Australian
National University.,
Klein, W. 1994. Time in Language. London: Routledge
Kristoffersen, J, T Troelsgaard, and B Hårdell. B 2008: Ordbog over Dansk Tegnsprog 2.
ed.,København: KC. www.tegnsprog.dk
Rathmann, C. G 2005. Event structure in American Sign Language. PhD dissertation,
University of Texas, Austin.
Reichenback, H. 1947. Elements of symbolic logic. Berkeley, CA: Univ. of California Press.
Zucchi, S. 2012. Formal Semantics of Sign Languages In: E. Battistella and N. Schilling (eds.),
Language and Linguistics Compass Vol 6, Issue 11. John Wiley & Sons. 719–734
Zucchi, S. 2009 Along the time line: Tense and time adverbs in Italian Sign Language In: I.
Heim & A. Kratzer. (eds.), Natural Language Semantics Vol 17, Issue 2.Springer. 99139
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COST MANUAL – 1.2 Tense
Jette Hedegaard Kristoffersen, 09-04-14
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