9.4.1 Tense and aspect

Use this section for verbal auxiliaries, affixes, adverbs, and particles that indicate tense and aspect.

9.4.1.1 Tense

Use this domain for verbal auxiliaries, affixes, adverbs, and particles that indicate tense (also known as temporal deixis)--the time of a situation (event, activity, or state) in relation to a reference point, which is usually the time of utterance. The following definitions are taken from Bybee, Joan, Revere Perkins, and William Pagliuca. 1994. The evolution of grammar. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.

  • present: the situation occurs simultaneously with the moment of speech.
  • past: the situation occurred before the moment of speech.
  • future: the situation takes place after the moment of speech; the speaker predicts that the situation in the proposition will hold.
  • crastinal: tomorrow.
  • hesternal: yesterday.
  • hodiernal: today, normally with past.
  • pre-hodiernal: before today.
  • post-crastinal: after tomorrow.
  • ancient past: used for narrating events in ancient or mythical time.
  • remote: combines with other tense labels to indicate a situation occurring temporally distant from the moment of speech.
  • immediate: a meaning label that may be combined with other tense labels to indicate a situation not simultaneous with the moment of speech, but very close to it.
  • immediate future: what is about to occur.
  • immediate past: occurring immediately before the moment of speech. Also called the Recent Past. Do not use this label if there is any sense of current relevance--use anterior for that.
  • Immediate may also be combined with anterior or imperative.
  • expected future: the situation is to occur in the near future; what is scheduled to happen.
  • narrative time: the use of a form with no other past uses for reporting a past narrative.
  • gnomic present: the situation described in the proposition is generic; the predicate has held, holds, and will hold for the class of entities named by the subject, such as 'Elephants have trunks'.
  • What general words refer to the tense of an event?
    tense, time
  • What words are used to indicate the present tense?
    (no words or affixes in English)
  • What words are used to indicate the past tense?
    -ed, (in English vowel replacement is also used to indicate past tense, e.g. run, ran)
  • What words are used to indicate the future tense?
    will, going to

    • 9.4.1.2 Aspect--dynamic verbs

    Use this section for verbal auxiliaries, affixes, adverbs, and particles that indicate aspects of dynamic verbs. Aspects describe the temporal contours of a situation. They may be combined with any of the tenses, either in the same morpheme or in combinations of morphemes. The following definitions are taken from Bybee, Joan, Revere Perkins, and William Pagliuca. 1994. The evolution of grammar. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.

  • habitual: the situation is customary or usual, repeated on different occasion over a period of time. English 'used to' is past habitual; English 'Nancy sings' is present habitual.
  • continuous: a single situation is viewed as in progress, as maintained over a period of time; also called "durative." The English "Progressive" is a continuous restricted to dynamic words. English 'I am reading; *I am knowing the number'.
  • continuative: keep on doing what is being done. Restricted to dynamic words.
  • progressive: the action takes place simultaneously with the moment of reference, 'to be in the process of...'. This is more restricted than the English Progressive, which may be used for events that are not actually in progress at reference time: 'I am writing a book' may be used even if the speaker is not at that moment writing.
  • excessive duration: action is extended over a long period of time, longer than normal for that action.
  • limited duration: action performed for a relatively short or bounded period of time.
  • iterative: the action is repeated on one occasion; usually restricted to dynamic words, often further restricted to semelfactive words.
  • frequentative: action occurs frequently, not necessarily habitually, nor necessarily on one occasion, as is the iterative.
  • imperfective: the situation is viewed as unbounded in the sense that it is habitual, continuous, progressive, or iterative.
  • perfective: the situation is viewed as bounded temporally. It cannot be simultaneous with the moment of speech; in the non-past it is sometimes interpreted as future.
  • completive: to do something thoroughly and to completion, e.g. 'to shoot someone dead, to eat up'.
  • inceptive: the action or event begins. We are distinguishing this from the beginning of a state.
  • delimited: action is performed only a little.
  • The preceding terms or "Aspects" are not usually relevant to stative words.
  • What general words refer to an aspect of an event?
    aspect
  • What words are used to indicate that something has begun?
    begin, start, commence, beginning, the start, commencement, initiate, to institute, inception
  • What do people say when they want someone else to start?
    go, dig in, have at it, let's go, let's do it, move it, let's get going, "on your marks, get set, go", "ready, set, go"
  • What is a person called who starts something?
    initiator, founder, originator, starter
  • What words are used to indicate that someone is attempting to do something?
    try, attempt
  • What words are used to indicate that something is being done quickly?
    quick, quickly, rapidly
  • What words are used to indicate that something happened suddenly?
    sudden, suddenly, suddenness, immediate
  • What words are used to indicate something is continuing?
    continue, continuous, keep on
  • What words are used to indicate that something has been completed?
    complete, finish, succeed

    • 9.4.1.3 Aspect--stative verbs

    Use this section for verbal auxiliaries, affixes, adverbs, and particles that indicate aspects of stative verbs. Aspects describe the temporal contours of a situation. They may be combined with any of the tenses, either in the same morpheme or in combinations of morphemes. The following definitions are taken from Bybee, Joan, Revere Perkins, and William Pagliuca. 1994. The evolution of grammar. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.

  • state exists: the state is begun before reference time and continues after reference time.
    is,
  • state commences: beginning of a state of "becoming." Often called Inceptive or Inchoative. If there is a morpheme specifically for this meaning, it is usually derivational and restricted to stative words. However, it is also possible for "Perfects" or "Perfectives" to have this as their use with stative words.
    becoming,
  • state ends: state existed in the past, but no longer exists. Also a possible meaning of "Perfects" or "Perfectives" in combination with stative words.
    no longer,
  • state continues: state is continuing a reference time.
    still,
  • state changes: (self-explanatory).
    turn,

    • 9.4.1.4 Relational tenses

    Use this section for verbal auxiliaries, affixes, adverbs, and particles that indicate relational tenses. Relational tenses describe situations where the reference time is not the same as the moment of speech. They may be combined with any of the tenses, either in the same morpheme or in combinations of morphemes. The following definitions are taken from Bybee, Joan, Revere Perkins, and William Pagliuca. 1994. The evolution of grammar. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.

  • resulting state (resultative): action in the past produces a state that persists into the present.
    be... -en,
  • anterior continuing: past action continues into the present: 'I have waited over an hour' ( = and I'm still waiting).
    have been... -ing,
  • anterior: the situation occurs prior to reference time, and is relevant to the situation at reference time. This is different from a simple past or perfective, where the situation is reported for its own sake and independent of its relevance to any other situation.
    have... -en,
  • A form that signals a situation that is prior to and relevant to a past reference time will be coded with two meaning labels, past and anterior.
    had... -en,