Tense

Time vs. Tense Time Adverbials Present Tense

Time vs. Tense

Time is subjective in the sense that it does not have absolute reality outside the form of our perception of the world; it is not inherent to objects. Time is an epistemic notion as it mirrors our experience of the world. Time has a linear representation, which preserves the sequential character of our perception of the world. Time is infinite and segmentable: we perceive it as unidirectional (going forward).

Time vs. Tense

Time is segmented along two different dimensions: (i) A personal subjective estimate of duration (ii) A public estimate based on the periodicity of natural phenomena. Time measurement is subjected to public agreement and it is based on the periodicity of some observable natural phenomena.

Time vs. Tense

Tense is definted as representing the chronological order of events in time, as perceived by the speaker, at the moment of speaking, i.e. speech time (ST).

Tense is a deictic category, i.e. the moment NOW is central in the sense that the past and the future represent directions whose orientation depends on the speech time.

Time vs. Tense

ST / NOW is a central point on the temporal axis of orientation according to which we interpret the ordering of events / states.

Events can be (i) Simultaneous with ST (present) (ii) Anterior to ST (past) (iii) Ulterior to ST (future).

Time vs. Tense

Tense is a functional category that expresses a temporal relation to the orientation point ST in the sense that it locates in time the situation talked about.

Tense
A common mistake in approaching the category of tense is the belief that tense inflections alone mirror time in grammar. In fact, time inflections are not enough to render the temporal specification of a message. A proper interpretation of temporal forms presupposes an analysis of the relation between (i) tense specficiation on the verb (i.e. the tense inflections s, -ed) AND (ii) temporal adverbials

Tense
The Inflection identifies the event denoted by the verb phrase in the sense that it places that particular event in time. A verb phrase consists of both its lexical head (centre), the verb, and whatever complements the verb selects. We know that information about the selection of complements by a verb represents part of the lexical entry of that verb.

Tense
If we assume that the descriptive content of any verb is the idea of event, we cannot conceive of this event without taking into account the complements of the respective verb as well as those explicit lexical means of placing the event in time, i.e. the time adverbials (complementele circumstaniale de timp). This means that, when considering temporal interpretation, we have to talk about temporal interpertation at the level of the sentence or, at least, at the predicate level.

Time adverbials
Time adverbials can be (i) adverbs, (ii) adverb phrases and (iii) adverbial clauses. They specify reference time (RT, present, past, future) together with the Tense inflections. Tense inflections, in their turn, are strongly related to time adverbials. These adverbials add meaning to a sentence and they might even disambiguate it.

Time adverbials
Sentences without disambiguated due to time adverbials may be

(i) the context, which itself acts as a time adverbial giving a certain temporal interpretation (ii) the fact that people tend to maximize available information we apply the relation of simultaneity (present) wherever possible.

Time adverbials
(1) Albert is playing tennis. Default reading = now, at present Alternative reading = tomorrow (as part of an arrangement, plan) (2) Albert was playing tennis. Default reading = then, in the past Alternative reading = future in the past

Time adverbials
The relation between time adverbials and speech time NOW (ST) can be explicit or non-explicit. We classify time adverbials into: (i) Anchored time adverbials, which are in an explicit relation to ST in the sense that their interpretation is determined relative to ST: now, yesterday, tomorrow (ii) Unanchored time adverbials, which do not have an explicit relation to ST and which are oriented to times other than the utterance time: in June, on Friday.

Time adverbials
Given that temporal adverbials also contribute to the aspectual interpretation of sentences, we can further classify time adverbials into:

(i) Duration adverbials (ii) Completive adverbials (iii) Locating / frame adverbials (iv) Frequency adverbials

Time adverbials
Duration adverbials require compatibility with the situation type denoted by the verb phrase. Duration adverbials: for three months / a day / a week, for a while, since the war / Christmas, at night, all afternoon, for hours, all the time, over the week-end, through August, during the war, always, permanently, all day long, etc.

Time adverbials
Characteristics of duration adverbials they indicate the duration of the described event by specifying the length of time that the event is asserted to take contribute to the location of the event in time, more specifically to the placement of an event within a stated interval are compatible with atelic predicates, odd with telic ones are compatible with states and activity predicates

Time adverbials
(3) Susan was asleep for 2 hours (atelic predicate) (4) Andrew swam for 3 hours (atelic predicate) (5) ?*Jon wrote a / the report for 2 hours (telic predicate) (6) *The train arrived late for 2 hours (telic predicate).

Time adverbials
Whenever telic events co-occur with duration adverbials, there is a clash between the aspectual properties of the situation type and the aspectual properties of the adverbial. Such clashes are resolved by a shift in the value of the predicate, which receives a marked interpretation. This contextual (re)interpretation is made possible by the process known as coercion.

Time adverbials
(7) I read a book for a few minutes (accomplishment turned into activity) (8) Jerry wrote a report for 2 hours (accomplishment turned into activity) (9) John knocked on the door for 2 hour (semelfactive turned into an activity a multiple event interpretation)

Time adverbials
(10) John played the sonata for 2 hours (accomplishment turned into activity iterative interpretation / many times) (11) For years, Mary went to school in the morning (accomplishment turned into state habitual interpretation) (12) For months, the train arrived late (achievement turned into state habitual interpretation)

Time adverbials
The felicity of the aspectual reinterpretation is strongly dependent on (i) the linguistic context (ii) general knowledge of the world (13) ?*John went into the house all afternoon. (14) John crossed the border all afternoon.

Time adverbials
Completive adverbials: in 2 hours, within 2 months, in a second. Characteristics of completive adverbials

they locate the event at an interval during which is is completed or it culminates are telic and therefore compatible with telic predicates and odd with atelic ones

Time adverbials
(15) John noticed the painting in a second achievement, telic (16) Mary wrote a sonnet in five minutes accomplishment, telic (17) ?Bill swam laps in an hour activity, atelic (18) ? Mary believed in ghosts in an hour state, atelic

Time adverbials
If (17) and (18) can be understood at all, they impose an ingressive interpretation to the sentences in the sense that the adverbials refer to an interval of time elapsed before the beginning of the events and not an interval of time during which those events take place. The possible telic reinterpretations are Bill swam his planned number of laps in an hour or After an hour passed, Bill began to swim laps After an hour, Mary began to believe in ghosts

Time adverbials
Similar examples (19) They reached the top in ten minutes After ten minutes passed, they reached the top (20) She knocked at the door in ten minutes After 10 minutes, she started knocking at the door

Time adverbials
Frequency adverbials: frequently, on Sundays, never, sometimes, often, whenever, monthly, daily, once a week, every week / month, etc. Characteristics of frequency adverbials they indicate the recurrent pattern of situations within the reference interval they denote events which as a whole are interpreted as a state of the habitual type: (21) We often / always went to the mountains in the wintertime.

Time adverbials
Characteristics of locating / frame adverbials they locate situations in time by relating them to other times or other situations they refer to an interval of time within which the described sitution takes place according to the time of orientation, we can distinguish three sub-classes of locating / frame adverbials

Time adverbials
(i) Deictic oriented to the time of utterance (ST): now, today, last Sunday, last week, this year, tomorrow, tonight, two weeks ago (ii) Anaphoric related to a previously established time: until, till, in the evening, on Sunday, at night, early, before, in three days, on Christmas, at lunchtime, two years later, in March, already (iii) Referential referring to a time established by a clock or calendar: at 6, on August 19th, in 1987

The Present Tense

Present tense is associated with the present moment, the speech time ST, in the sense that it may refer either to (i) a point in time identified with ST (ii) an interval that includes ST As far as its factual status is concerned, the present is between the past and the future.

The Present Tense: Generic

The present tense used in generic sentences refers to the validity of a state at ST without making reference to a particular situation / moment. The generic present ascribes a property to the subject of the sentence, it occurs in characterizing sentences.

Generic sentences are true of nouns that denote kinds: (i) Bare plurals (ii) Definite singular NPs (iii) Mass nouns

The Present Tense: Generic

Generic sentences can also have indefinite noun phrase subjects, proper name subjects or quantified subjects.

In this case, the locus of genericity is not the noun phrase itself, but rather the sentence, i.e. these noun phrase subjects get their generic interpretation only when they occur in characterizing sentences.

The Present Tense: Generic

The generic present tense is associated with stative situation types and can be found in (i) scientific language, (ii) proverbs, (iii) definitions, (iv) geographic statements, (v) in instructions. Generic sentences denote timeless statements, they refer to general / universal truths.

The Present Tense: Generic

(22) Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. (23) Blood is thicker than water. (24) London lies on the Thames. (25) The Plough is a group of seven bright stars. (26) Surprisingly little is visible to us when we incline our heads to the sky. Only about six thousand stars are visible to the naked eye from Earth, and only about two thousand can be seen from any one spot.

The Present Tense: Habitual

Habitual sentences indicate that a situation is repeated with a certain frequency during an interval of time. Since they do not focus on a particular situation but rather on its repetition, they do not point to a specific moment in time and in this respect they resemble generic sentences. However, unlike generic sentences, habitual sentences refe to an individual or an object of which a property is true at speech time.

The Present Tense: Habitual

Very often, habitual sentences include adverbs of frequency: (i) general ones (ever, never, usually, often, seldom) or (ii) speific ones (three times a week, twice a day, every two weeks). Habitual sentences may be completely specified, indicating both the frequency and the interval during which an event extends. Yet, more often than not, they have a less complete temporal specification.

The Present Tense: Habitual

(27) a. They visit me every two days during holidays specified frequency and interval b. They visit me every day unspecified interval, specified frequency (28) a. He eats a lot of vegetables in winter unspecified frequency, specified interval b. He doesnt eat many vegetables no frequency, no interval specified