Towards a typology of discontinuous past marking

Плунгян, В.А.; Auwera, Johan van der

doi:10.1524/stuf.2006.59.4.317

Cited by 39 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 17 publications

(23 reference statements)

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“…Languages can be morphologically tensed or tenseless, and within the tensed languages, tenses may be obligatory or optional. On the morphological side, this view has already been advanced by Plungian and van der Auwera (2006). A novel contribution of this paper has been to extend this hypothesis to the semantics, where I argued that there is at least one language where semantic tenses are present in some, though not all, finite clauses.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 85%

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Past time reference in a language with optional tense

Bochnak

2016

Linguist and Philos

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In this paper, I analyze the verbal suffix -uNil in Washo as an optional past tense. It is optional in the sense that it is not part of a paradigm of tenses, and morphologically tenseless clauses are also compatible with past time reference. Specifically, I claim that -uNil is the morphological exponent of a tense feature [past], which presupposes that the reference time of the clause, denoted by a temporal pronoun, precedes the evaluation time. Meanwhile, morphologically tenseless clauses lack a semantic tense restricting the value of the reference time pronoun. In comparing this analysis with one containing a covert non-future tense in morphologically tenseless clauses, I show that the range of empirical contexts that distinguish these analyses is quite narrow. However, I offer a novel argument against a covert tense analysis based on the lack of Maximize Presupposition effects. Crucially, the fact that -uNil does not form a paradigm of tenses results in a failure for Maximize Presupposition to apply. The proposed analysis places cross-linguistic variation at the level of the paradigm of tense features, namely whether they are present or absent, and if present, whether obligatorily so. This case study from Washo thus reveals what a language where tense features are optional can look like, and more generally contributes to the growing body of literature on cross-linguistic semantics devoted to uncovering the ways in which temporal interpretation can be achieved in natural language.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…Such a possibility has recently been discussed in the typological work of Plungian and van der Auwera (2006). These authors identify several of the world's languages where the morphological marking of past temporal reference is optional.…”

Section: Optional Tense?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Past time reference in a language with optional tense

Bochnak

2016

Linguist and Philos

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“…The examples above suggest that /bʊ ǝ ŋa/ has different semantics from both a past tense marker and a perfect marker. Plungian and van der Auwera (2006) noted that many languages have past markers that differ from standard tenses in that their meaning includes the concept of complete lack of overlap between the ET and the UT. Cable (2013) analyzed markers in Gĩkũyũ that had been previously called tenses as Temporal Remoteness Markers (TRMs).…”

Section: Far-past Clausesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expanding the the notion of a tenseless language: Data from Anii

Morton

2014

ExAbs

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There has been debate in recent years regarding the analysis of ‘tenseless languages’ (languages without overt tense marking). Some scholars (cf. Matthewson 2006) argue that such languages contain phonologically null tense marking to express temporal relations, while others (cf. Bittner 2005, Tonhauser 2011) claim that temporal interpretation in such cases comes from sources other than tense marking (e.g. context, aspectual marking, and/or Aktionsarten). This presentation will contribute to this debate by providing and analyzing data on temporal and aspectual reference in the under-documented Kwa language Anii. This data will show that Anii is a tenseless language, though in a different way from many languages that have previously been so described. An overview of Anii will show that the only potential tensed clauses in the language are those with future temporal reference and those marked with the far-past marker /bʊ̀ŋà/. I argue that the apparent future/non-future distinction is actually a realis/irrealis contrast and that the far-past marker is not a tense marker, but a Temporal Remoteness Marker.

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“…Idiatov 2000 on tùn in Bamana). Following Plungian & van der Auwera (2006), a better term for this marker is discontinuous past which is "roughly characterizable as 'past and not present' or 'past with no present relevance'". 17 The presence of a postpositional phrase expressing the addressee following the quotative can, with a high degree of certainty, be construed as a verbal feature because to the best of my knowledge, only canonical verbs (sometimes, also when overtly nominalized) can licence such a postposed argument in Mande.…”

Section: Quotatives In Mande: Quotative Verbsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Person–number agreement on clause linking markers in Mande

Idiatov¹

2010

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Several Mande languages, viz. Jula of Samatiguila, Ko Mende, Jowulu, Yaba Southern San, and Tura, have person–number agreement on clause linking markers whose primary function, etymologically and often also synchronically, is to introduce reported discourse. Interestingly, in some of these languages the controller is not necessarily the subject of the main clause. This kind of agreement, which as such is already typologically unusual, is even more remarkable in Mande, since Mande languages have very little morphosyntactic agreement of any kind. I argue that agreement on clause linking markers in Mande is due to the fusion of originally predicative quotatives with their pronominal subjects. The agreement with non-subject controllers is semantic in origin in that a non-subject controller is necessarily also the source of the reported discourse.

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Towards a typology of discontinuous past marking

Cited by 39 publications

References 17 publications

Past time reference in a language with optional tense

Past time reference in a language with optional tense

Expanding the the notion of a tenseless language: Data from Anii

Person–number agreement on clause linking markers in Mande

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