LIN1180– Semantics
Lecture 12
Albert Gatt
In this lecture
 We focus on tense and grammatical aspect
 Progressive/non-progressive
 Perfective/imperfective
 Aspect across languages
 Interaction of grammatical aspect and lexical aspect
(Aktionsart)
Part 1
Tense as a deictic system
A general characterisation of deixis
 Deictic expressions rely on the context of utterance
 deictic demonstrative pronouns: this, that, those…
 deictic place expressions: here, there…
 Relevant features of the context:
 physical context
 persons involved in communication
 time
Tense as deictic
 Classic distinction between:
 past
 present
 future
 Relies on the relationship in time between the event talked
about and the time of utterance
 therefore, the reference point is usually the act of speaking
Graphical characterisation
past
present
future
time of utterance
I saw the moon.
I was seeing the moon.
I see the moon.
I am seeing the moon.
I will see the moon.
I will be seeing the moon.
Tense across languages
 English:
 usually marks tense using auxiliary verbs
 I see
 I am seeing
 I will be seeing
 Maltese:
 can mark temporal distinctions on the main verb
 nara (I see), rajt (I saw)…
 uses particles for fine-grained temporal distinctions
 se nara (I am going to see)
Tense vs grammatical aspect
 Progressive aspect:
 I listen (non-progressive)
 I am listening (progressive)
 Note: tense is distinct from grammatical aspect! – Both
examples are in the present tense.
 Past/Present/Future rely on the relationship between the
time of an event and the moment of speaking.
Perfect
 We can often locate an event in the present/past/future, and
use it as a reference point for another event.
 When you called, I had finished my work.
 Main reference point: now, moment of speaking
 Two events: you called and I had finished my work
 Relationship to moment of speaking: Both in the past.
 Relationship to eachother: Within the past time, one occurs before
the other.
When you called, I had finished my work
past (yesterday evening)
finish work
you called
time of finish work
acts as reference for
you called
present
time of
utterance
main reference point
for past tense is the
time of utterance
future
Perfect aspect in English
 Emphasises temporal relationship to a secondary reference point
 Present perfect: I have eaten
 the event of eating has terminated by the time of speaking
 Past perfect: I had eaten (before I left)
 event of eating has terminated by the time of leaving
 time of leaving is related to the time of speaking using the past
 Future perfect: I will have eaten (by the time you arrive)
 event of eating will terminate by the time something else happens
 secondary event is related to the time of speaking in the future
Reichenbach’s theory of time
 Hans Reichenbach (1966):
 proposed a theory to account for both simple and perfect tenses
 System uses three different times:
 actual event time (E)
 reference time or time to which event is related (R)
 utterance time (= moment of speaking) (U)
Simple present
past
present
future
E=R=U
Example: I sleep
Reference time, utterance time and event time are the same
Simple past
past
E=R
present
U
Example: I slept
• E before U (therefore past)
• R = E (no secondary relation)
future
Simple future
past
present
U
Example: I will sleep
•E is after U (therefore future)
• R = E (no secondary relation)
future
E=R
Present perfect
past
E
present
future
R=U
Example: I have slept
• E before U (therefore, event understood as having already
occurred)
•R=U
• basically relating a past event explicitly to the present
Past perfect
past
E
present
R
future
U
Example: By the time you arrived, I had slept
• E before U
• R before U
• R after E
• relating a past event explicitly to another event that occurred after
it, but also in the past
Future perfect
past
present
U
future
E
R
Example: By the time you arrive tonight, I will have slept
• U before E (therefore future)
• U before R
• E before R
• Relating a future event explicitly to another event in the future
which occurs after it
Summary
 Tense is deictic, and requires reference to the time of
speaking to be determined.
 Distinction between:
 simple tenses
 perfect tenses
 Reichenbach’s model uses three temporal parameters to
describe the semantics of different tenses.
Part 2
Grammatical aspect
Tense vs Aspect
 Tense is about the location of an event in time. (Tense as
deictic)
 Aspect has to do with the temporal distribution or contour of
an event (Comrie, 1976).
 Aspect is independent of tense.
Lexical vs. grammatical aspect
 Lexical aspect (Aktionsart):
 an inherent property of the semantics of verbs (sentences)
 related to the type of situation under discussion
 cf. lectures 10 & 11
 Grammatical aspect:
 ways of specifying the temporal contour of an event using
grammatical means
Grammatical mechanisms
 Russian:
 perfective/imperfective
 marked inflectionally
On čital
He read.PAST.IMPERF
“He was reading a letter”
pis’mo
a letter
On pročital
He read.PAST.PERF
“He read a letter”
pis’mo
a letter
Grammatical mechanisms
 Maltese
 perfective/imperfective
 marked inflectionally
Qara’
read.3MSg.PERF
“He read a letter”
ittra.
a letter
Jaqra’
read.3MSg.IMPERF
“He reads a letter”
ittra.
a letter.
Grammatical mechanisms
 Maltese
 progressive/non-progressive
 marked using aspectual particles
Jaqra’
read.3MSg.IMPERF
“He reads a letter”
ittra.
a letter.
Qed
jaqra’
PROG
read.3MSg.IMPERF
“He is reading a letter”
ittra.
a letter.
Grammatical mechanisms
 English:
 progressive/non-progressive
 marked inflectionally on main verb and auxiliary
I went to the pub.
I was going to the pub.
A preliminary classification
(aspect)
Perfective
Imperfective
The perfective: definition
 The perfective aspect involves a view of a situation as a
whole. I.e. it implies:
 a beginning
 a middle
 an end
 NB: “viewing the situation as a whole” does not imply that the
event is completed (i.e. finished).
Perfective and tense
 Some languages restrict the application of the perfective to the
past tense.
 suggests that the “complete view” is only applied retrospectively.
Maltese
Arabic
Qara’
ittra.
read.3MSg.PERF letter
“He read a letter”
Harbat
al-bint
run away.3FSg.PERF the-girl
“The girl ran away”
Perfective and tense
 In many languages, perfective aspect is used with different
tenses.
Russian
On pročital pis’mo (past, perfective)
“He read a letter”
ja ub’ju tebja (future, perfective)
“I shall kill you”
Perfectivity and duration
 Despite viewing the situation as a whole, the perfective is
compatible with an expression of the duration of a situation.
Maltese
French
Qrajt sagħtejn sħaħ.
Il regna trente ans.
“I read for two whole hours” “He reigned for 30 years”
The imperfective: definition
 The imperfective aspect involves an explicit reference to the
internal temporal structure of a situation.
 It contrasts with the perfective insofar as it does not view the
situation externally, as a whole.
A more complete classification
(aspect)
Perfective
Imperfective
Habitual
In many languages, the same
form can express more than
one imperfective aspect!
(Continuous)
Non-progressive
Progressive
The habitual aspect
 Views a situation as recurring indefinitely.
English
John works/worked here.
John used to work here.
 Simple Past tense in English may have a habitual meaning.
 Simple present often used with habitual meaning.
 Habituality in the past can be marked explicitly with used to.
Progressive vs. non-progressive
 In the progressive, a situation is marked as ongoing.
 Again, this is independent of tense.
English
John read the book. (non-prog, past)
John was reading the book. (prog., past)
John will be reading the book. (prog., fut.)
Non/progressive vs im/perfective
 English does not explicitly distinguish im/perfective.
 But the English progressive vs. non-progressive distinction seems to
correlate with the perfective/ imperfective distinction.
English
John read the book.
(non-progressive + offers a complete view of the situation)
John was reading the book.
(progressive, also views the situation internally)
Non/progressive vs im/perfective
 Some languages distinguish im/perfective and non-/progressive more sharply.
Spanish
Juan llegó. (perfective)
John arrived.
Juan llegaba. (imperfective, non-progressive)
John was arriving/used to arrive.
(NB: can have progressive or habitual meaning)
Juan estaba llegando. (imperfective + progressive)
John was arriving.
(progressive only)
Non/progressive vs im/perfective
 With a situation described in the perfective, continuation with the imperfective
seems contradictory.
Russian
?On napisal
pis’mo i ešče pišet
ego.
He wrote.PERF a letter and still writes.IMPERF it
“He wrote a letter and is still writing it.”
 The anomaly disappears with the use of the imperfective.
Russian
My pisali
pis’mo i ešče
pišet
We wrote.IMPERF a letter and still
write
“We wrote a letter and are still writing it.”
ego.
it
Non/progressive vs im/perfective
 We can observe the same in English with the
progressive/non-progressive forms.
 This is further evidence that English non-/progressive covers some of
the im/perfective distinction.
English
?John built a fire escape and is still building it.
John was building a fire escape and is still building it.
The English progressive
 English progressive tends to have connotations of activity,
dynamism and volition.




She blinked her eyes.
The dog was walking.
?She was knowing Greek.
?She was having blonde hair.
 Thus, it tends to be infelicitous with states.
The English progressive
 The progressive aspect interacts with situation type (lexical
aspect).
 cf. the activity/accomplishment distinction
 With accomplishments (+telic), the progressive cancels the implication
that the end state was reached.
Activity
Accomplishment
John ran.
John was running.
John drew a circle.
John was drawing a
circle.
The imperfective in other languages
 In other languages, the imperfective is compatible with
states.
 E.g. French imparfait
 Unlike the English progressive, it does not carry connotations of
dynamism.
French
L’air
sentait
de jasmin.
DEF-air
smell.3SgM.PAST.IMPERF of jasmine
The air smelt of jasmine.
The English non-/progressive in future
 English uses progressive and non-progressive present for future.
Regular future
 I will eat out tomorrow.
 I will play well tomorrow.
Pres. progressive
 I’m eating out tomorrow.
 ?I’m playing well tomorrow.
Simple present
 I leave tomorrow.
 ?I play well tomorrow.
 Simple present and progressive are only felicitous with events which imply volition, can be
planned or are certain.
 This is in line with the connotations noted earlier for the English progressive.