Arabic Perfect and temporal adverbs
Abdelkader Fassi Fehri
Languages use grammaticalized inflections (GIs), auxiliaries (Auxs), and
temporal adverbials (PPs or NPs, etc.; = Advs) to express various kinds of
temporal reference (TR). It is largely acknowledged in the literature that
GIs are ambiguous or underspecified with respect to TR, and that their
forms, even when identical, may lead to different interpretations within the
same language, or across languages (even from the same family). Advs can
be equally ambiguous in producing various temporal meanings. Common
categories assumed to contribute to (as well as organize) linguistic TR include Tenses (Ts), Aspects (Asps), and Aktionsarts (Akts). They project as
functional categories in scopal hierarchical syntactic structures. The latter
are assumed to reflect morphosyntactic and lexical properties of these
components, and organize their contribution to TR meanings. The descriptive program of crosslinguistic and language specific temporalities appears
then to be to identify which ingredients of TR grammar and meaning are
contributed by which GI, Aux, or Adv, or their combinations. The aim of
this article is essentially to describe some salient properties of the Arabic
Perfect (= Perf) within this perspective, by taking into account some crosslinguistic variation.1
The study of the Arabic Perf is not only of interest for its own sake, but it
is of central importance to understanding how the various ingredients of
the Arabic temporal/aspectual system are organized, compared to other
language systems. First, Perf interacts significantly with Past and Perfective (= Pfv), exhibiting various TR ambiguities, which need to be properly
identified, in parallel to the examination of the distribution and interpretation of collocational Advs. Second, various kinds of Perf documented in
the literature will be investigated here, to see whether they are instantiated
in Arabic, and how they exhibit similar or different properties. My approach to general semantic and morphological questions is based on the
assumption that there are natural (or canonical) mappings between temporal/aspectual forms and their semantic interpretations. Forms are productively ambiguous, but they are associated with abstract syntactic and selective properties, which then provide room for language specific differentiations. The latter are captured properly only if the semantics involved is
made precise, to allow accurate comparative work2. My grammatical description of TR relations, expressions, and distributions will typically make
use of a hierarchical architecture in which Perf is generated higher than
Asp (which is basically  Pfv) as some ‘relative’ T or T2. The latter is
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Abdelkader Fassi Fehri
lower than the ‘deictic’ or ‘absolute’ T, or T1 (denoting Past, Present, or
Future). The core temporal architecture that I adopt is then as follows:
(1)
 T 1 ( Past)
T 2 ( Perf )
Asp ( Pfv)
VP ( Tel)
1. The Arabic T/A-system
The Arabic system of T/A expressions exhibit a number of typical properties that are worth describing within a comparative perspective. Four of
these properties are briefly investigated in this section.
1.1.
Polyfunctionality of T/A-forms
The T/A system is dominated by the polyfunctionality of its T/A forms.
First, there is no morphological distinction between an inflected root verb
and an embedded ‘participle’: both are finite, and they carry the same temporal and agreement features. In other words, the form of expression of T1
(and Agr1) and T2 (and Agr2) is identical, and the morphology is not discriminatory as far as the T1/T2 distinction is concerned3. This uniformity is
exemplified in the two following pairs of constructions. The first pair contrasts the two basic simple tenses available in the system: Past and Present
(or non-Past), which express semantic PAST and PRESENT, respectively:
(2) katab-a r-risaalat-a.
wrote-3 the-letter-acc
‘He wrote the letter.’
(3) y-aktub-u
r-risaalat-a.
3-write-indic the-letter-acc
‘He is writing the letter.’
The second pair contains the same forms embedded under auxiliaries, and
functioning as Perfect and Imperfect ‘participles’:
(4) kaan-a katab-a r-risaalat-a.
Arabic perfect and temporal adverbs
71
was-3 wrote-3 the-letter-acc
‘He had written the letter.’
(5) kaan-a y-aktub-u
r-risaalat-a.
was-3 3-write-indic the-letter-acc
‘He was writing the letter.’
In other words, the ‘tense’ forms can also function as ‘aspect’ forms.
Second, the duality between Past/Present and Perfect/Imperfect is further complicated by the fact that these forms may express a Perfective/Imperfective opposition. For example, Past in (2) is interpreted as
PFV, and Present in (3) or (5) as IPFV. To be neutral and for ease of comprehension, I will designate the two forms as Past/Pres and Perf/Imperf
interchangeably and depending on contexts. I will also refer to their varied
semantics by capital letters, when necessary. Clearly, the terminological
dispute about morphological forms is meaningless in the absence of precise
and clear-cut semantic associations.
1.2.
The PresPerf-split: synthesis and analysis
A second characteristic feature of the Arabic T/A system is the synthetic/analytic split of its PresPerf forms. The synthetic form (which is homophonous with that of the Past) is limited to PRES interpretations, which
will be detailed in this article. It is exemplified in (6), which can also have
a Past interpretation:
(6) jaraa.
ran
‘He has run.’
Analytic forms, however, in which the Pres auxiliary kaana ‘be’ is overtly
realized, do not have PRES interpretation. They normally express a futurate Perf (= FUTPERF), as in (7), and they collocate with future time adverbs:
(7) ?-akuunu
?anhay-tu r-risaalat-a
g*adan.
I-am
finished-I the-letter-acc tomorrow-acc
‘I will have finished the letter tomorrow.’
They can also express ‘iterative’ readings, as in (8):
(8) bi-haad#aa y-akuunu l-fariiq-u
qad
sajjala
xams-a
72
Abdelkader Fassi Fehri
with-this
is
the-team-nom already scored
five
marraat-in.
times
‘With this, the team has already scored five times.’
This situation is partly comparable to that of Portuguese, where the PresPerf is expressed by a simple form (which is also ambiguous with the
Past), as in (9), but the analytic form expresses only a habitual Perfect, as
in (10):4
(9) Comi.
ate
‘I have eaten.’
(10) Agora jà
tem comido.
now
I
have eaten
‘Now I have taken the habit to eat.’
It is unlike the situation in Germanic or Romance, where the PresPerf, in
addition to the Past and further meanings, is expressed by an analytic Perf.
In German, for example, the PresPerf co-occurs with Past, Pres, and Fut
adverbs (cf. Musan (2001)):
(11) Hans
Hans
ist
is
gestern
um zehn weggegangen.
yesterdayat
ten left
(12) Hans
Hans
ist
is
jetzt weggegangen.
now left
(13) Hans
Hans
ist
is
morgen
tomorrow
um
at
zehn weggegangen.
ten left
As we will see, this split is not without consequences for dividing lines of
interpretations and/or ambiguities, as well as crosslinguistic characterizations.
1.3.
The Past-split: simple Past-Pfv and complex Past-Impfv
A third important feature of the T/A system is that it exhibits also an aspectual split with respect to the form of expression of aspectual values for
Arabic perfect and temporal adverbs
73
Past. Simple Past is associated with Perfective, whereas Past Imperfective
must be expressed by two separate finite forms: the auxiliary in the Past,
and the thematic verb in the form of the Pres. The two contrasting forms
exhibiting the split are given in (14) and (15), respectively:
(14) ?anhaa r-risaalat-a.
finished the-letter-acc
‘He finished the letter.’
(15) kaana y-unhii r-risaalat-a.
was
3-finish the-letter-acc
‘He was finishing the letter.’
The letter is finished in (14), but not in (15). This split is partly comparable
to that of English simple Past and Past Progressive. It contrasts with the
double synthetic nature of this opposition found in e.g. French (‘passé simple’ vs. ‘imparfait’) or Italian (‘passato remoto’ vs. ‘imperfetto’).
There are various ways to assess the perfective nature of the simple
Past. One argument comes from the behavior of the Past in SOT contexts.
In complement clauses, the simultaneity with the past is solely acceptable
if the Present/Imperfect form is used (i.e. no SOT effect is possible, just
like the situation in Japanese or Hebrew):5
(16) qaal-a l-ii
?inna-hu y-aktub-u r-risaalat-a.
said-3 to-me
that-him
3-write
the-letter-acc
‘He said to me that he was writing the letter.’
The use of the Past/Perfect does not yield that interpretation:
(17) qaal-a l-ii
?inna-hu katab-a r-risaalat-a.
said-3 to-me
that-him
wrote-3 the-letter-acc
‘He said to me that he wrote the letter.’
In (17), there is no overlapping of the writing and the saying, unlike the
situation in (16). The writing is rather anterior to the saying (with a shifted
Past reading). This situation is in contrast with SOT behavior in complement clauses in English, where the embedded verb can be interpreted as
anaphoric (or simultaneous, with the meaning ‘Mary is ill’):6
(18) John said Mary was ill.
Giorgi & Pianesi (1995) compare languages which possess Imperfect (like
Italian) with languages that do not (e.g. German or English). They observe
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Abdelkader Fassi Fehri
that Italian Imperfect is a dependent anaphoric tense, which denotes Present-under-Past tense, the Past being provided normally by the matrix verb.
Moreover, the (simple) Past cannot be used in this language as dependent.
In embedded contexts, only Imperfect can be used, with an SOT-effect.7 In
contrast, languages like German use Past (ambiguously) as dependent or
non-dependent, the latter being neutral with respect to perfectivity. It can
be read either way, as simultaneous (Imperfective) or non-simultaneous
(Perfective):
(19) Hans sagte, dass Marie einen Apfel aß.
a. Hans said that Mary was eating an apple.
b. Hans said that Mary ate an apple.
In (a), the simultaneous reading is available, and Past is interpreted as Imperfective. In (b), Past is Perfective, and the simultaneous interpretation is
excluded. Thus (simple) Past is necessarily Perfective in Italian, but not so
in German. The conclusion then is that if a language has an Imperfect Past,
as opposed to a simple Past, the latter cannot be used as dependent in embedded contexts. On the other hand, the Imperfect is dependent and used to
denote simultaneity. In languages in which the Past is unspecified, it can be
used as dependent/simultaneous. Arabic is close to Italian in this respect.
Past is Perfective and non-dependent, contrary to Imperfect, as illustrated
above.
A second argument comes from the availability of continuous readings.
Consider e.g. (6), expressing a Past activity (repeated here as (20) for convenience), and its Past Imperfective counterpart, given in (21):
(20) jaraa.
ran
‘He ran.’
(21) kaana r-rajul-u
y-ajrii.
was
the-man-nom 3-run
‘The man was running.’
In (20), the event is completed or terminated. It cannot be further extended.
This is in contrast with (21), which is non-terminated and can be extended.
Hence the sequence in (22) can be used after (21), but it leads to ungrammaticality after (20):
(22) [...]
wa maa
zaala y-ajrii.
and still
3-run
‘and he is still running.’
Arabic perfect and temporal adverbs
75
In fact, the combination of (20) and (22) can be acceptable, but only if two
events are involved, one terminated to make the first clause true, and one
non-terminated and ongoing at UT, to make the second sequence possible.8
1.4.
The Past/Perf-ambiguity
A fourth significant property of the system consists in a genuine
Past/Perfect ambiguity of the Past/Perf form. As observed above, there is
only one temporal (suffixing morphology) in Arabic which can express
both PAST meaning and PRESPERF meaning. Thus (2) or (6) above are
ambiguous between what I represent in a very sketchy way as (23) and
(24), using a simplified Reichenbachian representation of time:
(23) ET, RT < UT
(24) ET < RT, UT
In the first representation, the Perf form is expressing PAST tense, and in
the second PERFECT ‘aspect’. The representation in (23) raises no significant problem. That in (24) is more disputable. I will ignore the potential
objections for the moment, and focus only on the fact that PAST specifies
a reference time (RT) which is prior to the utterance time (UT), while
PERFECT does not. To the extent that an anteriority component is involved in the PERF interpretation, that anteriority should involve other
argument times than UT. This subsection provides grounds for assessing
that the Past/PresPerf ambiguity represented here is genuine, rather than
thinking of it as an ambiguity arising within the PresPerf semantic configuration itself, the interpretation differences being associated with the various
temporal adverb specifications. My task is then basically to provide arguments establishing that in various constructions that contain the Perf form
RT cannot be () UT, but what is involved is rather RT < UT, which is
basically what PAST expresses. But before going on providing such arguments, I will sketch, for concreteness, a reasonable view of what Tenses
and Aspects are, although I will not address the details of the new developments of Tense and Aspect theories, the points to be made being neutral
with respect to any viable version of them.9
1.4.1. Aspects and tenses
As stated above, Reichenbachian (1947) terminology will be used. The
time denoted by a semantic tense is called reference time (= RT). Aktion-
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Abdelkader Fassi Fehri
sarten are located in time by means of a relation that connects RT to an
event time or event state (= ET), instantiating the Aktionsart. This relation
can be called an ASPECT relation, after Klein (1994). RT may INCLUDE
() ET in the ‘Perfective’, RT may be INCLUDED () in ET in the ‘Imperfective’, or RT may follow ET, being POST (>) in the ‘Perfect’. 10 Asp
relations, viewed as ‘temporalizers’, can be defined, after AvS (2002b), as
follows:11
(25) ASPECTS
a. ||PERFECTIVE|| = Pte.t   (e) & P (e), P of type <v,t>
b. ||IMPERFECTIVE|| = Pte.t   (e) & P (e)
c. ||PERFECT|| = Pte.t >  (e) & P (e)
Elaborated definitions for TENSES are also provided by AvS (ibid), in line
with Partee’s (1973) reference tense theory, and Heim’s (1994) proposal
that tenses be viewed as restrictors of temporal variables:12
(26) TENSES
are symbols of type i which bear time variables as indices. Let c be
the context of the utterance, with tc the speech time, g is a variable
assignment, then
a. ||NOW||g,c is the speech time conceived as a point.
b. ||PASTj||g,c is defined only if g(j) precedes the speech time t c. If
defined, ||PASTj||g,c = g(j).
c. ||FUTRj||g,c is defined only if g(j) follows the speech time t c. If
defined, ||FUTRj||g,c = g(j).
These definitions (or simplified versions of them) will be adopted here,
except for Perf, which needs further elaboration in order to account for its
various meanings, but also its (usually) higher position in the tree architecture, compared to Pfv/Ipfv (which I take to be the core Asp opposition), in
conformity with (1).
As an illustration of the PAST/PERFECT contrast, consider (27). The latter can be interpreted as PAST, or PRESPERF, hence giving rise to the two
LF forms (28) and (29), respectively:
(27) sakan-a barliin-a.
lived-3 Berlin-acc
Arabic perfect and temporal adverbs
77
a. ‘He lived in Berlin’
b. ‘He has lived in Berlin.’
(28)
TP[PAST ASPP
[ PFV VP[He live in Berlin]]]
(29)
TP[NOW PERFP[be ASPP[ VP[He
live in Berlin]]]]
The representation (29) reflects the overall architecture of the system, in
which PerfP (or T2) is higher than AspP (which contains  PFV). I have
introduced ‘be’ as a head of PerfP, although it is not realized. It could be
that this introduction is not necessary, and the ‘participle’ licenses both
PERF and PRES.13 If we follow AvS (ibid, fn. 16, p. 10), then PERF here
is an existential quantifier that introduces a time/event prior to RT. Its interpretation is as in (30):14
(30) t t < NOW & He lives in Berlin at t.
Note that the construction (27) can also have an extended-now (XN) interpretation, in fact a natural one. Consider the following variants of (27):
(27’)
a.
b.
sakan-a barliin-a
mund#u 1990.
lived-3 Berlin-acc since
1990
‘He has lived in Berlin since 1990.’
sakan-a barliin-a
xams-a marraat-in mund#u 1990.
lived-3 Berlin-acc five-acc times-gen since
1990
‘He has lived in Berlin five times since 1990.’
Like English since, mund#u can introduce a time span through , its complement, i.e. a position in time given by a date or some other temporal description. Mund#u  modifies the XN introduced by Perf, and it indicates
that  is the left boundary (LB) of XN. The construction (27b) is best analyzed as an XN-Perf, in this case an Existential Perf (E-Perf). The quantificational adverb xams-a marraat-in has to be confined within XN. The
meaning of the E-Perfect can be represented as follows:
(31) t XN (t, NOW) & LB (1990, t) & 5t’ t He live in Berlin at t'.
NOW is the meaning of the semantic PRES, the speech time conceived as a
moment. XN (t’,t) means that t is a final subinterval of t’. LB (1990,t’)
means that 1990 is LB of t’.
The construction (27a) can be interpreted as a Universal Perf (U-Perf).
The U-reading can be formulated as follows:15
(32) t XN (t, NOW) & LB (1990, t) & t’ t He live in Berlin at t'.
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Abdelkader Fassi Fehri
1.4.2. Positional ‘deictic’ adverbs
To disambiguate PAST and PRESPERF meanings, positional deictic adverbs can be used. The contrast is provided in (33) and (34), where past
and present adverbials are used. Note that the temporal morphology is not
compatible with future adverbs:
(33) katab-a r-risaalat-a
?amsi
wrote-3 the-letter-acc yesterday
‘He wrote the letter yesterday.’
(*g*ad-an).
(*tomorrow)
(34) katab-a r-risaalat-a
l-aan-a (*gad-an).
wrote-3 the-letter-acc now
(* tomorrow)
‘He has written the letter now (* tomorrow).’
The positional adverb diagnostic suggests that the adverb is taken to modify RT. It has been used for English successfully, at least since Jespersen
(1924). But this test appears to be disputable, once the behavior of PresPerf
in other languages is taken into account. Consider the following pair of
German examples (=(13a) and (14) of Löbner’s (2002)):
(35) Karla
ist
gestern
hier eingezogen.
Karla
is
yesterdayhere move-in
‘Karla (has) moved in here yesterday.’
(36) Jetzt,
now,
wo
where
Karla
Karla
gestern
hier eingezogen ist,
yesterdayhere move-in
is,
brauchen wir
need
we
einen
a
Schlüssel
key
fürs
for-the
Klo.
toilet
‘Now that Karla has moved in here yesterday, we need a key for the
toilet.’
The first construction is ambiguous between a Past reading and a PresPerfect reading. But the Perfect can have only a PRESPERF reading in (36),
although it combines with a past adverbial. This suggests that the adverb is
modifying the aspect phrase or some lower phrase, the VP (denoting ET).
Thus the compatibility of Perf with past and non-past time adverbials cannot count as an argument in favor of the ambiguity of the Perf, at least in
the German type languages (see Klein (1999) and Musan (2001), among
Arabic perfect and temporal adverbs
79
others, for arguments). If a similar reasoning were to extend to Arabic, then
we have to look for other diagnostics to establish the existence of a genuine PAST interpretation.
1.4.3. Perf and modal ‘qad’
The particle qad (meaning ‘already’, i.e. precedence, or ‘just’, immediate
precedence) is typically acknowledged in traditional literature to be collocating with Perf readings. For example, qad can occur immediately before
the ‘participle’ of a complex Perfect tense, as in (37):
(37) kaan-a qad
katab-a r-risaalat-a.
was
already wrote-3 the-letter-acc
‘He had already written the letter.’
It can also occur in front of a simple tensed verb, interpreted as PresPerf.
Thus in (38), qad can have one of the two precedence readings:
(38) qad
was8ala.
already/just arrived
a. He has already arrived.
b. He has just arrived.
But in (38), qad can be further ambiguous in a way that it cannot be in
(37). It can mean ‘indeed’, or ‘in fact’, to stress the factual certainty of the
event, and the sentence is translated as ‘He indeed came’ or ‘He did come’.
In the latter case, it serves as a modal. Modals are projected higher than
Tense (or T1). Unsurprisingly then, when qad serves as a modal, it takes
T1 projections as its complement, namely Past projections, co-occurring
with past time adverbials, as illustrated in (39):
(39) qad
was8al-a
?amsi.
indeed arrived-3
yesterday
‘He did arrive yesterday.’
Likewise, it takes also Present projections, as in (40), but the interpretation
is that of ‘possibility’ or ‘probability’, rather than certainty:
(40) qad y-as8il-u
may 3-arrive now
‘He may arrive now.’
The T1 nature of the complement of qad is further corroborated by its oc-
l-?aan-a.
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Abdelkader Fassi Fehri
currence in front of the auxiliary of a complex tense:
(41) qad
kaan-a y-us8allii.
indeed was
3-pray
‘He was indeed praying.’
The question now is the following: why can’t the complement of modal
qad in (39) be taken as Perf (or T2), instead of Past (or T1)? In other
words, what motivates restricting the selection of modal qad to T1? The
answer is straightforward. Consider the following minimal pair of constructions:
(42) kaan-a qad
was8al-a.
was-3 already arrived-3
‘He had already arrived.’
(43) qad
kaan-a was8al-a.
indeed was-3 arrived-3
‘He had indeed arrived.’
Both constructions are typically non-ambiguous. In (42), qad is only a Perfect Level specifier, and in (43) a Modal specifier. This absence of ambiguity is due to the fact that qad is unambiguously positioned, with respect to
T1 (Past), or T2 (Perf). In (38), the ambiguity arises due to ambiguity
placement. Note that no such ambiguity arises in (41), and (39) has at least
one reading in which it is a modal structure like (41), which implies that
Past, rather than PresPerf is involved there. Note in passing also that if
modal (39) were to be interpreted as Pres, then two problems arise. First,
we predict wrongly that the interpretation is ‘possibility’, rather than certainty. Second, qad would be selecting an empty auxiliary (or copula),
which it normally does not, as shown by the ungrammaticality of (44):
(44) *qad
r-rajul-u
musaafir-un.
may
the-man
travelling
Intended to mean: ‘The man may be traveling.’
In this case, the realization of the copula in the Pres form is obligatory (Cf.
Fassi Fehri (1993, 2000) for detail).
The particle Perf qad has a partly similar German counterpart. Schon, a
case of RT or PerfL specification, can be used with Past or with Perfect.
With the former, the interpretation is normally that the action only started,
or it is imperfective, but with the latter it is ambiguous. It has a PresPerf
meaning, with the action understood as completed, or it may have an inter-
Arabic perfect and temporal adverbs
81
pretation similar to that of Past imperfective. The examples (45) are from
Musan (2001, p. 363), and (46) is from Löbner (2002, pp. 386-7):16
(45) a. Er
he
b. Er
he
(46) Sie
she
hat
has
aß
ate
hat
has
schon
gegessen.
already eaten (= He finished his meal).
schon.
already (= He was already eating).
schon
gefrühstückt.
already have-breakfast
a. She has already had breakfast.
(Present Perfect)
b. She was already having breakfast. (Past Imperfective)
Likewise, qad interpretation differs depending on the temporal entity it
collocates with. When it means ‘already’, it is a Perf detector. When it is a
modal, it collocates with T1, meaning ‘indeed’ with Past, and ‘possible’ or
‘probable’ with Pres.17 Thus qad is uniformly a modal when it is higher
than T, and a Perf (or Asp) specifier otherwise. Its interpretation is then a
true diagnostic for helping us determining whether the Perf form is to be
interpreted as PAST or PERF.
1.4.4. Simple vs. complex tenses
Positional adverbs are known to be ambiguous with complex tenses (typically Perf tenses), because their structure allows for two positions that the
adverb can specify.18 For example, this ambiguity is found in (47), where
the letter could have been finished at four, or before four:
(47) kaana qad
?anhaa
r-risaalat-a
fii
r-raabicat-i.
was
already finished
the-letter-acc at
the-four-gen
‘He had already finished the letter at four.‘
Surprisingly, however, this ambiguity is not found with PresPerf, be it analytic, as in (48), or synthetic, as in (49):
(48) ?-akuunu
I-am
?anhay-tu r-risaalat-a
finished-I the-letter-acc
g*adan
fii
tomorrow-acc at
82
Abdelkader Fassi Fehri
r-raabicat-i.
the-four-gen
‘I will have finished the letter tomorrow at four.’
(49) ?anhaa r-risaalat-a
(?amsi, l-?aan-a)
fii
r-raabicat-i.
finished the-letter-acc (yesterday, now)
at
the-four-gen
‘He (has) finished the letter (yesterday, now) at four.’
In (48), the adverb specifies only RT, i.e. the tense carried by the auxiliary.
In (49), read as PRESPERF, with a Now adverb, the same is true. The
problem arises with (49), when collocating with a past adverb. If (49) is
read as PRESPERF in this case, then the past adverbial has to be interpreted as specifying ET, contrary to what happens with other PresPerfs. If (49)
is read as PAST, no such a problem arises, because then the temporal Adv
would be modifying (uniformly) RT. Since the minimal hypothesis is to
assume a uniform RT specification, I will assume that this is the case, unless evidence is provided for the contrary. But note that if the tense were
PresPerf, then the (covert) auxiliary/copula denoting PRES would have to
be modified by the positional fii phrase. But such a possibility is independently excluded, as shown by the ungrammaticality of the following
PRES sentence:
(50) r-rajul-u
mariid8-un (*fii r-raabicat-i).
the-man-nom sick-nom (*at four)
‘The man is sick (*at four).’
Zero-Pres then appears to be not an option with a past adverbial, which
suggests in turn that the tense involved can only be PAST. If that is true,
then positional temporal adverbs play a role in T/A disambiguation, contrary to the conclusion reached in subsection 1.4.2, although not directly.19
1.4.5. Durational adverbs20
Indefinite temporal nominals can function as durational adverbials. They
are either complements of mund#u ‘since’, or they take (what looks like)
an accusative case. Call them mund#u-d and Acc-d, d for durative. The
two phrases do not distribute in the same way with tenses and aspects they
occur with, nor do they specify them in the same way.
Semantic PRES and PRESPERF are compatible with mund#u followed
by an indefinite complement:
(51) y-aktubu
r-risaalat-a
mund#u xams-i saacaat-in
Arabic perfect and temporal adverbs
3-write
the-letter-acc
since
five
83
hours
(l-?aana).
(now)
‘He is writing the letter since/for five hours (now).’
(52) katab-a r-risaalata
mund#u xamsi
saacaat-in
wrote-3 the-letter-acc since
five
hours
‘He has written the letter since five hours (now).’
(l-?aana).
(now)
But PAST does not combine with such adverbs:
(53) *kataba
wrote-3
r-risaalat-a
the-letter-acc
l-baarihat-a mund#u xamsi
yesterday since
five
saacaat-in.
hours
The advervial mund#u-d introduces an interval that reaches up to RT. But
RT has to be UT, basically NOW. If the adverb has RT,UT as its RB, then
its meaning is not compatible with that of Past (which is RT<UT). On the
other hand, if mund#u-d introduces an unbounded (homogeneous or nonquantized) interval, like seit-d in German (as proposed by AvS (2002)),
and if simple Past in Arabic is also PFV (as has been argued above), then it
follows that Past cannot be compatible with such an adverbial.
PRESPERF, however, is compatible with it, under various interpretations
that will be made clear below. Since the latter is PRES, it provides the appropriate RT for the adverbial RB. It can be PFV or IPFV, and hence allowing both homogeneous and non-homogeneous Ps as its complement.21
Semantic PAST combines, instead, with (indefinite) Acc-d, for example
when the predicate denotes an (atelic) activity:
(54) saafar-a
r-rajul-u
l-baarih8ata
travelled-3 the-man-nom yesterday five
‘The man traveled yesterday five hours.’
xamsa saacaat-in.
hours
But PRES cannot combine with Acc-d:
(55) *y-aakulu r-rajul-u
(l-?aan-a) xamsa saacaat-in.
3-eat
the-man-nom (now)
five
hours
The latter sentence is possible only with a habitual meaning (‘The man has
the habit now to eat for five hours’). The same contrast holds with statives:
84
Abdelkader Fassi Fehri
(56) ?amsi
kaan-a r-rajul-u
yesterdaywas-3 the-man-nom
mariid8-an xamsa
sick-acc
five
saacaat-in.
hours
‘Yesterday, the man was sick for five hours.’
(57) *r-rajul-u
the-man-nom
mariid8-un xamsat-a ?ayyam-in.
sick-nom five
days
(58) *r-rajul-u
the-man-nom
musaafir-un
xamsat-a
travelling-nom five
?ayyam-in.
days
The latter construction is possible as a futurate, not PRES. The contrast
between PAST and PRESPERF is easier to detect with statives:
(59) ?amsi
kaan-a r-rajul-u
yesterdaywas-3 the-man-nom
jaalis-an,haziin-an
sitting-acc sad-acc
xams-a saacaat-in.
five
hours
‘Yesterday, the man was sitting, sad for five hours.’
(60) *kaan-a r-rajul-u
was-3 the-man-nom
jaalis-an,haziin-an l-?aana xamsa
sitting-acc
sad-acc
now
five
saacaat-in.
hours
These contrasts suggest that there is a genuine TENSE ambiguity of the
Past/Perf form. The latter can be PAST or PRES. If Acc-D is a quantizing
adverb, then PAST is compatible with it, since it is also PFV. Simple
PRES cannot combine with it because it is IPFV. As for stative
PRESPERF, it behaves like PRES in that it is also IPFV (and atelic).22
Arabic perfect and temporal adverbs
85
2. Temporal adverbs and kinds of Perfect
2.1.
Positional mund#u
We have seen that mund#u which takes an indefinite complement is interpreted as durational in the sense defined. Furthermore, mund#u-d is incompatible with Past. On the other hand, mund#u can take a definite complement. It then introduces not a length or duration, but rather a date or a
time span, which is the left boundary of an extended-now (XN) interval. I
will call it positional mund#u (following the terminological use of Musan
and AvS, among others), and refers to it as mund#u-t. Unlike mund#u-d,
mund#u-t appears to be compatible with all tenses. But in analyzing the
various interactions of mund#u-t with tense/aspect phrases, the PresPerf
appears to be specified in typical ways that make this adverbial a diagnostic test for distinguishing it from other tenses, typically PAST. These interactions also show the role played by Aktionsart and telicity.
2.1.1. Imperfective tenses
Consider first the case of atelic imperfective tenses, in their Pres and Past
versions, exemplified in the following pair of constructions:
(61) ?ajrii
mund#u r-raabicat-i.
I-run
since
four
‘I am running since/from four.’
(62) kun-tu ?ajrii
mund#u r-raabicat-i.
was-I
I-run
since
four
‘I was running since/from four.’
In (61), mund#u-t provides LB of RT, P is homogeneous, and RB is not
expressed, nor presupposed. The same is true of (62), although LB is situated in the Past. As for telic imperfectives, the interpretive situation does
not appear to be different. Consider e.g. the Present in (63):
(63) ?aktub-u r-risaalat-a
mund#u r-raabicat-I.
I-write the-letter-acc since
four
‘I am writing the letter since/from four.’
Like in (61), the LB of RT is specified by mund#u-t in (63), P is homogeneous, and RB is not expressed, nor presupposed. In sum, with imperfective temporal predicates, mund#u-t specifies uniformly LB (of RT), and RB
is not asserted, nor presupposed. Let us then call Ipfv-mund#u-t, and speci-
86
Abdelkader Fassi Fehri
fy its meaning as follows:
(64) Ipfv-mund#u-t
||Ipfv-mund#u-t||(t) = Pt’t’[XN (t’,t’) & LB (t,t’) & P (t’)], P is
homogeneous.23
2.1.2. Perfective tenses
Consider now perfectives. Let us start with simple Past telics, the achievement (65) or the accomplishment (66):
(65) wajad-tu
found-I
l-h8all-a
the-solution-acc
l-baarih8at-a mund#u
yesterday since
r-raabicat-i.
four
‘I found the solution yesterday since four.’
(66) katab-tu
r-risaalat-a
l-baarih8at-a mund#u r-raabicat-i.
wrote-I
the-letter-acc yesterday since
four
‘I wrote the letter yesterday since four.’
In both (65) and (66), mund#u-t is interpreted as specifying the RB of the
Asp phrase, the point at which the event E culminates (in a telic perfective
situation). The solution is found by four, and the letter terminated by four.
LB is not expressed, but it is presupposed, and ‘pushed’ backwards into the
Past, so that the preparatory phase (including LB) takes place before four,
although it has to be located within yesterday.
The interpretive situation is not different (in relevant respects) for simple
Past atelics, exemplified in (67):
(67) ?akal-tu
l-baarih8at-a mund#u r-raabicat-i.
ate-I
yesterday since
four
‘I ate yesterday since four.’
In (67), mund#u-t modifies also the RB of the Aspect phrase, P is nonhomogeneous, and LB is not expressed, although it is presupposed. It has
to be some time in the Past, included in yesterday. Even in (67), the eating
has to take place at an interval which ends up at four, and the eating has
been taking place before four.
Complex perfectives behave in the same way as simplex ones. For ex-
Arabic perfect and temporal adverbs
87
ample, the complex form (68) behaves in the same way as its simplex
counterpart (66) in the relevant respects, namely the fact that the interpretation involves also RB specification:
(68) kun-tu
mund#u
was-I
qad
katab-tu r-risaalat-a
already wrote-I the-letter-acc
l-baarih8at-a
yesterday
since
r-raabicat-i.
four
‘I had already written the letter yesterday since four.’
These contrasts indicate that perfective tenses differ in their interaction
with mund#u-t, compared to imperfective tenses. With the former,
mund#u-t uniformly specify the RB of the AspP, its terminating point,
while with the latter they specify its LB. Call the adverbial Pfv-mund#u-t,
and let us specify its meaning as follows
(69)
Pfv-mund#u-t
||Pfv-mund#u-t||(t) = Pt’t’[XN (t’,t’) & RB (t,t’) & P (t’)], P is
non-homogeneous.
2.1.3. PresPref tense
Consider now the PresPerf interpretation of (66) above, and (70):
(70) jaray-tu mund#u r-raabicat-i.
ran-I
since
four
‘I have run since four.’
Both sentences can be read as either Ipfv or Pfv. In the first case, mund#u-t
specifies only the LB of the event, the starting point of writing the letter
(and the writing is not finished), or the beginning of the running (which is
not over). Perf then behaves like other imperfectives in that temporal P
must be homogeneous. To obtain the perfective interpretation, however,
the specification of the RB boundary is necessary. It is specified by the
nearest point in the past to Now. So the perfect aspect extends to Now, or it
is an XN, but it must be bounded (and P is non-homogeneous). But in both
Perf interpretations, mund#u-t specifies the LB of the AspP. This contrasts
significantly with the simple Past, in which only RB is specified. On this
base, mund#u-t specification can serve as a diagnostic test for distinguish-
88
Abdelkader Fassi Fehri
ing PAST from PRESPERF.
Note that there is a case in which mund#u-t modifies the RB of a Perfect
situation, namely when it modifies the post-state (introduced by Perf).
Consider the following sentence:
(71) juc-tu
mund#u r-raabicat-i.
was-hungry-I since
four
‘I have become/been hungry since four.’
This sentence can have two interpretations: (a) I started being hungry since
four, and I am still hungry now (XN interpretation), or (b) I am hungry
since four, or I am in the post-state of being hungry since four. In the first
case, mund#u-t specifies the LB of the event, and in the second case, it
modifies the RB of the post-state. But this interpretation is not relevant for
the contrast with the Past, since the latter is not interpreted as denoting a
post-state. I return to this case in the next two subsections.
2.2.
Durational mund#u
As observed above, durative mund#u can co-occur with Ipfv and Perf tenses, but it cannot do so with simple Past. Consider again the following contrasts:
(72) maryam-u t-antad8#ir-u zaynab-a mund#u saacatayni.
Miryam
3f-wait
Zaynab
since
two hours
‘Miryam is waiting for Zaynab for two hours.’
(73) kaan-at maryam-u tantad8#ir-u zaynab-a mund#u saacatayni
was-3f Miryam
3f-wait
Zaynab
since
two hours
‘Miryam was waiting for Zaynab for two hours.’
(74) maryam-u ntad8#ar-at zaynab-a mund#u saacatayni.
Miryam
waited-3fZaynab
since
two hours
‘Miryam has waited for Zaynab for two hours.’
(75) *maryam-u
Miryam
ntad8#ar-at zaynab-a l-baarihat-a mund#u
waited-3fZaynab
yesterday since
saacatayni.
two hours
The sentences (72) and (73) show that Pres and Past Ipfvs can occur with
Arabic perfect and temporal adverbs
89
durational mund#u The latter then indicates that the event is positioned
two hours to the left of some point of reference, but its RB is not specified.
By contrast, the adverbial cannot occur with Past, which is Pfv, and hence
non-homogeneous. Consider now the following perfect sentence:
(76) maryam-u katab-at
r-risaalat-a
mund#u saacatayni.
Miryam
wrote-3f
the-letter-acc since
two hours
‘Miryam has written the letter since two hours.’
Why is (76) good even under a Pfv reading? The interpretation can be that
the adverbial is modifying a post-state, in which case the sentence would
behave like any stative sentence with respect to this modification. Then
what about eventive or PresPerf reading? The latter interpretation is also
possible, with mund#u-d specifying the LB of the duration, and NOW its
RB, i.e. RT would be the RB. That possibility is not open to Past, due to
the fact that its RT is located before Now, and hence cannot at the same
time abut Now. The semantics of the adverbial is then roughly as follows:
(77) Durative mund#u
||mund#u-d||(d) = Ptt’[XN (t’,t) & |t’| = d & P (t’)], P is homogeneous.
2.1.
Perf of Res and post-state
Resultative meaning of Arabic Perfect can be distinguished from that of
PERF or PAST. Comrie (1976, p.56) claims that ‘In the perfect of result, a
present state is reported as being the result of some past situation […] In an
answer to a question Is John here yet?, a perfectly reasonable reply would
be Yes, he has arrived, but not Yes, he arrived’. To that question, two potential answers in Arabic are the following:
(78) nacam was8al-a.
yes
arrived-3
‘Yes, he has arrived.’
(79) laa bal
g*aadara.
no
in fact left-3
‘No, he has in fact left.’
As Fleisch (1974) put it: “ce n’est plus seulement l’accompli, l’action conduite à son terme, mais l’action finie qui laisse quelque chose de réalisé: un
résultat”. This “result” may or may not be what Parsons (1990) calls re-
90
Abdelkader Fassi Fehri
sultant state. It can be expressed through adjectival phrases, but I will limit
my investigation to verbal phrases, which are clearly in the Perf form. The
latter are normally translated by Pres forms in English or French:
(80) juc-tu.
became-hungry-I
(literally: ‘I hunger-ed’)
‘I am hungry/ J’ai faim.’
(81) s8adaq-ta.
were-right-you
(literally: ‘You right-ed’)
‘You are right/ Tu as raison.’
These sentences can obviously have Past or PresPerf readings, but the relevant reading we are interested in is the resultative one. One way to get the
latter reading is to think of the predicate as describing a kind of achievement, where the subject reaches the state of being hungry or being right.
Then the perfect phrase describes that state achieved. This could be a poststate. Resultatives can also be produced by passive perfect forms, such as
(82), or by anti-causative forms, such as (83):
(82) junn-a.
‘He got crazy.’
(83) n-kasara
l-ka?s-u.
anticaus-broke the-glass-nom
‘The glass got broken.’
For has been argued to modify a result state associated with a change of
state predicate. If Acc-d is the counterpart of for, then we expect it to serve
as a discriminating diagnostic for distinguishing predicates that have an
accessible resultant state from those that do not. The contrast is illustrated
by the following pair of examples:
(84) fatah8-tu
l-baab-a
saacatayni.
opened-I
the-door-acc two hours
‘have opened the door for two hours.’
(85) sallam-tu r-risaalat-a
(* saacatayni).
delivered-I the-letter-acc (* two hours)
Note that mund#u-d is not discriminatory in this respect:
(86) fatah8-tu
l-baab-a
mund#u saacatayni.
Arabic perfect and temporal adverbs
91
opened-I
the-door-acc since
two hours
‘I have opened the door since two hours.’
(87) sallam-tu r-risaalat-a
mund#u saacatayni.
delivered-I the-letter-acc since
two hours
‘I have delivered the letter since two hours.’
I postulate that Acc-d modifies a Perf of Res in the sense of Parsons
(1990), while mund#u-d modifies a post-state.
3. Summary and Conclusion
I am now in a position to be able to summarize: (a) what T/A verbal morphology contributes (ambiguously) to temporal meanings, (b) what contributions are made by adverb specifications, and finally (c) how the combinations of the two ingredients lead to disambiguation of T/A morphology
or T/A adverbials.
3.1.
T/A morphology
The picture that emerges from what has been discussed so far is as follows:
IPFV
PFV
XNPERF
PERF
RES
PRES
Pres
(Reporter’s) Pres
Past
Perf
Perf
PAST
Past Imperf
Past
Past Perf
Past Perf
Past Perf
FUT
Pres
Pres
Pres Perf
Pres Perf
Pres Perf
The following clarifications are in order. First, I have used Past/Pres, and
Perf/Imperf to designate the same T/A morphology, in order to be neutral
with respect to its interpretation, and also to facilitate the interpretation of
the table for the Indo-European reader. The use of only one pair of them
would obscure the picture. Second, designations with two separate terms
(e.g. Pres Perf) refer to analytic forms; the others are simple or synthetic.
Finally, I have omitted habituals, iteratives, generics, etc. from this table,
which does not pretend to be exhaustive.
3.2.
T/A adverbs or particles
92
Abdelkader Fassi Fehri
Consider first the particle qad. As observed above, it can be a Perf detector
(or a Perfect level specifier; = PL), or a Tense detector, when it is a modal
level (ML). The opposition addressed here is between PresPerf and Past:
qad
PL
ML
PAST
PERF
+
+
Consider now mund#u (= mun henceforth). Mun-t and mun-d will be treated separately:
(a) Mun-t:
As was clarified above, the main distinctive feature of mun-t is whether it
specifies RB or LB of RT or of the Perfect construction (PL). An stands
here for analytic or complex forms, and Sy for synthetic or simple forms:
Mun-t
IPFV
PFV
PRES
LB
RB
PAST
An: LB
Sy: RB
PERF
LB
RB
XNPERF
LB
LB & RB
RES
RB/PL
(b) Mun-d:
Mun-d
IPFV
IPFV
3.3.
PRES
+
PAST
+
*
PERF
+
+
POST-S
+
+
Conclusion
We have seen how the form of the simple Past expresses not only PAST,
but also various meanings of PresPerf, including PRESPERF, XNPERF,
POSTSTATE or RESPERF, but not FUTPERF. On the other hand, analytic PresPerf expresses FUTPERF (among other meanings, which I have not
fully investigated here), but not PRESPERF. Temporal adverbs and particles have been shown to be just as ambiguous as T/A morphology, but they
are T/A dependent, and hence can be disambiguated depending on the temporal context. I have examined the distribution and interpretation behavior
of qad, which is ambiguously PL or ML, but which becomes unambiguous
in appropriate syntactic configurations. Likewise, a durational/positional
distinction has been postulated to account for the behavior of mund#u.
Mund#u-t turns out to behave differently depending on whether it collocates with PFV or IPFV tenses. With the former, it specifies the RB of the
time span it introduces, but with the latter it specifies its LB. Furthermore,
Arabic perfect and temporal adverbs
93
PAST and PRESPERF collocating with this adverbial are clearly distinguishable. On the other hand, mund#u-d excludes Perfective tenses, and
hence PAST, which is associated with PFV. But Imperfective PRESPERF
collocates with the latter adverb, just as PRES does. Finally, Acc-d adverbs
have been shown to be combinable with PAST, but not PRES or Imperfective PRESPERF, and they serve as a diagnostic for identifying change of
state predicates having a resultant state. It is expected that this dual description of T/A morphology and temporal adverb specifications will prove
to be more promising for capturing how languages express TR than a single dimension description.
Notes
1. This study elaborates on previous work of mine (cf. Fassi Fehri (2001, 2000), as
well as (1993)). It is particularly influenced by Arnim von Stechow’s (2002;
=AvS) work on the semantics of the Perfect and typically the German seit.
2. This methodology is currently becoming popular among linguists. For example,
AvS (2002, p.1)) adopts the view that progress can be made “… only by a careful investigation of the meanings of temporal adverbials and by stating their
formal semantics in a way which is precise enough to test empirical predictions”.
3. Arabic verbo-temporal morphology contrasts two finite forms characterized by
Person placement (as a suffix for Past, and prefix for non-Past or Pres), internal
vocalic changes of the verb stem, and (suffixed) Mood marking in the Pres (and
its absence in the Past). These forms contribute to mark Mood, T, and Asp interactions. See Fassi Fehri (1996) for detail.
4. See Giorgi & Pianesi (1997) as well as Schmitt (2001) for different analyses of
the Portuguese Perf.
5. Cf. Ogihara (1995) and Abusch (1997), among others. Cf. also Higginbotham’s
(2000a) analysis of SOT, based on anaphoricity.
6. The Arabic stative counterpart to (18) read as anaphoric is (i), where no copula
surfaces:
(i) qaal-a
l-ii
?inna-hu
mariid-un.
said-3
to-me
that-him
sick
‘He said to me that he is sick.’
When the past copula is used, no “present-under-past” reading is possible:
(ii) qaal-a
l-ii
?inna-hu
kaan-a mariid-an.
said-3
to-me
that-him
was-3
sick-acc
‘He said to me that he was sick.’
7. Compare their examples (17) and (21), p. 349.
8. GP (2001), who analyze quite similar contrasts in Italian, reach a similar conclusion. Italian simple Past and Perfect are Perfective, and they contrast with
94
Abdelkader Fassi Fehri
Past Imperfect, which is Imperfective. The former tenses cannot be extended
(unless the interpretation is different, as indicated). See e.g. the contrasts in their
examples (22) and (23).
9. If we follow e.g. Klein (1994, 1999), then Perf is treated as Asp, on a par with
Pfv, although Perf is normally higher in structure than Pfv, as in English John
has been eating an apple. In other theories, it is treated as “relative tense” in the
sense of Comrie (1985), or T2 (cf. e.g. Giorgi & Pianesi (1997)). In such a case,
two Rs can be postulated, R1 and R2, as proposed explicitly in Cinque (1999),
following an approach initiated by Sten Vikner (1985). The two Rs approach
has various advantages, among which is the fact that it makes room for the representation of the future perfect of the past (as in He would have worked). That
approached is implicitly adopted here, although details will not be addressed. I
will only place Perf here as higher than Pfv (the genuine Asp). Cf. Cinque
(1999) for crosslinguistic motivation, as well as Fassi Fehri (2000 & 2001) for
justification in Arabic grammar.
10. Klein’s (1994) aspectual relations can be simplified as follows:
- RT (= his TT, or Topic Time) is a subinterval of ET, or is (properly) included in it;
- RT contains ET;
- RT follows ET;
- RT precedes ET.
11. e is an event or a state; (e) is the time of e, i.e. the interval from the beginning
of e till the end of e; v is the type of events, i that of states.
12. Simple definitions are provided e.g. by Klein (1994):
(i)
PAST: (some subinterval of) RT is BEFORE UT;
(ii)
FUTURE: RT is AFTER UT;
(iii) PRESENT: RT is SIMULTANEOUS TO, or CONTAINS UT.
13. Note that the “participle” of the thematic verb may be taken as the source for
licensing PRES, PERF, and even PFV when the PresPerf is interpreted as
such. This observation is based on the fact that the sole auxiliary “be” is not
selective, and has presumably no “Perf content”, unlike what has been proposed for “have”. See Wunderlich (1997) for a quite illuminating discussion
on the contributions of auxiliaries and participles to temporal meanings, depending on crosslinguistic lexical differences.
14. AvS claims that this is the simplest analysis, going back at least to Prior
(1967). Cf. the reference there.
15. For the U/E distinction of Perfects, see McCawley (1971), McCoard (1978),
Dowty (1979), Mittwoch (1988), Vlach (1993), among others. Iatridou, Anagnostopoulo, & Izvorski (2001) provide formulations of the two readings and
their paraphrases, which if applied to this example, read as follows:
U-reading
(i) a. There is a time span (Perftsp) whose LB is in 1990 and whose RB is
UT, and throughout that tsp He lives in Berlin.
b. i (LB = 1990) & RB = Now & t  i (Ev (t))).
Arabic perfect and temporal adverbs
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
95
E-reading
(ii) a. There is a tsp (Perftsp) whose LB is in 1990 and whose RB is UT,
and in that tsp is an ev of his living in Berlin.
b. i (LB = 1990) & RB = Now & t  i (Ev (t))).
On further refinements, as well as a characterization of English “since”, see
Von Fintel & Iatridou (2002).
Musan attributes her examples to Wolfgang Klein (p.c.). Her analysis of the
PresPerf differs obviously from Löbner’s, who argues that the tense semantics
of the latter is not uniformly PRES (Perf), but can be PAST (non-Perf) as
well.
See Fassi Fehri (1993) for detail.
The two positions are normally taken to be ET or RT, but they could be two
RTs, as pointed out in fn. 9 above. I will assume the latter approach, which
takes into account the “tense” dimension of Perf.
Note that the ambiguity problem appears to be solved differently in languages
having a general analytic Perf, such as German or French. Musan (2001), for
example, who discusses similar facts in German, acknowledges an asymmetrical behavior of adverbs with PresPerf: Pres and Fut Advs target RT, whereas
Past Advs target only ET. But this limitation of the Past Adv to ET is not motivated in view of the data discussed by Löbner (2002), on the one hand, and
the RT level of Past Advs occurring with PAST, on the other hand.
For a discussion of the behavior of such adverbs in other languages see the
articles of Arosio, Rathert, Giannakidou, Veloudis and Iatridou et al. in this
volume.
Constructions like (i) are also interpreted as PresPerf:
(i) qul-tu
haad#aa mund#u
zamanin
tawiil-in.
said-I
this
since
time
long
‘I have said this a long time ago.’
Note that PAST is compatible with mund#u taking definite complements, but
these cases are analyzed differently, as positional adverbs, which introduce a
time span located somewhere in the past. See subsection 2.1 below.
Comparable facts in Italian have been reported to me by Fabrizio Arozio. Per
adverbials are only compatible with Passato Remoto (PAST PFV), but not
with Pres or Imperf. Acc-D is then like Per. The incompatibility of PAST and
mund#u -d also resembles in part the behavior of Italian da: da can occur with
Pres and Imperf, but not with Passato Remoto. Cf. also Giorgi & Pianesi
(2001) for relevant discussion. Note that the PresPerf behavior with Acc-d depends on Aktionsart. See below subsection 2.1.3.
P is homogeneous if it has the subinterval property, i.e., for any t and t’, if t’ is
a subinterval of t and P is true of t, then P is true of t’ as well.
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A
Aspect
imperfective 71, 72–75, 76
perfect 76
perfective 71, 72–75, 76
L
Löbner, Sebastian 78
M
Musan, Renate 72
C
Comrie, Bernard 89
D
durative adverbs
mund#u ('since') 77, 82, 85, 88
E
existential Perfect 77
F
frequency adverbs
xams-a marraat-in ('five times') 77
futurate temporal adverbs 71
G
Giorgi, Alessandra 74
H
Heim, Irene 76
K
Klein, Wolfgang 76
P
Parsons, Terence 91
Partee, Barbara 76
Perfect
Extended-Now-Theory 77
futurate 71
in Arabic 71–72
in German 72
in Portugese 72
of result 90
Pianesi, Fabio 74
positional adverbs
tomorrow 78–79
yesterday 78–79
post-state 88, 89, 90, 91
R
Reichenbach, Hans 75, 76
resultant states 90
S
sequence-of-tense (SOT)
in Arabic 73
in English 73
Stechow, Arnim von 83
U
universal Perfect 77