ON THE INTERPRETATION OF ASPECT AND TENSE IN CHIYAO, CHICHE'A AND ENGLISH John Alfred Clement Mapanje Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Ph.D in Linguistics University College London 1983 -2- ABSTRACT This study deals with the cross-linguistic interpretation of aspect and tense in natural languages which have superficially disparate morphological structure. It is argued that in Yao, Chea (Bantu languages) and English, where aspect for instance, is not as systematically grarnmaticalized as it is in Slavic, the interpretation of aspect and tense must be one which construes them as theoretical (conceptual) categories. We assume essentially that both aspect and tense are characterized by temporal primitives which are often though riot invariably, denoted by morphological markers. "Verbal aspect" in Slavic for example, is effectively defined by the temporal stretch encoded in (or signalled by) a productive system of afuixal marking. The temporal stretch is characteristically completive, inceptive, resumptive, durative, continuative, punctual, iterative etc. These aspectua]. time schemata have affinities with those assumed by philosophers and linguists like Vendler (1957), Kenny (1963), Dowty (1977, 1979) and others for the classification of verbs and verb phrases. These in turn are similar to the time schemata encoded by such categories as adverbials and noun phrases. Accordingly, though Yao, Chea and English -3-. might not mark aspect morphologically in the manner common in Slavic, the specification of aspect is assured by the semantic content of VPs, ADVs etc., thus facilitating a cross-linguistic treatment of the category. Correspondingly, "tense", which is a deictic category and is largely morphologized in Yao and Chea is also best understood when we examine the temporal structure of whole utterances. We take tense to be a category orthogonal to aspectual concepts like continuity, habituality, inception, completion etc. and which specifies how these are related to each other, in terms of whether or not they are anterior or posterior to or simultaneous with the speech time of utterances in question (Cf. Reichenbach, 19147; and followers). Traditional and model-theoretic treatments of these concepts have inadequacies which manifest themselves in the form of such problems as the "imperfective paradOx" (Cf. Dowty, ibid), the "gaps problem" (Cf. Bennett, 1981), the problem of the lack of difference in truth conditions between the "simple past" and "perfect" utterances when it is clear that some (intuitively semantic) difference between them exists etc. It is suggested that these issues be resolved within pregmatics of the Gricean (1968, 1975 etc) type as recently extended by Sperber & Wilson (1982, forthcoming). On the interpretation of aspect and tense in Yao, Che'a and English then, this study takes the view that two -4- factors are operative: semantic factors exemplified by the knowledge (or identification) of the time schemata encoded in morphological markers, words and constructions and the truth-conditional processing of the propositions thus expressed on the one hand, and pragmatic factors of their use (e.g. the "principle of relevance" of Sperber & Wilson, ibid.) which determine the choice of the appropriate construal of those utterances which are especially temporally indeterminate on the other. -5- ACKNOWLEDGE? IENTS I should like to express my gratitude to members of staff at the Department of Linguistics, University College London who have taught me linguistics almost from scratch throughout the three years that I have been an internal student there, and to my fellow research students with whom I fleshed out some of the issues here. I am particularly deeply indebted to Professor Neil Smith who not only supervised this work with the patience and rigour that others do not have, but who opened up a brand new world for me. If those precious hours he spent with me sorting out the linguistic issues from the "poetic ones" are not rewarded by aspects of this thesis, the fault is with the stars, and not the supervision The Association of Commonwealth Universities who gave me a three-year Commonwealth Scholarship in order to do the research that has led to this thesis, deserve mention. So do the frica Trust Fund, 1Ir W.K.Weinberg of Nansen Village, the Nala*i Government, and particularly Roy and Barbara Prangell all of whom helped my family and me in the crucial moments of our stay in the U.K. I will not name one other anonymous "friend" who calmed our nerves financially once. Sally Gilbert is also to be thanked for giving me a deadline in which she could type this thesis. -6- DEDICATION "Daddy, why do you always shout at us every time you come back from the library?" Judith-Dalitso, Wimbledon, London, SW.19. To my wife Mercy-Angela and our children Judith-]Jalitso, Lunda-Pilila, and Likambale- David, who have suffered the anxieties of what went into this thesis. -7- TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: Introduction •••••••••••••••••••••••• 11 Footnotes to Chapter one •.......,... 17 CHAPTER TWO: On marking, interpreting and understanding aspect (and tense) a c ro s S 1 angu a ge • • • • • • • . i g 2.0 Introduction , • . • . • • •• . • • , . • • • • • 20 2.1 A grammatical category across 1 anguage . 22 2.2 A note on aspectual markedness generally . • . • . 32 2.3 Towards a working definition of aspect ••..•......................... 45 2.4 Conclusions • • , • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 45 Footnotes to Chapter two 49 CHAPTER THREE: Verbal cateor1es, markers and aspect in Yao, Chea and English ••• 52 3 • 0 Introduction . • . • . • . • • . • . • • . • . 52 3.1 The limitations of the Vendlerian verbal categories .•....•.......•...• 54 3.2 The time schemata encoded in activities and states • • . • . • . • . • . 56 -8- 3.3 The essential difference between states and activities ............•... 63 3.4 The time schemata encoded in accomplishment and achievement VPs .... 68 3.4.3 Accomplishments and achievements asessentiallyevents ...............75 3.5 Verbal reduplication and iterative aspect in Yao and Che*a .............. 77 3.6 The time schemata encoded in temporal adverbials . 87 3.7 Aspectual marking in Yao and Chea ... 89 3.8 The sentential interpretation of aspect in Yao and Che*a •............ 98 3.9 Conclusion . • • 103 Footnotes to chapter three ••••••••• 106 CHAPTER FOUR: Tense markers 1 deictic adverbials and time interpretation in Yao, ChezaandEnglish 4.0 Introduction . • . • . • . 1 O 4.1 The morphological and lexical marking of tense •••••••.•...•...........•••• 110 4.1.1 The interpretation o± present time markers • . 1 1 1 4.1.2 The interpretation of past time markers . • • . 119 -9- 4.1.3 The difference between the "simple 121 past" and the "present perfect" 4.1 .4 The interpretation of future time •.. 126 4.1.5 Immediate past and future versus remote past and future • .. 129 4.2 An outline of the Reichenbachian interpretation of tense •••• • .. 132 4.2.1 Towards a unified treatment of aspect and tense . • . • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 136 4.3 Some limitations of the Reichenbachian model . • •. • . • . • • • • 142 Footnotes to chapter four ••••••... 146 CHAPTER FIVE: Some limitations of the truth-conditional treatment of aspect and tense ••••• .1 5 • 0 Introduction • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 5.1 The search for a recursive definition of truth • • . • . 1 51 5.1.1 The "gaps problem' 1 in the interpretation of aspect 155 5.1.2 The semantic resolution of the gaps problem •••••••••••••••••••••••••. 161 5.2 The "imperfective paradox" and its semantic treatment •••••••eS•••••.. 166 5.3 A few problem cases for the truth- conditional treatment of tense ••.... 171 -10- 5.3.1 The simple past versus the present perfect interpretation .....,.............. 17J 5.3.2 The simple future and the progressive future interpretation 174 5.4 Conclusion • • • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • • . 176 Footnotes to Chapter five 178 CHAPTER SIX: Towards a pragmatic interpretation of Indeterminate utterances for aspect and tense • , • • . 179 6.0 Introduction • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • , • • • • • • 179 6.1 Pragmatics in syntactic and semantic dascription • • • • • • • • • • • • • • , • • • • • • • • • • • • . 181 6.1.1 Choosing a relevant pragmatic framework 6.1.2 ttContext u and the "principle of relevance" • • • • , • • • • • • • • . 187 6.2 Towards a pragmatic treatment of temporally vague utterances 190 6.2.1 The imperfective paradox 190 6.2.2 The gaps problem 193 6.2.3 The simple past and perfect interpretation 195 6.2.4 The interpretation of future time 198 6.3 Conclusions . 201 6.4 General Conclusion • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • - 202 Footnotes to Chapter six 203 BIBLIOGRAPHY 205 -11- CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTI ON This study concerns the interpretation of aspect and tense in Yao, Chea and English. The treatment of these categories across Yao, Chea 2 (or the so-called "Bantu languages" generally) on the one hand and English on the other, is at first sight beset by several problems. The fact that the three languages have disparate morphological structure and that aspect, for instance, is a grammatical category which is characteristic of Slavonic languages and not Bantu, are two problems pertinent to the issue. We discuss these problems in the next chapter. But perhaps more immediate than these is the absence of established "typological" parameters expected to be adopted for any such cross-linguistic treatment. Comrie (1976) is the natural