Aspectualized futures in Indonesian and English (original) (raw)
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A morphological category whose primary function is to indicate future time reference is commonly called ‘future tense’. In descriptive practice, however, such morphological markers are often polysemous or multifunctional. I will provide a short typological overview of some of the problems involved, drawing examples from languages as different as Turkish, Basque, and the Papuan language Iatmul. The approach is first onomasiological: We single out the concept of future (tense/time) and look for its structural correlates in our language sample. The second step is semasiological, as we describe the polysemy and, where applicable, diachrony of the morphemes and constructions found through the onomasiological approach. In Turkish, we have two competing markers for the expression of future tense, which we may call ‘dispositive’ and ‘prospective’. Morphologically, they are both in the aspectual slot and therefore combine with present and past tense markers. The label ‘future tense’ is therefore problematic. Basque has a verbal morpheme -ke (glossable as potential or irrealis) appearing in a wide range of contexts having in common a certain distance from reality, such as future, epistemic assumption, conditional, or possibility/ability. In addition, Basque has an innovative periphrastic construction which is, like the Turkish markers, of aspectual origin and can combine with either present, past, or hypothetical ‘tense’. It is the latter, periphrastic construction, which has come to express future tense in most modern varieties of Basque, restricting -ke to its modal functions. Finally, the Papuan language Iatmul has a marker -kiya which not only covers future time reference, but also deontic modality and hypothetical statements. In addition, the language has innovative periphrastic constructions for a more determined future, which is a parallel to the Basque scenario. Interestingly, both Turkish and Iatmul have a reduced system in (some) subordinate clauses, which conflates the non-future/realis categories, but leaves the future/irrealis category intact. For linguistic theory, these observations invite two hypotheses. First, the tendency of future time markers to expand into the broad domain of irrealis makes them diachronically unsuitable for the expression of future events that are felt to have a closer connection with the reality of the speech situation, such as intentions. Second, the label ‘tense’ is often problematic for those markers of future time reference which are morphologically and/or semantically akin to aspectual and modal categories. A more adequate concept is therefore that of the situation perspective, which includes localization in time and with respect to reality. Tense, aspect, and mood should be seen as interacting prototypical categories within that macrocategory.
This paper discusses the linguistic phenomenon of grammaticalization in relation to the development of the future tense marker k1´ in Kaakyi (Kwa, Niger Congo). Focusing on some characteristic features of grammaticalization such as metaphorical extension, phonetic reduction, morphosyntactic reduction and the fusion of elements, the paper examines the paths along which the future tense marker has developed. First, it shows the extension of the meaning of the time adverbial ɔ̀k1´ ‘tomorrow’, to the functional morpheme, k1´-, expressing future time. Second, it demonstrates the loss in the morphological and syntactic properties of ɔ̀k1´ and a gain in some properties characteristic of its use as a functional morpheme. Third, two of Hopper’s (1991) principles of grammaticalization, divergence and decategorization, are shown to be applicable in the development of the marker. Kaakyi appears to be the only Kwa language to have so far been identified as deriving its future tense marker from a temporal adverb. Keywords: De-categorization; Divergence; Future marker; Grammaticalization; Kaakyi; Temporal marker
Allative-future syncretism in Malayic languages and beyond
In this paper, David Gil (MPI Leipzig) and I describe allative futures without verbs of motion in a number of Malayic (Austronesian) varieties. These - and similar - constructions are interesting for the grammaticalization of future tenses, because they show that verbs of motion are not necessary for future tenses to grammaticalize from allative constructions. Moreover, unlike more familiar allative futures, the Malayic constructions do not involve simplification of a biclausal structure into a monoclausal one.
ARKA, I Wayan, 2013. 'On the typology and syntax of TAM in Indonesian'. In John BOWDEN (ed.), Tense, aspect, mood and evidentiality in languages of Indonesia. NUSA 55. Pages [Permanent URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10108/74324\] On the typology and syntax of TAM in Indonesian I Wayan ARKA Australian National University/Universitas Udayana This paper discusses Indonesian tense-aspect-modality (TAM): its typology as well as its structural and semantic properties. It is demonstrated that Indonesian TAM is of the morphosemantic and contextual type. While having no grammatical TAM, Indonesian shows a finiteness constraint. Certain control verbs such as ingin 'wish' take truncated complements where finite auxiliaries akan/sudah/sedang 'will/already/in the process of' are not allowed. The paper discusses the morphosemantic TAM associated with =nya nominalisation. It is argued that this nominalisation is one of the constructional resources used to imply a past temporal axis. There is evidence that certain structures involved in =nya nominalisation are of the equational-identificational type, while others are of the adjunct type.
An Extended Study on Tense and Aspect Markers in Pagu
Journal of Language and Literature
This paper revisits four clitics of Pagu (a West-Papuan language spoken in North Halmahera, Indonesia) those that have been described as Tense and Aspect markers (Wimbish 1991): -oka, -ou -osi, and -uli. The first one is considered a tense marker for ‘non-future’ time, while the other three are aspect markers for ‘perfective’, ‘imperfective’, and ‘repetitive’ respectively. Following a metatypy approach (Ross 2006; 2001), I argue that while these clitics have the tense-aspect functions, at the same time under a unified analysis, each should have an extended function vis. a ‘locational marker of space and time’, ‘confirmative’, ‘durative’, and ‘repetitive presupposition marker’, respectively. These meanings and functions are based on the speakers’ interpretation of them in the local lingua franca (a variety of the North Maluku Malay). This supports Bowden’s (2012) argument that the indigenous languages of North Halmahera (Papuan) have influenced the present varieties of Malay spoken a...
Tense and Aspect Markers of Cirebon Javanese
Proceedings of the Twelfth Conference on Applied Linguistics (CONAPLIN 2019), 2020
This paper examines tense and aspects markers in the Javanese dialect of Cirebon. This language is included Western Malayo-Polynesian, Austronesian, spoken in West Java, Indonesia. Varieties of Javanese display a wide range of variation not only in lexicon and pronunciation but also in various aspects markers. This paper identifies three aspect markers in Cirebon Javanese: wis, lagi, and arep. Aspect marker wis expresses Perfect Aspect and comes before Verb. Wis comes before Adjective. Besides, Wis cannot be a past tense or a perfective aspect marker. Lagi expresses Progressive and Past-Progressive. It cannot be a progressive aspect marker. Arep expresses Future, with differences between arep expressing will or be going to, and arep that expresses wish. Cirebon Javanese has a different vocabulary from other Javanese dialects. However, for aspect markers, Cirebon Javanese's aspect markers are similar to standard Javanese's aspect markers.
The Systematic Elements Underlying the Expression of Futurity in English: An ESL Perspective
The acquisition of the English Tense/Aspect (TA) system has long been identified as a source of ongoing difficulty for students of English as a Second Language (ESL). It is particularly complex where futurity is concerned, given the ten or more means of conveying eventualities in this temporal zone. A review of ten ESL grammar texts indicates that students are often led to believe that some futurity forms are interchangeable. A further problem is seen in the common ‘silo’ approach that fails to distinguish between the meaning/s and use/s of forms, thus allowing a confusing degree of implied overlap to remain unaddressed. The goal of this theoretical research is to explicate and disambiguate six futurity forms by means of a set of ten criteria aimed at creating an individual profile for each structure. These are meaning/use, temporality, modality, context/genre, aspect, schedulability and pre-determinability, agency, locus of control, register, and the possible requirement of a temporal adverbial. The findings here indicate that no two futurity forms are interchangeable. Moving beyond the notion that temporal location and grammatical rules can account for the range of forms available, central to this discussion is the primacy of speaker perspective. In other words, the speaker brings a perspective to any utterance, which allows for a degree of structural choice. Given the inherently unactualised nature of the future, they have a range of available viewpoints on any propositional content, e.g., ranging from strong epistemic force to weak prediction, or from a sense of personal control to one of externally imposed agency. This research claims that an understanding of English tense and aspect must address the concepts underlying the system as a whole, most especially those not easily discernible from input. The purpose here is ultimately to ease students’ learning load by creating six individual futurity-form profiles, so that ESL students can disambiguate these structures and move beyond the common belief that will + V is the default means of communicating future propositions. It is hoped that this will contribute towards enabling learners to create and access future temporal meaning accurately and effectively, i.e., assist them in taking possession of the English language and expressing their own meaning. Keywords: tense, aspect, futurity, temporality, agency, perspective, modality, ESL, context
Philippe Grangé - Aspect and modality in Indonesian The case of sudah, telah, pernah, and sempat
2010
In this paper, I describe four Indonesian aspect markers, sudah, telah, pernah, and sempat, showing that the main opposition between them relies not only on their aspectual meanings, but also on the various modalities they express. The opposition between the very frequent markers sudah and telah is analysed in detail. The syntactic and semantic survey shows that these two markers are not synonyms in most contexts.