203:), but in addition they place the reference point in the past and in the future, respectively, relative to the time of speaking. For example, "John had left" implies that the reference point is in the past relative to the time of speaking, and that John's leaving occurred before that point. "John will have left" is similar, except that the reference point is in the future relative to the time of speaking. In the case of the
229:
places John's leaving in the past relative to the (past) reference point, namely the time of Jane's reported utterance. Similarly, "Jane said that John would leave" places John's leaving in the future relative to the (past) time of Jane's utterance. (This does not apply in all languages or even in
170:
refers to a past time relative to the moment of John's expected utterance, and not necessarily to a past time relative to the moment of Tom's present utterance. The same is found in some languages even in past indirect speech (where
English tends to preserve absolute tense or use absolute-relative
76:
In the case of absolute tense, the grammatical expression of time reference is made relative to the present moment. It has been pointed out that the term is somewhat misleading, since this kind of time reference is not truly absolute, but is relative to the moment of speaking.
187:
combines the functions of absolute tense and strict relative tense. It reflects both the position in time of the reference point relative to the moment of speaking, and the position in time of the described situation relative to the reference point.
46:) relative to "now" – the moment of speaking. In the case of relative tense, the time reference is construed relative to a different point in time, the moment being considered in the context. In other words, the reference point (or center of
151:. This indicates an ongoing state of affairs at the moment under discussion, which could be in the past, present or future relative to the moment of speaking. It can therefore be considered to be a relative present tense. (In
107:
is moved from the time of Jane's original utterance to that of Julie's current utterance. As will be seen below, however, this principle does not hold in all languages, and does not always apply even in
English.
284:
forms could be treated as combinations of perfect aspect with absolute tense. However, the proposal that aspect generally can explain relative tense has been argued against on the basis of cross-linguistic data.
171:
tense, as described in the previous and following sections). In
Russian, for example, the sentence "Jane said that she liked chocolate" would take the grammatical form "Jane said that she likes chocolate" (see
233:
Some languages lack absolute-relative tenses. In
Russian, for example, there is no pluperfect or future perfect; these meanings are expressed by absolute past or future tense respectively, with
95:
serves to preserve absolute tense. For example, if Jane says "I like chocolate", and Julie later reports that "Jane said that she liked chocolate", Julie's conversion of the present tense
53:
A further distinction has also been made between "strict relative" tense, which merely expresses time relative to the reference point, and "absolute-relative tense" (such as
175:), where "likes" refers to the present at the time of Jane's reported utterance, and not necessarily the present at the time at which the utterance is reported.
140:
expresses time relative to the reference point provided by the context, without indicating where that reference point lies relative to the present time.
80:
Most simple sentences in tensed languages exhibit absolute tense. For example, if Jane says "John went to the party", the use of the past tense (
442:
84:) implies that the event (John's going) took place at a time which is in the past relative to the moment of Jane's uttering the sentence.
296:
remarks that " seems to resemble a tense more than an aspect, since it does not affect the internal temporal contours of the situation."
57:), which expresses time relative to the reference point while also placing the reference point in time relative to the present moment.
50:) is the moment of discourse or narration in the case of absolute tense, or a different moment in the case of relative tense.
207:, the reference point is in the past, but the action is placed in the future relative to that point (it can be considered a
270:. Similarly, a form that places the action in the future relative to the reference point may be regarded as having either
435:
559:
281:
237:
or other lexical means being used, if required, to express temporal relations with specified reference points.
595:
590:
428:
245:
166:
placed in the future. If Tom says "John will say that he paid for the chocolate", the past tense
103:
implies a reference to past time relative to the time at which Julie is speaking – the center of
363:
477:
27:
162:
An example of a normally absolute tense being used relatively, in
English, is provided by
8:
212:
172:
546:
276:
249:
204:
199:. These both place the situation in the past relative to the reference point (they are
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451:
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148:
531:
516:
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484:
472:
467:
222:
163:
92:
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to refer to the perfect, and consider it under the heading of (relative) tense.
569:
541:
257:
211:). An example is found in "John would later return to the party" (although the
196:
156:
117:
379:
584:
499:
489:
387:
39:
34:. Absolute tense means the grammatical expression of time reference (usually
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in some instances. If Julie says "Jane said that John had left", the use of
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What is normally encompassed by the term "relative tense" is broken down by
462:
248:
proposed to analyze relative tense in terms of the grammatical category of
152:
143:
A verb form commonly offered as an example of such a relative tense is the
43:
536:
511:
293:
192:
54:
35:
420:
144:
234:
104:
47:
409:
Morphology: A Study of the
Relation between Meaning and Form
352:, Mouton de Gruyter (ed.), Walter de Gruyter 1995, p. 1246.
230:
all cases in
English, as noted in the preceding sections.)
582:
64:, while a relative future tense may be called a
547:Future in the past / Future perfect in the past
364:"Aspect vs. relative tense: the case reopened"
436:
60:A relative past tense is sometimes called an
443:
429:
361:
178:
411:, John Benjamins Publishing 1985, p. 160.
368:Natural Language & Linguistic Theory
348:Jacobs, Stechow, Sternefeld, Vennemann,
131:
16:Possible grammatical tense distinctions
583:
450:
424:
326:
324:
322:
240:
362:Bohnemeyer, Jürgen (1 August 2014).
221:Absolute-relative tense is used in
191:Common tenses of this type are the
13:
319:
155:it has developed into an absolute
26:are distinct possible uses of the
14:
607:
111:
71:
218:can also have other meanings).
87:In some cases, the operation of
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355:
342:
333:
306:
173:Indirect speech § Russian
1:
299:
7:
10:
612:
288:Some authors use the term
555:
527:
458:
380:10.1007/s11049-013-9210-z
185:absolute-relative tense
179:Absolute-relative tense
126:absolute-relative tense
565:Relative and absolute
339:Comrie (1985), p. 36.
330:Comrie (1985), p. 64.
316:, CUP 1985, p. 36 ff.
280:. He argued that the
138:strict relative tense
132:Strict relative tense
122:strict relative tense
28:grammatical category
596:Time in linguistics
350:Syntax. 2. Halbband
591:Grammatical tenses
452:Grammatical tenses
277:prospective aspect
241:Aspectual analysis
205:future-in-the-past
89:sequence of tenses
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312:Bernard Comrie,
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149:Classical Arabic
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532:Present perfect
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407:Joan L. Bybee,
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360:
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347:
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334:
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320:
311:
307:
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282:English perfect
272:posterior tense
256:as manifesting
243:
223:indirect speech
213:modal auxiliary
209:posterior tense
201:anterior tenses
181:
164:indirect speech
134:
114:
93:indirect speech
74:
66:posterior tense
17:
12:
11:
5:
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570:Periodic tense
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542:Future perfect
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374:(3): 917–954.
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318:
304:
303:
301:
298:
254:anterior tense
246:Wolfgang Klein
242:
239:
197:future perfect
180:
177:
157:non-past tense
133:
130:
118:Bernard Comrie
113:
112:Relative tense
110:
99:into the past
73:
72:Absolute tense
70:
62:anterior tense
24:absolute tense
20:Relative tense
15:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
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263:retrospective
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153:modern Arabic
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33:
29:
25:
21:
564:
417:
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403:
391:. Retrieved
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75:
65:
61:
59:
52:
23:
19:
18:
585:Categories
537:Pluperfect
495:Nonpresent
300:References
294:Joan Bybee
193:pluperfect
55:pluperfect
517:Hesternal
505:Hodiernal
485:Nonfuture
468:Crastinal
388:1573-0859
183:Comrie's
145:imperfect
136:Comrie's
473:Going-to
290:anterior
227:had left
195:and the
500:Present
490:Nonpast
393:14 June
259:perfect
235:adverbs
40:present
463:Future
386:
267:aspect
250:aspect
105:deixis
48:deixis
44:future
314:Tense
216:would
120:into
101:liked
32:tense
560:Fake
512:Past
478:Near
395:2024
384:ISSN
261:(or
168:paid
124:and
97:like
82:went
36:past
22:and
376:doi
274:or
159:.)
147:of
91:in
42:or
30:of
587::
382:.
372:32
370:.
366:.
321:^
265:)
128:.
68:.
38:,
444:e
437:t
430:v
397:.
378::
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