Chapter 49: Tense-aspect systems

Feature information for this chapter can be found in feature 49.

1. Feature description

Languages may have different kinds of tense-aspect systems. In this feature, we do not look at the whole range of possible aspect and tense categories. Regarding tense, we look only at present and past situations; in the aspectual domain, we restrict ourselves to the opposition of perfective vs. imperfective.

Tense concerns the order relations that a situation denoted by a verb may have with the moment of utterance or another temporal-deictic moment of reference. Three relations are distinguished: anteriority, simultaneity, and posteriority.

Grammatical aspect is understood here as referring to the marking of the internal temporal structure of an event (beginning, middle, and end). The imperfective aspect refers to a point of time within the boundaries (beginning, end) of an event. In narrative texts, imperfective markers are often used to refer to backgrounded events. The perfective aspect refers to the whole situation, with beginning, middle, and end. Perfectively marked stative verbs may also refer to the beginning of the state (inchoative function). In narrative texts, perfective aspect markers – which in pidgin and creole languages are mostly zero-markers – often refer to foregrounded events (story-line events).

Note that there are other aspectual categories like resultative or completive, but these are disregarded for this feature.

2. The values

We distinguish the following four values:

Purely aspectual system10
Purely temporal system1
Mixed aspectual-temporal system56
No or only one tense or aspect marker8
Representation:75

A purely aspectual system (value 1) only has a perfective aspect marker (possibly realized as a zero morpheme) that normally refers to perfective past situations, and an imperfective marker that can be used for both present and past situations (ongoing process, current state, or habitual event).

Purely aspectual systems are found in five Southeast Asian Portuguese- and Spanish-based languages, in two English-based languages, in two Malay-based languages, as well as in Yimas-Arafundi Pidgin. In the examples below, the first or first two show the use of an imperfective marker for present and past time reference, while the last example shows a perfective past situation expressed by a perfective marker.

(1)
a.
Eli
3sg
ta
ipfv
papiá
speak
ku
with
John.
John
He is talking with John. / He was talking with John.
b.
Eli
3sg
ja
pfv
bai
go
mar
sea
onti
yesterday
anoti.
night
He went fishing last night.
(2)
a.
Éste
dem
el
art
ómbre
man
kon
with
kyen
whom
tu
2sg
ta-konversá.
ipfv-talk
This is the man you are talking to. / This is the man you were talking to.
b.
Éle
3sg
ya-matá
pfv-kill
pwérko
pig
gat
really
alyá
there
gránde.
big
S/he killed a really big pig there.
(3)
a.
Dong
3pl
ada
prog
makang.
eat
They are eating.
b.
Katong
1pl
ada
prog
dudu
sit
tado-tado
quiet~quiet
[...].
[...]
We were sitting very quietly [...].
c.
Dong
3pl
su
pfv
makang
eat
deng
and
balong
not.yet
galap
dark
lai.
also
They have eaten, and it is not dark yet.
(4)
a.
Mən
3sg
manba
pl
ambi
eat.dep
ta-nan.
prog-nfut
They are eating. / They were eating.
b.
Mən
3sg
manba
pl
ambi
eat.dep
məndəkə-nan.
finish-nfut
They have already eaten.
(5)
a.
Wiʧples
where
art
faia
fire
prog
bɛn?
burn
Where is the fire burning?
b.
1pl
prog
dig
dig
àm
3sg
wit
with
pikaks
pickaxe
[...].
[...]
We were digging it out with pickaxes [...].
c.
3pl
Ø
pfv
go
go
to
Dagɔmba
Dagomba
ʧif
chief
haus.
house
They went to the Dagomba chief's house.

Note that in most languages with a purely aspectual system, the perfective marker is an overt marker; the exception to this is Ghanaian Pidgin English.

Languages with a purely temporal system (value 2) only mark present, past, and future situations, regardless of aspect. The only language exhibiting this feature is Afrikaans.

(6)
a.
Hy
3sg.m
Ø
prs
weier
refuse
dit.
3sg.n
He refuses it.
b.
Hy
3sg.m
het
pst
dit
3sg.n
ge-weier.
ptcp-refuse
He refused it. / He has refused it.
c.
Hy
3sg.m
sal
fut
dit
3sg.n
weier.
refuse
He will refuse it.

Languages with a mixed temporal-aspectual system (value 3) are the most widespread type. (For this value, it is not important whether tense marking is obligatory, optional, or bound to certain contexts.) In these languages, imperfective marking can be combined with a present/past distinction, as the (a) and (b) examples below show.

(7)
a.
I
3sg
di
prog
waka
walk
fo
loc
fores.
forest
S/he is walking in the forest.
b.
I
3sg
bi
pst
di
prog
waka
walk
fo
loc
fores.
forest
S/he was walking in the forest.
c.
A
1sg
Ø
pfv
si-am.
see-3sg
I saw him/her.
(8)
a.
Mátará
rain.pl
gi-wága.
prog-fall
It is raining.
b.
Úwo
3sg
kan
pst
g-wónusi
prog-speak
morú.
Moru
He was speaking Moru.
c.
Núbi
Nubi
Ø
pfv
wósul
arrive
Mombása
Mombasa
bédir.
early
The Nubi arrived early in Mombasa.
(9)
a.
I-xu-ni
go-prog-1sg
kaza-mu.
house-all
I am going home.
b.
Kaza-mu
house-all
i-xu-rka-ni.
go-prog-pst-1sg
I was going home.
c.
Yo-ga
1sg-top
bini-ngi
come-2sg
zi-ka-ni.
say-pst-1sg
I said that you should come.

The difference between a purely aspectual system and a mixed tense-aspect system lies in the domain of the imperfective: purely aspectual systems cannot mark the difference between present imperfective and past imperfective, whereas mixed tense-aspect systems do.

Value 4 (no or only one tense and aspect marker) refers to languages that use only time adverbs or have only one overt tense or aspect marker (future markers are not relevant for this feature). Value 4 occurs in Chinuk Wawa, Eskimo Pidgin, and Pidgin Hindustani (have no tense and aspect markers), in Chinese Pidgin English (has only a perfective aspect marker hab), in Chinese Pidgin Russian (has only a perfective suffix –la), in Pidgin Hawaiian (has only an imperfective marker ana), in Sango (has only a habitual marker ka), and in Tayo (has only a progressive marker atra nde).

3. Distribution

Whereas mixed temporal-aspectual systems prevail in nearly all regions, purely aspectual systems are found almost exclusively in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with the exception of Ghanaian Pidgin English in the Atlantic area. The fact that the Southeast Asian languages exhibit purely aspectual systems is due to Malay and Philippine substrate or adstrate influence.