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<span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0">Dear all, <o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></p>
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<span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0">I’m looking for any kind of linguistic item (TMA markers, particles, adverbials etc.) that can convey both past- and future-time reference but that do not appear in present contexts.
<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></p>
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<span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0">The items I’m looking for do not have to be “non-present tense” markers in the strict sense, i.e., bound morphemes which have non-present time reference as their core meaning - even though this would be most interesting
of course. They can also be more loosely connected to the verb phrase, have additional, more specific meanings, and/or be compatible with other tense markers.<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></p>
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<span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0">The only criterion is that the items in question allow for both past and future interpretations of the clauses they appear in (the choice between the two depending on non-linguistic or grammatical context), while a
present interpretation is generally <b class="ContentPasted0">not</b> possible. I would also be interested in languages where the expression of a certain grammatical category is similar in the past and future tense(s), while the present tense behaves differently
in some way (see e.g. the Awa Pit example below).<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></p>
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<span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0">Below are a few examples for the phenomenon I am referring to:<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></p>
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<li style="font-size:11pt"><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0" style="font-size: 11pt;">Nez Perce (Sahaptian) has a lexeme
</span><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0" style="font-size: 11pt;"><i class="ContentPasted0">watiisx
</i></span><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0" style="font-size: 11pt;">‘one day away’ that can mean ‘tomorrow’ or ‘yesterday’, depending on the tense marking in the respective clause (Deal 2010: 120). The same thing seems to happen with the lexeme
</span><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0" style="font-size: 11pt;"><i class="ContentPasted0">kel
</i></span><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0" style="font-size: 11pt;">in Hindi (Indo-Aryan)
</span><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="ContentPasted0">(Kachru 1997: 95)</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0" style="font-size: 11pt;"> and with
</span><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0" style="font-size: 11pt;"><i class="ContentPasted0">ejo
</i></span><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0" style="font-size: 11pt;">in Kinyarwanda (Bantu)
</span><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="ContentPasted0">(Nkusi 1995: 580)</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0" style="font-size: 11pt;">. All three languages have separate lexemes meaning ‘today’.</span><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0"><o:p class="ContentPasted0"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></o:p></span></li><li style="font-size:11pt"><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0" style="font-size: 11pt;">The lexeme
</span><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0" style="font-size: 11pt;"><i class="ContentPasted0">hibajata</i></span><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0" style="font-size: 11pt;"> in Jarawara (Arawá) is interpreted as ‘later today’ in the absence of
tense marking, and as </span><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="ContentPasted0">‘just now’ in combination with the immediate past marker
</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0" style="font-size: 11pt;"><i class="ContentPasted0">-ra
</i></span><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="ContentPasted0">(Dixon 2004: 224). There are no examples given where it is translated as ‘right now’ or ‘at this moment’.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic" class="ContentPasted0"><o:p class="ContentPasted0"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></o:p></span></span></li><li><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;" class="ContentPasted0">Awa Pit (Barbacoan) has several strategies to mark clausal negation. One of them, the
</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic" class="ContentPasted0"><a class="ContentPasted0"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">negative suffix
</span></a></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk118827188"><i><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0" style="font-size: 11pt;">-ma</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;" class="ContentPasted0">, indicates past-time reference in the absence
of tense marking, and future-time reference in combination with the future marker
</span><i><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0" style="font-size: 11pt;">-ni </span>
</i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;" class="ContentPasted0">(Curnow 1997: 332/33)</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;" class="ContentPasted0">. In my assessment, it cannot combine with the imperfective suffix
</span><i><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0" style="font-size: 11pt;">-mtu</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;" class="ContentPasted0">,</span><i><span lang="EN-GB" class="ContentPasted0" style="font-size: 11pt;">
</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt;" class="ContentPasted0">which is the default marker to express present-time reference in the language.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic" class="ContentPasted0"><o:p class="ContentPasted0"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></o:p></span></li></ul>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic" class="ContentPasted0"><br>
</span></p>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic" class="ContentPasted0">If you can think of similar examples in languages you are familiar with, I would be very interested in knowing more about them, so as to get a better idea about how common such items
with non-present semantics are cross-linguistically, and what their distribution might be. So far, I have mostly found them in the Americas.
<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></p>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic" class="ContentPasted0">Many thanks in advance!<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></p>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic"><o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></p>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic" class="ContentPasted0">Best wishes,<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language:NL-BE !msorm"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic"><span style="mso-prop-change:anonym 20221118T1325" class="ContentPasted0">Tom Koss<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></span></span></p>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-font-style:italic" class="ContentPasted0">PhD candidate at the University of Antwerp<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></p>
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