8.147, Disc: English Future

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LINGUIST List:  Vol-8-147. Fri Jan 31 1997. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 8.147, Disc: English Future

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1)
Date:  Fri, 31 Jan 1997 12:52:19 -0500 (EST)
From:  Carl.Mills at UC.Edu
Subject:  The English Future

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Fri, 31 Jan 1997 12:52:19 -0500 (EST)
From:  Carl.Mills at UC.Edu
Subject:  The English Future

In his interesting posts concerning Ebonics, Ron Anderson writes

>Those who read in First Grade give future tense markers, those who
>don't read don't give future tense markers, typically.

Is it just me--am I being a middle-aged nitpicker--or does anyone elso
differ with the notion that English has "future tense markers?"  Maybe
it's because I have worked with a language or two that have real
(surface, morphological) future tense markers, but I tend to find the
conflation of time, which is semantic, with tense, which (I believe) is
syntactic, a bit off-putting.  Or does the fact that some languages,
English among them, tend to indicate futurity periphrastically--through
the use of certain modal auxiliaries, the use of time adverbials,
etc.--matter when we are talking about such matters?

Carl Mills

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