18.2065, Books: Syntax/Morphology/Semantics: Poudel

Mon Jul 9 14:55:55 UTC 2007

LINGUIST List: Vol-18-2065. Mon Jul 09 2007. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 18.2065, Books: Syntax/Morphology/Semantics: Poudel

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1)
Date: 04-Jul-2007
From: Ulrich Lueders < lincom.europa at t-online.de >
Subject: Tense, Aspect and Modality in Nepali and Manipuri: Poudel

-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Mon, 09 Jul 2007 10:54:54
From: Ulrich Lueders < lincom.europa at t-online.de >
Subject: Tense, Aspect and Modality in Nepali and Manipuri: Poudel 

Title: Tense, Aspect and Modality in Nepali and Manipuri 
Series Title: LINCOM Studies in Asian Linguistics 73  

Publication Year: 2007 
Publisher: Lincom GmbH
	   http://www.lincom.eu

Author: Tikaram Poudel

Paperback: ISBN:  9783895861864 Pages: 282 Price: Europe EURO 72.00

Abstract:

This work explores the morpho-syntax and semantics of tense, aspect and
modality in Nepali and Manipuri. We show that a sentence in natural
language consists of a proposition, the element of modality and temporal
reference. The proposition consists of the verb and its arguments. The
notion of modality encodes different attitudes and judgments of the
speaker. The temporal reference refers to whether the action is completed
or on going and whether the state or the action is prior, simultaneous or
posterior to the speech time.

Traditionally moods and modal verbs were considered to be the subdivisions
of modality. We show that modality is rather a semantic notion with its
subdivisions of realis and irrealis. Not only moods and modal verbs, but
also inherently modality verbs, express this modal contrast. Declarative
mood is the default way of expressing realis modality, on the other hand,
irrealis modality, the marked category, is expressed by nondeclarative in
Nepali and irrealis in Manipuri. Modal verbs express different sorts of
modality such as epistemic and deontic. Modality verbs cast different modal
senses on their complements.

The notion of aspect is discussed within the subdivision of inherent
aspect, perfectivity, terminativity and sequentiality. The discussion on
inherent aspect explores the effect of inherent meanings of verbal group on
the aspectual distinction. The term perfectivity is limited within the
morphological level and includes the notions such as completives,
anteriors, resultatives and past time markers. It contrasts with
imperfectivity such as genericity, durativity and habituality. The term
terminativity operates in the clausal level and has both verbal group and
nominal arguments in its scope. The term sequentiality is a discourse level
property and we illustrate it from the textual analysis from modern
Manipuri fiction. We show that non-stative verbs marked with perfectivity
and having the feature of terminativity move the story line forward
functioning as the foregrounding property of discourse.

The study concludes that tense is not a universal category, but a device
languages employ to encode the relationship between speech time and event
time. Nepali uses tense as one of such devices and Manipuri uses realis
mood and other temporal means for the same purpose as it does not have
grammatical way of marking tense. 

Linguistic Field(s): Morphology
                     Semantics
                     Syntax

Subject Language(s): Meitei (mni)
                     Nepali (nep)

Written In: English  (eng)

See this book announcement on our website: 
http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=30160

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