LL-L "Grammar" 2006.03.30 (03) [E]

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30 March 2006 * Volume 03
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From: Heiko Evermann <heiko.evermann at gmx.de>
Subject: LL-L "Grammar" 2006.03.30 (01) [E]

Hi everyone,
> I would say: in general in Germanic languages the
> (past) perfect form is the form typical for narrative
> texts;
> and the preterite form is the form typical for
> descriptive texts.
> (and often when using preterite forms in narrative
> texts you make the narr. text more pregnant.)
What I would really like to know is how this tense system developed. German
only has two "real" (sorry, I do not know a better word) tenses: Present
tense and Past tense. All other tenses are made using auxiliary constructs.
The situation is similar in English and (from what I know) in Gothic.

Other Indo-European languages have a lot more "real" tenses, e.g. Latin and
Greek.

Which system is the "original"? Is the Latin Future tense a later 
development
or is the Germanic pattern an oversimplification of an original more complex
system?

Kind regards,

Heiko Evermann

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Grammar

Hi, Heiko!

I'm glad you wrote "original" in quotes.  ;-)

It's not necessarily a case of "simple" grammar developing into "complex" 
grammar.  On the contrary, ancestors of modern languages tend to have more 
complicated morphologies, many forms having been replaced by compound 
tenses.  The shift from Latin to modern Romance languages is a good example, 
as is the shift from Vedic Sanskrit to today's Inro-Aryan languages.  By and 
large, this applies in the Germanic group as well.  Outside Indo-European, 
the same tends to hold.  For instance, among the Tungusic languages the most 
"developed" member Manchu (the only one with a written literature) has the 
simplest morphology while those of the Tungusic languages of hunters, 
gatherers and reindeer herders (e.g., Even, Evenki, Nanai, Negidal, Oroch, 
Orok, Solon, Ulch and Udege) have extremely complex grammatical 
morphologies, distinguishing not only the "usual" tenses and moods but also 
for instance action that is iterative, intensive, temporary, habitual, 
witnessed or reported, or a combination of these.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron 

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