[Lingtyp] R: Non-present lexemes

[Tom Koss]

Hi Christian,

very true - the perfective aspect does not refer to the non-present in itself, its semantics simply clashes with a present interpretation in most instances. This is also illustrated by the fact that in some languages (e.g., Koiari [Trans-New Guinea]), the perfective can express, or is even the default way to express present-time reference on stative verbs. Whether an utterance like "s/he knows (right now)" should then actually be interpreted as "s/he has understood (in the past)" is yet another question, of course..

So indeed, I might need to remove Slavic perfectives/aorists from the list of non-present grams. Thanks for pointing that out.

Best,
Tom
________________________________
From: Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> on behalf of Christian Lehmann <christian.lehmann at uni-erfurt.de>
Sent: Wednesday, December 7, 2022 12:05 PM
To: lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Subject: Re: [Lingtyp] R: Non-present lexemes


CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.


Dear Tom,

the semantic property you are interested in may be shared by the perfective aspect of more languages. Another one is Cabecar (Chibchan). Similarly as in Russian (salvo errore), the perfective most of the time refers to past events, but reference to future events is possible. It seems that such a behavior of an aspect morpheme is not quite the same as the semantics of temporal adverbs that have been adduced. These latter do refer to points or periods of time, whereas the perfective views the event in question in its entirety, including the boundaries of its extension in time. This is straightforwardly possible for past events, but requires additional interpretive effort for future events. What I am saying is that the perfective aspect may not quite meet the requirement of your initial quest about "time reference".

Best,
Christian
--

Prof. em. Dr. Christian Lehmann
Rudolfstr. 4
99092 Erfurt
Deutschland

Tel.:   +49/361/2113417
E-Post: christianw_lehmann at arcor.de<mailto:christianw_lehmann at arcor.de>
Web:    https://www.christianlehmann.eu<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.christianlehmann.eu%2F&data=05%7C01%7Ctom.koss%40uantwerpen.be%7C689ad1c91ced4fd65d7708dad843084e%7C792e08fb2d544a8eaf72202548136ef6%7C0%7C0%7C638060079807056608%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C2000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=ZCa8euAbX%2BSnVaD2B36PSjPUIs409iRUP%2BRTu57b73Q%3D&reserved=0>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lingtyp/attachments/20221207/2dea77c8/attachment.htm>