A REVIEW OF CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE ON TENSE AND ASPECT

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THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TENSE AND ASPECT

The close relationship between tense and aspect is widely acknowledged in linguistic research. This relation is based on the fact that the feature of temporality serves as a common denominator between the two, but in different ways (cf. Timberlake 1984, Klein 1995). For instance, in tense temporality is based on the moment of speaking. Thus, in the present tense, the moment of speech and the time location of a situation are simultaneous, in the past, the time location of a situation occurs before the moment of 61 speech and in the future, the time location of a situation occurs after the moment of speech. It is on this basis that the relevance of notion precedence and subsequence comes into the picture (Givon 2001). With regard to aspect, a situation is aspectual when the notion of boundedness of time-span is involved, i.e. various phases such as beginning, ending and middle points (Givon 2001).

Setswana absolute tenses

Setswana has three tenses, namely the present, past and future tenses, all distinguishable morphologically and semantically. Semantically these tenses are interpreted in terms of the deictic centre, i.e. S. On the other hand, the past is actualized when the event precedes and the future when the event is subsequent to S. On the basis of the interpretation of each tense in terms of the moment of speech, the present, past and future tenses are classified as absolute tenses (Comrie 1985, Dahl 1985). In this thesis, I consider certain functions of the various tenses as prototypical in nature and others as peripheral in nature (cf. Dahl 1985, Comrie 1976 & 1985). These two terms will become the focus of attention during the analysis of the various tense and aspectual forms.

The past tense

The past tense alludes to an event taking place before the present moment (Reichenbach 1947, Leech 1971, Comrie 1985). Taking this definition as a point of departure, one could say that the past tense includes neither the present moment nor the future in its significance. Leech (1971) states that in talking about the past, the speaker has a particular time in mind. As a result, a sentence or utterance in the past tense automatically qualifies as a fact, or real event or happening. In Setswana, the past tense morpheme takes the form of the auxiliary stem {–ne-} placed before the verb stem. On the other hand, in the negative past tense, the negative morpheme -sa- appears immediately before the verb stem.

The future tense

The future tense is described as a complex grammatical notion in English because it possesses both temporal and non-temporal characteristics (Dahl 1985, Comrie 1985). In its temporal interpretation, the future serves as tense and in its non-temporal function the future is classified as mood. In Setswana, this complexity does not exist because the future tense only receives a temporal interpretation. Therefore, the future tense serves only as a tense. In its temporal interpretation, futurity in English is defined as the location of a situation ahead of the present moment (e.g. Comrie 1985, Dahl 1985, Reichenbach 1947, Markkanen 1979). By this is meant that in futurity the point of speaking precedes the point of event and the point of reference. This definition also holds for Setswana in that the location is posterior to the speech time.

The aspectual system in Setswana

Aspect1 , as defined at the beginning of this chapter, refers to various facets of an activity, that is, the beginning, middle and end. Furthermore, aspect is broadly divided into two types, namely lexical and grammatical aspects. Lexical aspect, which in essence is the division of predicates in terms of semantic features, consists of activities, states, accomplishments and achievement. In this thesis, I focus mainly on grammatical aspect, that is, the morpho-syntactic expression of aspect. I also distinguish between two types of grammatical aspect in Setswana, the perfective and imperfective aspects. The perfective aspect has only one instance and the imperfective is subdivided into the progressive and habitual aspects.

TABLE OF CONTENTS :

• Declaration
• Acknowledgements
• Summary
• List of diagrams
• List of tables
• Abbreviations
• CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
  • 1.1 Setswana as a language
  • 1.2 Aim(s) of the study
    • 1.2.1 The problem of the study
    • 1.2.2 The aim of the study
  • 1.3 Motivation for the study
  • 1.4 Terminology
    • 1.4.1 Discourse
    • 1.4.2 Narrative
    • 1.4.3 Tense and aspect
  • 1.5 The research methodology
    • 1.5.1 Linguistic approach
    • 1.5.2 Data
  • 1.6 Organization of the thesis
• CHAPTER TWO A REVIEW OF CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE ON TENSE AND ASPECT
  • 2.1 Introduction
  • 2.2 The basic structuralist approach to tense and aspect
  • 2.3 The abstract structuralist approach to tense and aspect
  • 2.4 The formal approach to tense and aspect
  • 2.5 The syntactic-conceptual approach to tense and aspect
  • 2.6 The discourse-functional approach to tense and aspect
  • 2.7 Conclusion
• CHAPTER THREE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS
  • 3.1 Introduction
  • 3.2 The nature of tense and aspect
  • 3.3 The notion of time
  • 3.4 The nature of tense
  • 3.5 The nature of aspect
    • 3.5.1 Grammatical aspect
    • 3.5.1.1 The semantic features of perfective and imperfective aspects
  • 3.5.1.1.1 The situation is presented in its totality/ not in its totality
• CHAPTER FOUR GROUNDING AS THE DISCOURSE FUNCTION OF TENSE AND ASPECT
  • 4.1 Introduction
  • 4.2 Tense and aspect in grounding
    • 4.2.1 Setting or orientation
      • 4.2.1.1 The use of the past tense
      • 4.2.1.2 The use of the present tense
    • 4.2.2 Complication
    • 4.2.3 The end or the coda
      • 4.2.3.1 The use of the present tense
    • 4.2.4 Conclusion
• CHAPTER FIVE THE TEXT-STRUCTURING AND INTERPERSONAL FUNCTIONS AS THE DISCOURSE FUNCTIONS OF TENSE AND ASPECT
  • 5.1 Introduction
  • 5.2 Tense and aspect as text-structuring devices
    • 5.2.1 Tense and aspect as devices of episodic structure
    • 5.2.2 Tense and aspect as markers of discourse units within discourse units
    • 5.2.3 Conclusion
  • 5.3 Tense as the indicator of the interpersonal function
    • 5.3.1 The narrator addresses the reader
    • 5.3.2 The narrator and the imparting of cultural knowledge
      • 5.3.2.1 Imparting of cultural knowledge
      • 5.3.2.2 Lessons about life
      • 5.3.2.3 The knowledge of children
      • 5.3.2.4 The complex nature of women
    • 5.3.3 The perspective of the character or the figural narration
  • 5.4 Conclusion
• CHAPTER SIX CONCLUSION
  • 6.1 Introduction
  • 6.2 Summary
  • 6.3 The contribution of this research to language study
  • 6.4 Recommended topics for further research
• BIBLIOGRAPHY

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DISCOURSE FUNCTIONS OF TENSE AND ASPECT IN SETSWANA NARRATIVE TEXTS