toward a definition of Verbal Apect

Mark Wilson emory2oo2 at hotmail.com
Mon Nov 4 19:16:05 EST 2002



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For example,
>why have such a thing as "the historic present" which is just a label for 
>the present being used for the past?
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Well, for one thing, we have the same phenomena in English. And when
someone uses the Present Tense verb while describing a Past event, I
certainly would not conclude that the English Present Tense does not
denote time.

"Now listen! I'm standing there. This big bear comes up to eat me.
Needless to say, I ran like crazy."

I really do not think the Greeks lost sight of their temporal
verbal system because it could be used effectively and dramatically.

How do you distinguish an Imperfect from a Present. Without time,
all you are left with is the same aspect, right?


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Or how about the
>"gnomic aorist," which essentially is an aorist usage that carries a lack 
>of time, something opposed to your paradigm.
--------

This is really not at all the case if you ask me. What lacks "time" is
the proposition, not the FORM. That is why you have "gnomic"
in other FORMS.

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Aspect is found
>by the morphological "tense," and time is only generally indicated by the 
>morphological tense (i.e. the present tense is 85% of the time actually 
>present time, but 15% of the time it is not, according to Porter).
---------

That sounds about right. And the same for English. But I'm only
guessing.

------
  You always know
>the aspect,
------

Always? Do you mean we always know the FORM?


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However, how can something that is correct only 80-85% of the
>time be considered a good indicator,
--------

Well, for one, it works with English. The English Present Tense
is probably used for present time about 85 to 95 percent of the
time, and it still retains its temporal nature despite the times
it is used for past events. In other words, the past use of the
present tense in English does not cancel its semantic temporal nature.

My thoughts,

Mark Wilson


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