Cross-Linguistic Temporal Reference

Abstract

Tense, the grammaticalized marking of location in time, has played a central role in analyses of temporal reference even since before the inception of the formal study of meaning. However, research on a wide range of typologically diverse languages over the past 40 years has revealed that many languages do not have tenses and that there are a variety of other means, both linguistic and contextual, that affect temporal reference besides tense. These empirical findings refute the universality of tense and have significant implications for the role of tense in theoretical analyses of temporal reference. This review catalogues the means that affect temporal reference across tensed and tenseless languages, and offers a theoretical perspective on temporal reference that deemphasizes the centrality of tense.

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