Grammar of the English Verb Phrase (Volume 1 by Declerck)

Grammar of the English Verb Phrase (Volume 1 by Declerck) is the first volume of the Grammar of the English Verb Phrase book. The Volume 1 is titled The Grammar of the English Tense System: A Comprehensive Analysis. The volume is authored by Renaat Declerck in collaboration with Susan Reed and Bert Cappelle. The volume is published and copyrighted in 2006 by Mouton de Gruyter (formerly Mouton, The Hague), a Division of Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin.

Absolute deictic time-specifying adverbial. Time-specifying adverbial which indicates an Adv-time that is anchored to the temporal zero-point, e. g. today, this morning, tomorrow, tonight, yesterday, three weeks ago, since last week, until now, etc.
Absolute Future System. System of tense forms used to establish a (new) temporal domain in the post-present time-zone. This system comprises the future tense (in its use as an absolute tense rather than as a pseudo-absolute tense) (e. g. I {will/shall} probably be there), as well as other verb forms locating a situation time in the post-present (i. e. 'futurish' forms, as in I'm going to do it) and absolute-relative tenses such as the future perfect or the (nameless) tenses built with will have been going to or will be going to.
Absolute past tense (or absolute past or absolute preterite). Past tense which creates a past domain. The semantics of this tense is: 'The situation time is located in the past time-sphere (which is defined relative to the temporal zero-point)'.
Absolute present tense. Present tense used as an absolute tense (i. e. used to locate the situation time at the real temporal zero-point) rather than as a pseudo-absolute tense (locating the situation time at a pseudo-zero-point).
Absolute preterite. See absolute past tense.
Absolute relation. Temporal relation between the temporal zero-point and some other time.
Absolute-relative tense. Tense which combines the expression of the meaning of an absolute tense with the expression of a temporal relation in a temporal domain (see relative tense), in other words, a tense which both establishes a temporal domain and indicates a T-relation in it. A typical example is the future perfect (e. g. I will have left) which expresses two T-relations: 'The time of the situation is anterior to an implicit time of orientation' and 'the implicit time of orientation is posterior to the temporal zero-point'. Other absolute-relative tenses are such (nameless) present time-sphere tenses as are built with has been going to or will be going to (and, at least theoretically, has been going to have V-ed and will have been going to have V-ed).
Absolute tense. Tense expressing an absolute relation, i. e. which locates the time of a situation in one of the four absolute time-zones and in doing so relates it directly to the temporal zero-point. The preterite (e. g. I did it), the present perfect (e. g. I have done it), the present tense (e. g. I'm doing it) and the future tense (e. g. I'll do it) locate the situation time in the past, the prepresent, the present and the post-present, respectively.
Absolute time-zone. Cover term for any of the four time-zones that are defined in direct relation to the temporal zero-point, namely the past time-zone, the pre-present time-zone, the present time-zone and the post-present time-zone. ('Time-zone' is a cover term for any of the four portions of the linguistic time line that together make up the two time-spheres. These four portions are the three parts of the present time-sphere (viz. the pre-present zone, the present zone and the post-present zone) plus the past time-sphere, which functions as a single zone. Since these four zones are defined in direct relation to the temporal zero-point, we call them 'absolute' time-zones.)
Absolute zone. See absolute time-zone.
Action. Type of dynamic situation (or 'dynamic situation type') which actualizes under the control of an agent (e. g. John dug a hole).
Action verb. Verb denoting an action, e. g. walk, read, drink, look at, write, eat, abandon, ask, play.
Actual world. Possible world that is the real world, i. e. the world in which things are the way they are in the real world as we know it.
Actualization. Noun related in its form and meaning to the verb actualize. It is the cover term used in this work for the performance of an action, the developing of a process, the holding of a state or the happening of an event. In all four cases we speak of the 'actualization' of the situation in question.
Actualization adverbial. Indefinite time expression which does not inherently indicate a particular Adv-time but refers to the (non)actualization of a situation in a particular period, e. g. already, always, not ... yet, ever, never, still, etc.
Actualization aspect. Linguistic category pertaining to whether the actualization of the situation referred to is or is not represented as bounded (i. e. as reaching an endpoint).
Actualization-explaining because-clause. Clause which is introduced by the subordinating conjunction because and which expresses the reason for, or the cause of, the actualization of the head clause situation. For example: [He was killed] because he knew too much.
Actualization focus. Term used in the discussion of the past tense, more specifically in cases where the speaker is concerned with some aspect of the actualization of the bygone situation (e. g. when, where, how, etc. it actualized), rather than with its relevance to the present structure of the world, as is the case when the present perfect is used.
Actualize. Verb used as cover term for the predicates that are typically associated with the four types of situation. If we wish to avoid having to specify whether a clause expresses the performance of an action, the happening of an event, the development of a process or the existence of a state, we say that the clause in question expresses the actualization of a situation. Contrary to common usage, the verb actualize is used intransitively (in a similar way to happen, but referring more generally to the actualization of any of the four types of situation).
Adjectival clause. Subclause forming part of a noun phrase and modifying the noun head (e. g. [The man] who lives next door [is looking at our house]). An adjectival clause is always a relative clause or a participial clause.
Adverbial clause. Subclause whose function is typically associated with that of an adverb or adverbial phrase (e. g. [I'll help you] when I have time).
Adv-time. Abbreviation of 'adverbially indicated time'. Thus, in We left at five, the Adv-time is specified by the adverbial at five.
Adv-time adverbial. Time-specifying adverbial, i. e. adverbial indicating an Adv-time.
Adv-time of the head clause. In a complex sentence, the adverbially indicated time 'containing' the situation time of the head clause (in terms of inclusion or coincidence). For example, the sentence John left when Bill was in the kitchen tells us that there was a time in the past at which Bill was in the kitchen, and that that time 'contained' the time at which John left.
Adv-time of the when/before/after-clause. In a complex sentence with a {when/before/after}-clause, the Adv-time containing the situation time of the time clause situation. For example, in John left when Bill arrived, the time of Bill's arrival is contained by the Adv-time specified by the word when, which is a headless relative that can be paraphrased as 'at the time when'.
Adv-time-relation. Temporal relation between an Adv-time (adverbially indicated time) and a situation time or other orientation time. Such a relation can only be one of 'containment', i. e. either coincidence or inclusion. Thus, if there is an Adv-time relation between an Adv-time and a situation time, the Advtime either coincides with the time of the (predicated) situation (as in John left at five) or includes that time (as in John left yesterday).
Adv-time-simultaneity. Containment relation (i. e. proper inclusion or strict coincidence) between an Adv-time and a situation time or other orientation time. For example, in John left {yesterday/at five}, there is a relation of Adv-time simultaneity between the Adv-time (indicated by yesterday or at five) and the situation time (the time of John's leaving).
Agent. Animate entity which performs or instigates a dynamic situation, i. e. which is responsible for the actualization of the situation because it does something that induces the situation to actualize.
Agentive. Ontological feature of a situation-template (as expressed, for example, by the verb phrase punched Bill on the nose) which requires an agent for the actualization of the situation. The situation itself is then also said to be agentive (e. g. John punched Bill on the nose). An agentive situation need not involve intentionality, as when the agent does something accidentally, or under the influence of drugs, hypnosis, etc.
Aktionsart (synonym of ontological aspect or lexical aspect). Linguistic category pertaining to the way the lexical material in the verb phrase determines one or more inherent characteristics of a kind of situation (or, more correctly, a situation-template). For example, a verb phrase may represent a kind of situation as durative or punctual (compare, for example, run with arrive), as telic or atelic, as dynamic or static, etc.
Anchor time (or temporal anchor). The time to which an Adv-time is anchored, i. e. the time functioning as deictic source for the temporal relation expressed or implied by a deictic time-specifying adverbial. In the case of today, yesterday, tomorrow, etc. the Anchor time is the temporal zero-point. In the case of that very same day, the next day, the day before, etc. the Anchor time is not the temporal zero-point but a contextually given bygone or future time. In an after-clause or a before-clause, the Anchor time is the initial or terminal point, respectively, of the Adv-time indicated by the adverbial clause: the Anchor time is the point referred to by the second occurrence of the word time in 'at a time {after/before} the time at which', which is the semantic paraphrase of the conjunction.
Anchored time-specifying adverbial. See deictic time-specifying adverbial.
Anterior. Adjective corresponding to the noun anteriority.
Anteriority. Type of temporal relation. A given time A is anterior to a given time B if A either precedes B completely or starts before B and leads up to B but without including it (or part of it). Anteriority is W-anteriority if A is interpreted as anterior to B in the possible world referred to. Anteriority is Tanteriority if it is expressed by a tense form. Thus, in John was born in London and died in Glasgow, the former situation is interpreted as W-anterior to the latter, but it is not represented as T-anterior to it: the two past tense forms merely locate the times of the two situations in the past. The same is true of He said he got up early. By contrast, in He said he had got up early, the time of the getting up early is not only interpreted as W-anterior to the time of the saying but is also represented as T-anterior to it by the use of the past perfect form had got up.
Argument. Any of the constituents that a verb requires to be used grammatically in a normal finite clause: a subject, sometimes called the 'external argument' (because it does not belong to the predicate constituent), and possibly one or more 'internal arguments', usually called complements (e. g. a direct object).
Aspect. In this work we distinguish between 'ontological aspect' (or 'lexical aspect' or 'Aktionsart'), 'grammatical aspect' and 'actualization aspect'. Out of context, the unmarked interpretation of aspect is grammatical aspect.
Aspect auxiliary. The grammatical auxiliary be, which is used for building progressive verb forms. (Progressive aspect is the only kind of grammatical aspect that can be systematically expressed by verb forms in English.)
Aspectualizer. Lexical verb like begin, start, commence, quit, stop, finish, continue, go on, etc., which is placed before a nonfinite clause and which expresses the situation described by this clause as beginning, ending or ongoing. Thus, go on is an aspectualizer in Let's go on working.
Assertion (or statement). The illocutionary force of a declarative sentence. Sentences like I love you and I don't love you 'make an assertion'.
Assertive clause. A clause is assertive when the message (but not necessarily the form) of the clause is that of an affirmative assertion. Otherwise (i. e. when the message is negative and/or interrogative) the clause is nonassertive. Only nonassertive clauses can contain nonassertive items ('negative polarity items'). A negative assertion like I didn't lift a finger to help him is assertoric (makes an assertion) but nonassertive hence the use of the nonassertive item lift a finger.
Assertive item. Word or phrase (often also called 'positive polarity item') which can normally only be used in an assertive clause, i. e. which cannot occur (except, sometimes, echoically) within the scope of a negator or question. For example, already is an assertive item: it can be used in positive (affirmative) statements (e. g. I have already met him) and in interrogative clauses expecting a positive reply (e. g. Have you already seen him?), but not in (nonechoic) negative statements (e. g. I haven't met him {yet/*already}), nor in interrogative clauses that do not expect a positive reply (e. g. Have you seen him yet?). Another example is 'far from + adjective': He {is/*isn't} far from satisfied).
Assertoric. A clause is assertoric if it realizes the illocutionary act of making an assertion. An assertoric clause is usually declarative, but there are cases in which an interrogative clause also makes an assertion: (a) if it expresses a rhetorical question, i. e. if the clause is interrogative in form but is interpreted as being declarative (e. g. Need I say more? on the interpretation 'Surely, I needn't say more.') and (b) if the interrogative clause expresses a 'yes/noquestion' (polar question) which is interpreted as an assertion followed by a question tag asking for confirmation, e. g. Is he your leader, then? Also assertoric are so-called declarative questions, i. e. sentences that have the syntactic form (word order) of a declarative sentence but are interpreted as asking a question, e. g. You're his father?
Atelic. Ontological feature, the opposite of telic. Said of a situation-template (denoted by a verb phrase) which does not represent the kind of situation referred to as telic, i. e. as tending towards a natural point of completion beyond which the situation cannot continue. Thus, in Betty ran, the verb phrase ran is atelic (not telic). We also apply the label to the kind of situation that is not represented as telic – thus, running is an 'atelic situation' – and, by further extension, to clauses containing an atelic verb phrase.
Atemporal when-clause. See case-specifying when-clause.
Attributive noun phrase. When used in Donnellan's (1966) sense, said of a noun phrase which has definite reference in the sense that the speaker assumes the hearer to be familiar with the expression (NP) in question, but not with the identity of the referent of the phrase. For example, when a theft has been committed, the speaker can use the NP the thief even if he does not know who committed the theft and does not assume the hearer to know that either. In other words, Donnellan (1966) applies the label 'attributive' to a linguistic expression which is definite in the sense that it gives a description which both the speaker and the hearer are familiar with, but which is not sufficient for either to 'pick out' the referent from a set of potential referents.
Auxiliary. See auxiliary verb.
Auxiliary verb (or auxiliary). 'helper' verb, i. e. a verb which has the grammatical function of helping the speaker to build a complex verb form (e. g. will and have in will have put). Unlike a lexical verb (or 'full verb'), an auxiliary has little or no lexical meaning: it expresses either a grammatical notion (like 'passive', 'progressive', 'tense') or a modal idea (like necessity, possibility, permission, etc.) or it has no meaning at all and is used simply because an auxiliary is required in certain contexts. (This is true of the 'periphrastic auxiliary' do, as in "I don't like it. Do you?" "Yes, I do.") Morphosyntactically, an auxiliary differs from a lexical verb in that it has the NICE-properties, i. e. it does not trigger do-support in clauses that are negative, interrogative, used in code or involving emphasis on the verb.
Background. In a narrative text, the linguistic material which refers to durative and descriptive situations and which provides subsidiary information about the foreground. (This material is then said to have a 'backgrounding' function. This means that it does not 'push forward' the story.)
Backshifting. (1) change of tense forms when there is a shift from a present time-sphere temporal domain to a past time-sphere temporal domain. For example, Has he done it? is 'backshifted' to had he done it in indirect reported speech after a verb in the past tense: I wondered if he had done it. The speaker can also use backshifting for various other reasons, e. g. for tentativeness: {Will/would} you please help me? However, the term is especially used in connection with past represented speech. In this book it refers to the phenomenon that a present time-sphere tense or an absolute past tense in the 'original' direct speech utterance seems to be adapted into, respectively, a corresponding past time-sphere tense or a past perfect as a natural result of the fact that the situation time which was 'originally' T-related to the temporal zero-point is now T-related to the central orientation time of a past domain. (Backshifting is thus a semantically motivated phenomenon, viz. the use of past time-sphere tenses in a past domain) rather than a purely formal operation.) Compare, for example, The shop {is/will be/has been/will have been/was} closed and They said that the shop {was/would be/had been/would have been/had been} closed. (2) See modal backshifting.
Basic orientation time. The time of orientation in the structure of a tense from which the temporal relations expressed by the tense begin to be computed. In most cases the basic orientation time is the temporal zero-point (t0) (e. g. He has done it), but there are cases in which it is a post-present binding orientation time which is treated as if it were t0 (e. g. [If Jim does it] he will have to admit to his wife that he has done it). In both examples, the present perfect form has done locates the time of the situation of Jim's doing it before the basic orientation time. In the first example the basic orientation time is t0; in the second it is a pseudo-zero-point, viz. the post-present situation time (the time of admitting) which is treated as if it were t0. (See also Pseudo-t0-System.) 'Before now' interpretation: one of the two T-interpretations of the present perfect, namely 'The situation time is included in the pre-present and covers a portion of the pre-present that is not adjacent to t0', as in I've never seen that girl before. This T-interpretation corresponds to the inclusion sense of the containment relation (between the pre-present zone and the situation time) that is part of the core meaning of the present perfect.
Bifunctional temporal adverbial. Temporal adverbial that functions at the same time as a time-specifying adverbial and as a duration adverbial. In other words, it specifies both the temporal location of the situation time and the length of the corresponding full situation, as in I was there from six to eight.
Binding (or temporal binding or temporal subordination). The phenomenon that a situation time is T-related to another situation time (or another orientation time) within a temporal domain. For example, in Meg had seen Jill, the situation time of had seen is bound by (or 'temporally subordinated to') an orientation time which is not explicitly referred to but forms part of a past temporal domain. (Strictly speaking, it is only situation times that can be bound, but by extension we can also apply the label to the situation itself. In this way we can say that in Sue knew that Meg had seen Jill the situation of knowing is the 'binding situation', while the situation of Meg seeing Jill is the 'bound situation'.)
Binding orientation time. Orientation time that serves as the starting point of a temporal relation expressed by a relative tense. Thus, in Meg said that she had seen Jill, the situation time of Meg's speaking is a binding situation time because the time of her seeing Jill (the 'bound situation') is represented as Tanterior to it by the past perfect tense.
Block (an implicature). Prevent an implicature from arising. See implicate.
Bound. See bound situation time.
Bound situation time. Situation time that is T-related to (or 'temporally subordinated to' or 'temporally bound by') an orientation time in a domain. Thus, in Meg said that she had bought a bike, the situation time of the situation of buying is bound by (more specifically: represented as T-anterior to) the situation time of the situation of Meg's speaking (which is the 'binding situation').
Bounded. Said of a particular instance of actualization of a situation, namely if the actualizing situation is either linguistically represented or W-interpreted as reaching a terminal point, i. e. as coming to an end. Thus, the clause John read the letter represents the situation of John reading the letter as having come to an end, unlike the clause John was reading the letter, which does not tell us whether John actually finished reading the letter or not. The term is also applied to clauses and sentences that represent (the actualization of) a situation as bounded.
Boundedness. The quality of being bounded.
Bounding constituent. Constituent (of a clause) which adds the idea of a temporal right boundary, thus rendering the clause L-bounded, e. g. the object argument in He read a poem, the duration adverbial in We worked for six hours or the bifunctional temporal adverbial in Jane was in her study from two to five.
Bygone. Preceding the temporal zero-point, i. e. located in the past zone or in the pre-present zone. For example, both He did it and He has done it represent the actualization of the situation referred to as bygone. We speak of a 'bygone situation' as well as of a 'bygone time'. A further distinction is made between 'T-bygone' (linguistically represented as bygone by a tense) and 'W-bygone' (what is bygone in the actual world but is not necessarily represented as bygone by a tense form).
Cancel (an implicature). Deny that a suggested interpretation is correct. See implicate.
Case-specifying when-clause (or atemporal when-clause). When-clause which does not specify a time but describes the case(s) in which the head clause situation actualizes (i. e. the case(s) in which the head clause proposition is true). For example, Children are orphans when their parents are dead.
Central orientation time. The one orientation time in a temporal domain that is not T-bound by any other orientation time in the domain but is directly related to the temporal zero-point. In most cases the central orientation time is the situation time of the clause which establishes the domain by using an absolute tense (e. g. knew in I knew that Tom hadn't seen the film yet and would want to go and see it). When an absolute-relative tense is used (e. g. He will have left by tonight) the central orientation time is the orientation time (here 'contained' in the post-present Adv-time specified by tonight) to which the situation time is temporally subordinated.
Central time of orientation. See central orientation time.
Clause. Linguistic expression with a syntactic structure. A prototypical clause consists of a noun phrase functioning as subject and a verb phrase (and optionally some other constituents) functioning as predicate.
Cleft (or cleft construction, cleft sentence, it-cleft). Specificational sentence of the form 'It (or occasionally this or that) + be + focused constituent + wh-clause' in which the wh-clause expresses the variable to which a value (expressed by the focused constituent) is given, e. g. It was John who did it. (This is interpreted as 'the x who did it was: John'.) Apart from a wh-clause, the variable may also be expressed by a that-clause (e. g. It was John that did it) or, provided the value is an indication of duration, a since-clause (e. g. It's three weeks since he left). In the latter case we speak of a since-cleft.
Cleft construction. See cleft.
Cleft sentence. See cleft.
Closed condition. A condition which the speaker assumes to be fulfilled in the actual world (e. g. If, as you say, you can't accompany me tonight, [I'll have to look for someone else]) or which he assumes to be going to be fulfilled in a future possible world (e. g. If, as you say, he will come here himself tomorrow, [there is no point in phoning him now]). Clauses expressing a closed condition are typically echoic.
Code. The use of an auxiliary as pro-form for an entire verb phrase (as in John will not be sleeping, but I will).
Co-extensive interpretation. One of the two T-interpretations of the present perfect, namely 'the situation time is co-extensive with the pre-present and therefore leads up to t0', as in I've been thinking about you. This T-interpretation corresponds to the coincidence sense of the containment relation (between the pre-present zone and the situation time) that is part of the core meaning of the present perfect.
Coincidence. One form of containment relation (the other being inclusion). Coincidence may be the containment relation between the time of the full situation and a situation time which is strictly simultaneous with the former, as in John left at five o'clock). It may also be the containment relation between an Advtime (adverbially specified time) and a situation time, as in John left at five o'clock, or between an Adv-time and an orientation time to which the situation time is T-related, as in At five o'clock John had already left.
Common Adv-time. In a complex sentence involving a head clause and an adverbial when-clause, the Adv-time of the head clause is interpreted as coinciding with the Adv-time of the when-clause. (This coincidence relation is due to the semantics of when, which means 'at a/the time at which'.) The term 'common Adv-time' is used to refer to these two coinciding Adv-times.
Complement (or verb complement). A VP-internal argument of a verb, such as a direct object (e. g. [I hit] him), indirect object (e. g. [I gave] him [a kite]), subject complement (e. g. [Bill is] ill), object complement (e. g. [We called him] a fool), prepositional object (e. g. [I looked] into the question [carefully]).
Complement clause. Clause functioning as complement of a verb, such as that he was ill in He said that he was ill.
Complex relation (or complex T-relation). Temporal relation of the sort expressed by a complex relative tense. For example, the conditional perfect (would have V-ed) expresses T-anteriority to an orientation time which is itself T-posterior to some other orientation time in a past domain. The combination of T-posteriority and T-anteriority is a 'complex relation'.
Complex relative tense. Tense expressing two or more temporal relations at once within the same temporal domain. Examples are the conditional perfect (e. g. would have left) and some nameless tenses with (very unusual) forms such as would have been going to leave or would be going to have left.
Complex sentence. Sentence minimally consisting of one head clause and one subclause. A complex sentence may involve several subclauses, some of which function as head clauses supporting other subclauses. For example, in John left after I had told him that his shirt was dirty, the clause after I had told him is at the same time a subclause depending on John left (which is the 'matrix') and the head clause on which depends the subclause that his shirt was dirty.
Complex T-relation. See complex relation
Compound sentence. Sentence consisting of two or more coordinate clauses (clauses of equal rank), in other words, sentence in which none of the constituent clauses is syntactically subordinate to another, e. g. I will trim the hedge and you will mow the lawn.
Conditional. As a noun, this term is short for either 'conditional sentence' (i. e. a combination of a conditional clause and a head clause) or 'conditional tense'.
Conditional perfect. See conditional perfect tense
Conditional perfect tense (or conditional perfect). Complex relative tense whose forms are built by combining the auxiliary would with the perfect infinitive (have V-ed) of the main verb. The semantics of this tense is: 'The situation time is T-anterior to an orientation time which is itself T-posterior to some orientation time in a past domain or in a past or pseudo-past subdomain.' For example: [Bill {promised/had promised}] that he would have finished the job by the end of the day.
Conditional sentence. Combination of a conditional clause and a head clause (e. g. I won't be sad if she dies).
Conditional tense. Relative tense whose tense forms are a combination of the auxiliary would and the present infinitive of the main verb. The semantics of this tense is: 'The situation time is T-posterior to an orientation time that forms part of a past domain, (e. g. [He promised] he would do it), or of a past subdomain (e. g. [He admitted that he had promised] he would do it) or of a pseudo-past subdomain (e. g. [Don't always make promises. Sooner or later you will regret that you promised] you would do something)'.
Conjugated verb (form). Verb (form) showing conjugation. Synonym: finite verb (form).
Conjugation. The phenomenon that a lexical verb can be used in a number of different forms, expressing such notions as person, number (singular or plural), tense and grammatical aspect, e. g. work, works, worked, will work, has worked, is working, etc.
Constituent negation (or narrow scope negation). I. e. negation which has only one constituent of the clause in its scope (e. g. I told her nothing about it; It wasn't John who was responsible).
Constitution reading (or constitution interpretation). Particular type of up-tonow reading of a clause in the present perfect, namely that reading in which the speaker focuses on the situational constitution of the pre-present zone and not only on the temporal location of a situation in that zone. The speaker as it were looks back on the pre-present to 'measure' it (e. g. Nearly a year has gone by since then) or to see how this period has been filled 'situationwise' (e. g. What have you been doing?; How many times have you met him in the past week?).
Contain. Verb indicating the temporal relation of containment that holds between the time of the full situation and the situation time or between an Advtime (time indicated by an adverbial like yesterday) and a situation time (or other binding time). The temporal relation in question may be one of (strict) coincidence or (proper) inclusion. Thus, in At five o'clock I was jogging, the Adv-time contains the situation time in terms of coincidence, and the time of the full situation is interpreted as including the (punctual) situation time. In I was there from two to four o'clock the Adv-time (indicated by a bounding bifunctional temporal adverbial) coincides with the situation time, and, because it is bounded, the time of the full situation also coincides with the situation time. In both these examples the Adv-time thus 'contains' the situation time in the sense that the two coincide with each other; in contrast, in John left yesterday the Adv-time 'contains' the situation time in terms of inclusion. (See also containment.)
Contained orientation time. Orientation time that is specified (i. e. 'contained' in terms of either inclusion or coincidence) by an Adv-time. For example, in John left yesterday, the contained orientation time is the situation time, i. e. the time of John's leaving. In At five o'clock John had already left the office, the contained orientation time is not the situation time but another (nonlexicalized) orientation time to which the situation time is T-anterior. See also contained orientation time of the head clause.
Contained orientation time of the head clause. In a complex sentence with a {when/after/before}-clause, the contained orientation time of the head clause is that orientation time from the tense structure of the head clause that is contained by the Adv-time established by the time clause. For example, in John had already left when Bill arrived, the contained orientation time of the head clause is the orientation time to which the situation time of the head clause is T-anterior.
Contained orientation time of the when-clause. In a complex sentence with a when-clause, the orientation time which is part of the tense structure in the when-clause and which is contained by the common Adv-time. This contained orientation time is either the situation time of the when-clause (as in John left when Bill arrived) or another orientation time to which the situation time of the when-clause is T-related (as in John left when Bill had already arrived).
Containment. (a) temporal relation between the time of the full situation and the situation time: the time of the full situation contains the situation time in terms of either inclusion or coincidence. In bounded clauses the time of the full situation coincides with the situation time (e. g. Yesterday John ran two miles before breakfast), whereas in nonbounded clauses it may either coincide with or include the situation time (e. g. ["What was John doing from 5 to 5.30?"] "From 5 to 5.30 John was running his usual two miles before breakfast."). (b) There is also a containment relation (again in terms of inclusion or coincidence) between an Adv-time (adverbially specified time interval) and a contained orientation time.
Continuative interpretation (or continuative reading). One of three possible Winterpretations of a clause in the present perfect, namely that on which the full situation is taken not only to fill the entire pre-present (period leading up to t0) but also to extend beyond t0, so that the time of the full situation is taken to include the situation time (which coincides with the pre-present zone). Such a reading is realized, for example, in Ian's been living in Lincoln since 1998, which implies that Ian is still living in Lincoln.
Continuative perfect. Present perfect tense form used in a clause receiving a continuative reading.
Continuous form. See progressive form.
Coordinate (adjective). Said of two or more constituents of equal rank. For example, in a compound sentence like John was angry and Mary was shocked, the two clauses are 'coordinate clauses': the relation between them is one of 'coordination', not syntactic subordination.
Coordination. The phenomenon that a syntactic unit (construction) is formed which consists of coordinate constituents only.
Copula (or copular verb, linking verb). Verb like be, seem, become, etc., which has to be followed by a subject complement (as in John is {ill/a nerd} and which is incompatible with any other type of verb complement.
Copular verb. See copula.
Core meaning. The semantics of a tense, i. e. the tense structure expressed by the tense in question. For example, the core meaning of the present perfect is: 'The situation time is contained in the pre-present zone of the present timesphere'. Given that containment can be defined in terms of either 'inclusion' or 'coincidence', there are two T-interpretations that are compatible with this core meaning: the 'before now' T-interpretation , which gives rise to the 'indefinite' W-interpretation (e. g. I have seen that girl before), and the co-extensive T-interpretation which gives rise either to an 'up-to-now' W-interpretation (e. g. Where have you been?) or to a 'continuative' W-interpretation (e. g. I've been polishing this furniture for over an hour now).
Counterfactual. Contrary to fact; incompatible with the actual world and therefore belonging to a counterfactual world. The situation referred to in the counterfactual conditional clause If John had been here … is a 'counterfactual situation'.
Counterfactual world. Possible world which is assumed by the speaker to be incompatible with the actual world or with any future possible world which might (or might not) eventually become the actual world. For example, If I were you … creates a counterfactual world: it refers to a situation which is incompatible with what is the actual world at any time.
Declarative question. Sentence that combines the form (word order) of a declarative sentence with an interrogative meaning (e. g. You're his father?).
Declarative sentence (or statement). Sentence which is not interrogative or imperative in form and makes an assertion rather than having the illocutionary force of another speech act (such as a question or imperative).
De dicto interpretation. See intensional interpretation.
Defective verb. Verb which has only one or two forms, e. g. must, ought to, can/could.
Definite. Said of a referring expression which is assumed by the speaker to be sufficient for the hearer to identify the referent. Yesterday, in 1983, the day before, etc. are definite time-specifying adverbials. The man is a definite noun phrase. Donnellan (1966) distinguishes between two kinds of definite noun phrases: attributive noun phrases and referential noun phrases.
Deictic adverbial. See deictic time-specifying adverbial.
Deictic time-specifying adverbial (or anchored time-specifying adverbial). Timespecifying adverbial which relates the Adv-time which it specifies to an anchor time. For example: in I heard that name yesterday, the temporal anchor is the temporal zero-point, since yesterday means 'the day before t0'. The anchor time may also be another time: see nondeictic time-specifying adverbial versus deictic time-specifying adverbial.
Denotation. Meaning of a linguistic unit (a word, a phrase, a clause, etc.). The denotation of a verb (e. g. walk) is a simple situation-template; the denotation of a verb phrase (e. g. walk to the church) is an enriched situation-template, and the denotation of a clause is a situation. The denotation of a linguistic unit is to be distinguished from its reference (or referential meaning): in John walked to the church, the denotation of walk to the church is 'go to the church on foot', whereas the referential meaning of John walked to the church is the particular actualization of this kind of situation on a given past occasion. This particular actualization is the referent of the clause John walked to the church.
Denote. 'mean', in the specific sense of 'have as its denotation'. See denotation.
Dependent clause. Alternative term for subclause.
De re interpretation. See transparent interpretation.
Direct binding. The phenomenon that the situation time of a subclause is Tbound by the situation time of its own head clause. Consider the following example: [The police knew that] the girl had told her friends once or twice that she was afraid to go home. Here, the situation time of the second thatclause is represented as T-simultaneous with that of the first that-clause, whose situation time is itself represented as T-anterior to the situation time of the matrix clause. The fact that the situation time of the second that-clause is also W-anterior to the situation time of the matrix clause is not expressed by its tense form (was afraid).
Direct reported speech. Reported speech in which the reported utterance or thought is not reported in the form of a subordinate clause (e. g. He said that he was ill) but is quoted as an independent sentence (as in He said: 'I am ill.').
Direct result. Resultant state that inevitably comes about when the actualization of a situation is completed. For example, in I've locked up the shop, the completion of the action of locking up the shop automatically (and immediately) produces the state of the shop being locked up (even though this state is not likely to be a lasting one).
Discontinuation. The phenomenon that (the actualization of) a situation is no longer continuing at a given orientation time. See also implicature of discontinuation.
Dissective. Typical characteristic of homogeneous clauses or homogeneous time adverbials. It means that any part of the referent of the clause or adverbial (i. e. the actualization of a situation or an Adv-time, respectively) can be referred to by the same clause or adverbial that refers to the actualization or Adv-time as a whole.
Do-insertion. Insertion of the periphrastic auxiliary do in clauses that require an auxiliary but would not contain one if there were no do-support.
Domain (or temporal domain). Set of orientation times each of which is temporally related to another by means of a tense. At least one of these orientation times is a situation time (since any tense form locates a situation in time). A domain is normally established by an absolute tense form and expanded by one or more relative tense forms. The latter establish temporal subdomains. Thus, in John said he had prayed, the tense form said establishes a past domain and had prayed creates a subdomain within that domain.
Do-support. The phenomenon that in cases where an auxiliary is required the periphrastic auxiliary do is added to a lexical verb (except to be) because otherwise the clause would not contain an auxiliary. For example, because sentences like *I smoke not or *Smoke you? are ungrammatical, we have to apply doinsertion: I don't smoke, Do you smoke?.
Double pluperfect. The form 'had + perfect infinitive', which is sometimes found instead of the past perfect in the conditional clause of a conditional sentence of the type illustrated by I would have been happier if she had come. For example: Had he have lost this frame [it would have been all over for him].
Duration adverbial. Nontechnical term for any temporal adverbial that specifies the length of a situation. In other words, a cover term for pure duration adverbials (e. g. for a split second, for two hours) and bifunctional temporal adverbials (e. g. from six to eight). (The latter specify both time and duration.)
Duration-quantifying constitution reading (or interpretation). Particular type of constitution reading of a clause in the present perfect, which arises when the speaker is specifically concerned with the length of the pre-present zone and indicates this by a bounded sentence referring to a duration-specifying situation (e. g. Nearly a year has gone by since then).
Durative (or nonpunctual). Ontological feature, the opposite of punctual. Said of a situation-template which is conceived of as having a certain duration. By extension, the term can also be applied to a verb phrase (e. g. write a book) denoting such a situation-template, as well as to a situation that is conceived of as having duration, even if this situation is in fact a durative hypersituation consisting of consecutive punctual subsituations (e. g. Someone was knocking at the door). The term durative is also applied to time-specifying adverbials that indicate a specific time which has some duration (e. g. yesterday) – see durative time-specifying adverbial – and to nonpunctual duration adverbials (e. g. for two hours).
Durative situation verb. Verb which denotes a durative situation-template.
Durative time-specifying adverbial. Time-specifying adverbial which specifies an Adv-time that has some duration (e. g. yesterday).
Durative verb phrase. Verb phrase which denotes a durative situation-template.
Dynamic (or nonstatic). Ontological feature of some (punctual or durative) situation-templates. It means that the kind of situation referred to is not a state, and therefore involves change and requires an input of fresh energy to continue (e. g. walking). The term 'dynamic' is also applied to a verb phrase or predicate constituent lexicalizing a dynamic situation-template (e. g. walked a mile), as well as to the actualization of a dynamic situation (e. g. John's walking a mile yesterday) and to a clause referring to such a concrete actualization (e. g. John walked a mile yesterday).
Effected NP. Noun phrase referring to the entity that comes into existence as a result of an action (typically expressed by a verb of creation). For example, in I've written a poem, the direct object refers to an effected NP.
Egressive aspect (or terminative aspect). Kind of grammatical aspect. A speaker expresses egressive aspect when he uses a special verb form to represent the actualization of a situation as ending. Since English lacks a special verb form to express egressive meaning, this aspect is not grammaticalized in English. (If we want to refer to the terminal part of a situation, we have to add an aspectualizer like stop, finish, end, leave off, etc. to the verb referring to the situation.)
Embedded clause. Alternative term for subclause.
Enriched situation-template. What is denoted by a multi-word verb phrase (e. g. walk to the church). An enriched situation-template can be further enriched by elements that do not belong to the verb phrase proper but to the predicate constituent (e. g. walk to the church merrily on Sundays).
Epistemic. See epistemic modality.
Epistemic modality. Modality having to do with the possible degrees of the speaker's commitment to the truth of a proposition. For example, This must be the answer! expresses epistemic necessity, while This cannot be the answer! expresses epistemic impossibility (which can also, of course, be seen as a kind of epistemic necessity). Epistemic modality can be expressed by modal adverbs like certainly, perhaps, possibly, etc. or by auxiliaries like must, should, ought to, will, can, could and need. The representation of (the actualization of) a situation as factual, counterfactual or not-yet-factual also belongs to the realm of epistemic modality.
Event. Type of dynamic situation (i. e. a dynamic situation type), e. g. bursting, exploding, falling off a ladder, snowing. An event differs from an action in that it does not actualize under the control of an agent but just happens. It differs from a process in that it is not evolving.
Event verb. Verb denoting an event (e. g. evolve, burst, take place, rain, occur, happen, break down, snow).
Evidential because-clause. Clause which is introduced by the subordinating conjunction because and which explains the basis on which the speaker comes to the conclusion that the head clause proposition is true. For example: [There must be someone in the house] because there is a light on in one of the rooms.
Evolving. Ontological feature typical of processes (e. g. growing, getting dark, diminishing, deteriorating, etc.). This means that [evolving] is a feature of a situation-template which is at the same time dynamic, durative and nonagentive, and which is denoted by a verb phrase representing the kind of situation as gradually developing, i. e. as moving on a (usually implicit) scale. The term evolving can also be applied to the actualization of a process.
Expand (a domain). Incorporate a new situation time into an existing temporal domain by using a relative tense form.
Expanded domain. Temporal domain which comprises more than one situation time.
Experiential perfect. See perfect of experience.
Explanatory-resultative. Said of a clause in the present perfect which receives an up-to-now reading and whose communicative function is to explain the origin of a present result. For example, [Sorry I'm dirty.] I've been cleaning the cellar. By extension the term is also applied to the tense itself. However, 'explanatory-resultative (present) perfect' is really short for 'clause in the present perfect having an explanatory-resultative function'.
Extensional interpretation. See transparent interpretation.
Factual. Being, or having become a fact, in the actual world. Synonym of factual at t0.
Factual at t0 (or t0-factual). Said of a situation that has already actualized at the temporal zero-point (t0) or is actualizing at t0. For example, John left before Bill arrived represents both situations as having actualized before t0 and therefore as being past facts (i. e. as being 'factual at t0'). (By contrast, in John wanted to leave before Bill arrived, the before-clause is not interpreted as factual at t0 because it refers to a situation which may or may not have actualized in the past: the situation of Bill's arrival was expected to actualize by John, but it was not yet a fact at the time of the head clause situation and the speaker leaves it vague whether Bill eventually arrived or not.)
Factual full situation. In clauses in one of the perfect tenses with a continuative reading, this term refers to that part of the full situation that has actualized in a period leading up to the relevant orientation time (which is the temporal zero-point in the case of the present perfect). Thus, in Meg has been talking to the elephant for an hour now, the temporal adverbial specifies not only the length of the pre-present zone but also the duration of the situation time coinciding with that pre-present zone. The full situation may or may not include t0 and extend into the post-present. If it does, it consists not only of a part that is factual at t0 but also of a 'potential' present and post-present part. The part that is factual at t0 is called the 'factual full situation'. The entire situation, including both the t0-factual part and the potential part, is called the 'potential full situation'.
Finite clause. Clause whose verb form is a finite verb form.
Finite verb form. Verb form that is marked for at least one of the grammatical categories tense, mood, person and number. For example, the finite verb form works is marked for tense (present), mood (indicative), person (third) and number (singular). (By contrast, a verb form that is an infinitive, gerund or participle is a nonfinite verb form.)
Focalizing when-clause. When-clause which does not specify the time of the head clause situation (or a time to which the time of the head clause situation is related) but expresses the speaker's temporal focus on a time of evaluation or observation. In one subtype, the when-clause suggests the idea of a travelling observing consciousness (e. g. When you travel to Washington, Boston, Chicago or New York, the same problems exist), in another, the focalizing when-clause indicates the 'epistemic time of evaluation', i. e. the time when the conclusion is reached that the statement made in the head clause is true (e. g. When you look at the economics, this company needs a Japanese and a European partner to make it work).
Foreground. In a narrative text, the linguistic material (sentences and clauses) which 'pushes forward' the story through time. (This material is said to have a 'foregrounding' function.) It is the foregrounding sentences and clauses of a story that form the 'backbone' of the story.
Foregrounding. See foreground.
Free indirect speech. Type of represented speech in which an utterance or thought is represented in the form of an independent clause (which is not a quotation) rather than in the form of a subclause depending on a reporting clause (as is the case in indirect reported speech sentences like [He said] that he was ill and had to stay at home). For example: [He let me know that he couldn't come.] He was ill. He had to stay at home. In free indirect speech, what is reported is more often a thought than an utterance: [He took her threat seriously.] She would not hesitate to carry it out. The report retains some typical characteristics of a direct speech clause. Thus, it can have the form of a direct question (i. e. with inversion) (e. g. [The constable looked at me uncomprehendingly.] Why ever did I insist on being arrested?), it can be followed by a question tag (e. g. So, that was what they were going to do, was it?), etc.
Free relative clause (or headless relative clause, nominal relative clause). Relative clauses without an overt antecedent (head), i. e. whose antecedent is incorporated into the relative pronoun itself. For example: what he wanted (which means 'that which he wanted'). Because there is no overt noun as antecedent, the relative clause itself functions syntactically like a noun phrase. Thus, in What he wanted was unreasonable, the free relative clause has the nominal function of subject. (This is why we can speak of 'nominal relative clause'.)
Full situation. The complete situation (referred to in a clause) as it actualizes in whatever possible world is being referred to. The full situation should be distinguished from the predicated situation. The latter is that part of the full situation (possibly all of it) about which a claim is made in the clause. As is clear from Two minutes ago John was in the library (which does not exclude that John is still there), it is the predicated situation rather than the full situation that is located in time by the use of a particular tense.
Full verb. See lexical verb.
Future. (a) As a noun, future can be short for 'future tense' or can be used as a nontechnical term meaning 'post-present zone'. (b) As an adjective, future is usually linked up with post-present time reference. For example, future situation means 'post-present situation', which is short for 'situation whose situation time is located in the post-present zone'. Similarly, when we speak of future time reference, we normally mean 'reference to a time lying in, or being coextensive with, the post-present time-zone'. Occasionally future indicates a relation of posteriority to an orientation time other than the temporal zeropoint. For example, we can say that in Ten years later Bill {was to/would} be the richest man in town, the verb form was to be or would be expresses 'future in the past' or (more correctly) 'future from the past', i. e. future relative to a past orientation time.)
Future continuous. Progressive form of the future tense.
Future perfect. See future perfect tense.
Future perfect tense (or future perfect). Tense which is formed by combining the future tense auxiliary will (or shall) with a perfect infinitive. The future perfect is an absolute-relative tense, because it combines an 'absolute relation' with a relative one: will expresses T-posteriority to the zero-point, thus establishing a post-present domain, while have V-ed expresses T-anteriority to the pseudo-zero-point in this post-present domain. This anteriority is similar either to the relation of anteriority to t0 expressed by the absolute past tense – compare John left at five with [John will no longer be there at six because] he will have left at five – or (more commonly) to the relation of anteriority to t0 expressed by the present perfect – compare John has already left with John will already have left (by then). Accordingly, the semantics of the future perfect is: 'The situation time is located anterior to the central orientation time of a post-present domain.' Since that central orientation time is treated as a pseudozero-point, this comes down to saying that a future perfect form creates either a pseudo-past subdomain or a pseudo-pre-present subdomain. In addition, the future perfect can also be used as a 'pseudo-absolute-relative' tense, as in [He will say that] he will have finished before 5 o'clock, where the origin of the Tposteriority relation expressed by will is not the (real) zero-point but a postpresent pseudo-t0 (viz. the situation time of will say).
Future tense. Tense whose forms combine the present tense form of one of the auxiliaries will or shall (the latter in the first person only) and a present infinitive (e. g. will come). The basic use of the future tense is to locate a situation time in the post-present zone of the present time-sphere. However, in a postpresent domain, it can also be used as a pseudo-absolute tense (e. g. [I will say that] I will be absent the next day.)
Future tense auxiliary. The auxiliary will or shall (the latter in the first person only) when it helps to build a form of the future tense (as in It will be cold tomorrow) or of an absolute-relative tense like the future perfect (as in He will have left by then).
Futurish tense form. Verbal expression which arguably combines future time reference with present time reference, more specifically, which links the postpresent actualization of a situation to a particular kind of present state. Examples of futurish tense forms are the present progressive in I'm leaving in a minute, 'be going to + present infinitive' in It's going to rain, and 'be to + present infinitive' in The Queen is to leave for Canada tomorrow. Like future tense forms, futurish tense forms establish a post-present temporal domain.
Futurish verb form. See futurish tense form.
Futurity. See posteriority.
Generic sentence. Universal sentence that predicates a typical characteristic of a kind (species), e. g. Horses do not eat meat. The term is also sometimes applied to habitual sentences that predicate a typical and permanent (nontemporary) characteristic of an individual (e. g. Bill's cat chases dogs).
Gerund. Nonfinite verb form used in a gerund clause (e. g. [I want to avoid her] getting [upset]). See also present gerund and perfect gerund.
Gerund clause. Nonfinite clause whose verb form is a gerund and which is typically used as a nominal clause, e. g. being gay ... in By next week, you will write an essay on being gay {in antiquity/today/in the world of tomorrow}. As this example shows, the situation time of being gay can be interpreted as anterior, simultaneous or posterior to the situation time of the situation referred to in the head clause.
Grammatical aspect. The use of a special grammatical form (more specifically: an inflectional suffix, an auxiliary or a combination of the two, as in the English progressive form) to express one of various meanings which have to do with how the speaker views the internal temporal structure of a situation.
Grammatical auxiliary. Auxiliary with a purely grammatical function, e. g. the perfect tense auxiliary have.
Gricean Maxims. Four principles of conversation, described by Grice (1975), which are conventionally observed by cooperative speakers and hearers, and which can trigger implicatures. See also Maxim of Quantity and Maxim of Relation.
Habit. Situation that is characteristic of the referent of the subject noun phrase for an extended period of time (e. g. John smokes; Bill mostly walks to work). Because it is a characteristic, a habit is by definition a state. It does not necessarily involve repetition (e. g. I used to be afraid of the dark), but a habit is mostly a habitual-repetitive situation.
Habitual. Being or expressing a habit. John smokes is a 'habitual sentence'. It refers to a 'habitual situation'. It has a 'habitual meaning (interpretation)', but is not an instance of habitual aspect because it does not contain a special verb form grammatically marking the situation as habitual. (The form smokes can also be used with a nonhabitual interpretation, e. g. in the historic present.)
Habitual aspect. Kind of grammatical aspect characterized by the fact that the speaker uses a special verb form to represent a situation as a habit (i. e. as a situation which is characteristic of the referent of the subject NP over an extended period of time). (e. g. She used to come and talk to him when she had finished working).
Habitual-repetitive sentence. Sentence referring to a habitual-repetitive situation.
Habitual-repetitive situation. Habit involving repetition, i. e. habitual situation consisting of a number of similar or identical subsituations (e. g. She comes to see me every night). A habitual-repetitive situation is an example of a hypersituation.
Habitual sentence. Sentence interpreted as referring to a habitual situation.
Habitual situation. Situation which is interpreted as being a habit, i. e. as being characteristic of the referent of the subject NP over a certain period, e. g. the situations referred to in John smokes, We're eating outside while this spell of good weather lasts, His dog is black. See also habitual-repetitive situation, permanent habit, temporary habit.
Head (of a phrase). See phrase.
Head clause. Clause which forms part of a complex sentence and on which another clause (i. e. a 'subclause', 'subordinate clause', 'dependent clause', 'embedded clause') is syntactically dependent. In John left after he had promised he would finish the report, the matrix clause is John left. This clause is the head clause on which the subclause with had promised depends. The latter clause is itself the head clause of the subclause with would finish. As this example shows, a head clause (or 'superordinate clause') may or may not be the matrix of a complex sentence.
Headless relative clause (or free relative clause or nominal relative clause). Relative clause whose relative pronoun 'contains' a covert antecedent. For example: what he wanted (which means 'that which he wanted'). For more information, see free relative clause.
Heterogeneous (or nonhomogeneous). (a) Ontological feature of a telic kind of situation: 'not homogeneous'. For example, the verb phrase run three miles denotes a telic situation-template; it refers to a kind of situation which is not interpreted as homogeneous (the same all the way through); this means that the verb phrase is only applicable to the kind of situation as a whole: there is no part of the situation type referred to by run three miles that can also be referred to by this (nonprogressive) verb phrase; (b) On the level of the clause, 'heterogeneous' is a characteristic of the actualization of a concrete situation; John is going to run three miles is a 'heterogeneous clause' because it can only be used to refer to the post-present situation as a whole: there is no part of the future (actualization of the) situation that can be satisfactorily referred to by the same clause. As regards clauses and the actualizations they refer to, there is a perfect correlation between the features [heterogeneous] and [bounded]. Sheila drank a glass of beer refers to an actualization which is bounded, and therefore heterogeneous, so that we can speak either of a 'bounded sentence' or of a 'heterogeneous sentence'; (c) 'Heterogeneous' (or 'nonhomogeneous') can also be applied to the (actualization of) a situation: a bounded (or heterogeneous) clause refers to a bounded (or heterogeneous) situation; (d) The term 'heterogeneous' is also applied to an Adv-time and to the adverbial indicating it: a heterogeneous Adv-time adverbial can only refer to the Adv-time as a whole, not to any smaller portion of it (e. g. from 1983 to 1986). The Adv-time in question is then also said to be heterogeneous.
Historic present (or historical present). Use of the present tense to locate the situation time of a bygone situation in the present in order to represent this situation vividly, as if it were actualizing here and now (e. g. Last night I'm having a drink at the local pub. Suddenly this guy walks in and …).
Homogeneous. The opposite of 'heterogeneous'. (a) On the level of the verb phrase, 'homogeneous' is an ontological feature of a durative situation-template: it means that a kind of situation is conceptualized as 'the same all the way through', i. e. as consisting of parts which are all of the same kind as the situation-template as a whole (e. g. drink beer). On this level, 'homogeneous' can be applied both to the kind of situation (which is then always atelic) and to the verb phrase denoting it. (b) On the level of clauses, 'homogeneous' is an inherent feature of nonbounded (actualizations of) situations. The sentence She drank beer can be called either a 'homogeneous sentence' or a 'nonbounded sentence'. The actualization of the situation referred to, and by extension the situation itself, can also be called 'nonbounded' or 'homogeneous'. A homogeneous clause can refer not only to (the actualization of) a situation as a whole but also to any representative part of it. Thus, if John was walking truly describes what John was doing between 2 o'clock and 4, it can also be used to describe what John was doing between 2 and 3, and between 2.30 and 3, etc. (c) In respect of Adv-times, homogeneity means that the Adv-time-adverbial can indicate not only the Adv-time as a whole but also portions of it. For example, today is a 'homogeneous Adv-time-adverbial' because any part of today, whether bygone, present or future, can be referred to as today. This explains why any of the absolute tenses is compatible with today: I had no time for breakfast today, I haven't seen him yet today, I'm 21 today, I'm feeling queasy today, I will visit him today.
Hot news reading (or hot news interpretation). A particular usage type (functional reading) of the indefinite perfect: the sentence in the present perfect is used to 'announce' a bygone situation, i. e. to present the bygone actualization of the situation in question as very recent and as having high current significance. For example: [Have you heard?] Kim Clijsters has won the US Open!.
Hypersituation. Repetitive situation, i. e. situation whose actualization involves the actualization of a number of similar subsituations, e. g. [All the time I was speaking] John was nodding assent; She stabbed him six times with her penknife.
Iconic sequencing. The unmarked interpretation of a sequence of two or more bounded clauses using an absolute tense form: the situations referred to are interpreted as actualizing in the temporal order in which they are referred to. Thus, the unmarked interpretation of Bill hit John, who hit him is that John hit Bill first, and then Bill hit John. (This unmarked interpretation can easily be overruled by the context, as in Bill hit John, who hit him the day before, or by pragmatic knowledge, as in The policeman arrested John, who robbed the bank).
Illocutionary force. The illocutionary force of an utterance is the intention of the speech act (e. g. promise, request, piece of advice, rebuke, etc.) performed by the speaker by making the utterance. For example, Will you help me?, Shall I drive you there? and You will do as I say! have the illocutionary force of a request, an offer of service and an instruction, respectively.
Imperfective aspect. Cover term for inchoative, progressive or egressive aspect. Imperfective aspect is expressed by verb forms which do not refer to the actualization of a situation as a whole, but only to its beginning, middle or end. In English, progressive aspect is the only kind of imperfective aspect that is grammaticalized.
Imperfective meaning. Meaning conveyed by a verb form expressing imperfective aspect.
Imperfective verb form. Verb form which expresses imperfective aspect, i. e. which explicitly refers to only the beginning, middle or end of (the actualization of) a situation, not to the complete situation. For example, in I was writing an essay [when Henry came in] the progressive verb form was writing refers to the middle of the situation only (hence the possible paraphrase 'I was in the middle of writing an essay [when Henry came in].').
Implicate. To express an implicature, i. e. to suggest that something is the case unless there is a contextual or pragmatic indication to the contrary. For example, in clauses referring to a homogeneous situation the past tense implicates that the actualization of the situation referred to is over at the temporal zeropoint. Thus, Tim was very angry suggests that Tim is no longer angry, but this implicature can be blocked or cancelled by the context: It is blocked (prevented from arising) by the presence of already in Tim was already very angry yesterday, and it is cancelled (explicitly denied) in Tim was very angry – in fact he still is.
Implicature. Aspect of interpretation which does not follow from the semantic meaning of a word, constituent or construction but which either follows from contextual information or pragmatic knowledge of the world or results from the application of conversational principles, such as the Gricean Maxims. It is typical of implicatures that they can be blocked or cancelled by the context – see implicate for examples.
Implicature of discontinuation. Implicature attached to the use of the absolute past tense when the full situation is homogeneous and there is no linguistic or contextual indication that the situation time (time of the predicated situation) is included in (and hence shorter than) the time of the full situation. The implicature says that under these conditions the situation time can be assumed to coincide with the time of the full situation and hence to be over at the zerotime. For example, Meg swore a lot when she was younger implicates that this is no longer the case. This implicature would be cancelled by the contextual addition of and she still does.
Implicit condition. Condition that is not overtly expressed but is implicit in one of the constituents of the sentence, for example in a pro-form (e. g. [I think we should go home now.] Otherwise it will be dark before we get home. ('otherwise' 'if we don't go')), or in a nominal (e. g. That would be quite interesting. ('that' 'if that happened', etc.)).
Implicit orientation time. Orientation time which is implicit in the semantics of a temporal conjunction. For example, in By the time Bill had left the room it was too late to act, the verb form had left represents the leaving as anterior to the implicit orientation time referred to by the time in the phrasal conjunction by the time (that). Similarly, in I wanted to be in the pub before Ted arrived, the conjunction before means 'before the time at which' and arrived is a relative past tense form representing Ted's arrival as T-simultaneous with the implicit orientation time (lexicalized by the time in the paraphrase 'before the time at which').
Implicit pre-present. Said of the length of the pre-present zone in the absence of a time-specifying adverbial or another contextual indication specifying this length. If it remains implicit, the pre-present zone is taken to be the shortest period that makes sense in the given context. Thus, in Have you had breakfast yet? the time span leading up to now will be interpreted as something like 'since you got up', not as, say, 'in the last few weeks'.
Inceptive aspect. See ingressive aspect.
Inchoative aspect. See ingressive aspect. See also partly inchoative interpretation.
Inclusion. 'Time A includes time B' means that B is shorter than A and falls within the boundaries of A. For example, in I am his daughter, the time of the full situation includes the temporal zero-point (time of speech). Inclusion is one form of the containment relation that exists not only between the time of the full situation and the situation time but also between an Adv-time (an adverbially specified time interval) and a situation time (or another orientation time). For example, in Jim had already left before breakfast the Adv-time indicated by before breakfast includes the (unspecified) orientation time to which the situation time (the time of Jim's leaving) is represented as T-anterior. (Apart from inclusion, containment can in principle also mean coincidence. Thus, in I left at five the Adv-time contains the situation time in terms of coincidence: the time indicated by at five coincides with the time of my leaving.) What we call inclusion is often referred to as 'proper inclusion'.
Inclusive adverbial. See inclusive duration adverbial
Inclusive duration adverbial. Adverbial measuring the duration of (the actualization of) a situation by answering the question Within what time?, e. g. [He finished the work] in an hour, [Everything will be arranged] within the next five minutes. Such an adverbial can be added to bounded clauses only, e. g. I ran the marathon in less than two hours; Within the next five minutes I had served six clients. (The same adverbials are not inclusive adverbials in clauses that receive an inchoative interpretation, as in He was here in an hour, which means 'It was an hour before he was here'.)
Inclusive reference. Reference to a set which implies or implicates reference to all the members of the set. For example, in I cleared away the glasses after the party, the reference to the set of glasses is (by implicature) interpreted as reference to all the glasses of the relevant set.
Inclusiveness implicature. Implicature that definite noun phrases should be interpreted as having inclusive reference, i. e. as referring to all the members of the set denoted by the definite noun phrase. Thus, I've drunk the bottles of beer implicates that I have drunk all the bottles of beer in question.
Incurable habit. Typical behaviour that is (a) unpredictable in that it actualizes from time to time but not at set times, (b) unintentional (hence not controlled by an agent) and (c) usually interpreted by the speaker as annoying or disturbing. An incurable habit is typically expressed in a clause which combines a progressive verb form with an adverbial like always, forever, perpetually, constantly, etc. For example, the sentence She's always imagining everybody is looking at her refers to a habit which consists of a repetition of a kind of situation that is interpreted as lying beyond the control of the subject referent, in the sense that she cannot help thinking that everybody is looking at her (because it forms part of her nature to entertain such imaginary ideas).
Indefinite interpretation (or indefinite reading). One of three possible W-interpretations of a clause in the present perfect. On an indefinite interpretation, the situation time is located in the pre-present zone, and the time of the full situation is taken to precede the temporal zero-point and to be non-adjacent to it. This reading is called 'indefinite' because it implies that the precise temporal location of the situation time remains indefinite: all that we know is that the situation time lies somewhere in the pre-present. For example: Have you ever been to Togo?; [Nobody can enter the house, because] I have locked the door and hidden the key.
Indefinite perfect. Present perfect tense form used in a clause receiving an indefinite interpretation.
Indefinite reading. See indefinite interpretation.
Independent clause. Clause that is used as a sentence or which is one of the coordinate clauses of a compound sentence or which functions as a head clause in a complex sentence (see also matrix). 'Independent clause' thus means 'syntactically independent clause', i. e. clause which is not a subclause.
Indirect binding. A special form of T-binding: the situation time of a subclause is T-bound by the situation time of a clause which is not the head clause on which the subclause in question syntactically depends but a clause higher up the syntactic tree. The situation of the subclause in question is then interpreted as W-simultaneous with the situation of its head clause, but the tense form of the subclause does not express T-simultaneity. For example: [I remembered that] when I had first met him he had been wearing blue jeans. Here, the situation times of had met and of had been wearing are interpreted as Wsimultaneous with each other, but neither tense form expresses this relation: both situation times are represented as T-anterior to the situation time of remembered. Compare: direct binding.
Indirect reported speech. Type of represented speech in which the reported utterance or thought is not quoted as an independent sentence (as in He said: "I am ill.", which is an instance of direct reported speech) but is reported in the form of a subclause (e. g. He said that he was ill).
Indirect result. Resultant state which is not a direct result (i. e. a resultant state that inevitably comes about when a situation is completed) but whose existence is implicated by a perfect tense form used in a particular kind of context. Consider, for example, the following piece of discourse: [I've taken a lot of responsibility in my first job already.] I've taken the savings to the bank, I've dealt with difficult customers and I've locked up the shop. Here, the present perfect tense forms implicate that I am considered a responsible employee, or that I have shown that I am a very capable employee, or something similar. These implicated present results are indirect results.
Indirect speech. See indirect reported speech, free indirect speech.
Infinitival clause (or infinitive clause). Nonfinite clause whose verb form is an infinitive, e. g. for you to come earlier in I was hoping for you to come earlier.
Infinitive. See present infinitive and perfect infinitive. When we simply speak of 'infinitive', we normally have the present infinitive (i. e. the unmarked option) in mind.
Infinitive clause. See infinitival clause.
Ingressive aspect (or inchoative aspect or inceptive aspect). Kind of grammatical aspect. Ingressive aspect means that the speaker uses a special verb form to represent the actualization of a situation as just beginning. This aspect is not grammaticalized in English: English does not have a special grammatical form to express ingressive meaning. It uses an aspectualizer like begin or start (inserted before the verb) instead.
Intensional domain. A nonfactual possible world established, for example, by a future tense form or by an intensional verb like imagine, say, think, want, etc. An intensional domain is a domain of interpretation which has its own presuppositions and truth conditions, in terms of which propositions can be evaluated and interpreted. An intensional domain always functions as a temporal domain. After a weak intensional verb (like say), the complement clause can optionally shift the domain (e. g. He said that John and Shirley {were/are} not married). This is not normally possible after a strong intensional verb (such as imagine, fancy, dream, wonder, etc.): [Is that her?] I thought she {was/*is} taller.
Intensional interpretation (or opaque interpretation). Interpretation in terms of an intensional world. For example, in John believes that Paris is the capital of Italy, the that-clause is true in the intensional world of John's belief, but not in (what the speaker knows to be) the actual world. That is, Paris is the capital of Italy is true on an intensional (opaque) interpretation, but not on a transparent one.
Intensional verb. Verb (like claim, believe, imagine, etc.) creating an intensional domain. See also strong intensional verb and weak intensional verb.
Intensional world. Possible world which is not the actual world (e. g. the world created by an if-clause). See also intensional domain.
Intentionality. The idea that an action is performed intentionally (consciously, deliberately). This feature is often included in the definition of agentivity, but not so in this book. (A sleep-walker opening a door is an agent, and so is someone opening a door under the influence of hypnosis, but in neither case is the agent in question acting intentionally.)
Intransitive verb. (a) Strictly speaking: a verb that can only take a subject argument, i. e. a verb which cannot be followed by a complement (e. g. sit); (b) Informally, a verb that could take a complement but is used intransitively (i. e. without a complement), e. g. eat in John was still eating when I left.
Inversion. The phenomenon that the syntactic subject does not precede the verb form but follows the operator (i. e. the auxiliary or first of the auxiliaries). For example, there is as a rule inversion in independent interrogative clauses that are not wh-questions. Compare Has John left? (with inversion) with John has left and Who has left? (without inversion). Inversion also occurs with be and have.
Inverted pseudo-cleft. Pseudo-cleft in which the value constituent is processed as syntactic subject and the variable constituent as subject complement (e. g. A book was what he gave me). See also specificational sentence.
Irrealis. Referring to a counterfactual world.
Irregular verb (or strong verb). Verb that does not form its past tense and/or past participle by the mere addition of a dental suffix (written as -ed or -d) to the stem of the verb (e. g. blow – blew – blown; bring – brought – brought; creep – crept – crept; go – went – gone).
It-cleft. Cleft introduced by it. For example: It was The Bard who wrote: "Let's kill all the lawyers"; It is with a profound sense of regret that I announce my resignation.
Iterative aspect. See repetitive aspect.
Iterative verb. Verb which represents a kind of situation as consisting of a rapid repetition of subsituations of the same kind, such as hammer, twinkle, stutter, rattle, stammer, etc. In other words: verb which has [iterative] as one of its ontological aspect features.
L-bounded. Said of a bounded situation whose boundedness is a matter of linguistic representation (rather than of interpretation based on pragmatic inference). Also said of a clause or sentence representing a situation as bounded (i. e. as ending). For example: Jim was in the library from two to four. One case of L-boundedness is when a bounded meaning is produced by the combination of a telic verb phrase and a nonprogressive verb form, as in I will write three letters (in the next half-hour): such a sentence is L-bounded.
Lexical aspect (or ontological aspect or Aktionsart). Linguistic category pertaining to the way in which the lexical material in the verb phrase determines one or more inherent characteristics of a kind of situation (or, more correctly, a type of situation-template), for example, whether it is (conceived of and represented as) durative or punctual (compare, for example, run with arrive), telic or atelic, dynamic or static, etc.
Lexical meaning. Semantic meaning of a word which has to do with the typical characteristics of the referents of the word in the actual world (or in whichever possible world is being talked about). For example, the lexical verb kill has a lexical meaning because it refers to a specific type of situation which exists in the world as we know it. The auxiliary have in They have left does not have a lexical meaning but has a grammatical function: it is used to build a perfect tense form.
Lexical verb (or full verb). Verb which differs from an auxiliary in that (a) it is not a defective verb, (b) it has a full lexical meaning and (c) with the exception of be, it requires do-support (i. e. the addition of do) in some types of questions, negative clauses, etc. (see NICE-properties). For example: explode, play, melt, resemble, etc.
Linking verb. See copula.
L-nonbounded. Said of a nonbounded situation whose nonboundedness is a matter of linguistic representation (rather than of pragmatic inference). Also said of a clause or sentence failing to represent a situation as L-bounded.
Main clause. Term sometimes used as an alternative to 'head clause' (any clause on which another clause is syntactically dependent) and sometimes as an alternative to 'matrix' (highest clause in the syntactic tree structure of a complex sentence). Because it is potentially ambiguous between these two meanings, the term 'main clause' is not used in this work. We use the unequivocal terms 'head clause' and 'matrix' instead.
Main verb. Form of a lexical verb which is used in a verb form that also involves one or more auxiliaries (e. g. walked in should have walked, or working in may have been working).
Matrix. Head clause which forms part of a complex sentence and is not a subclause of another head clause, e. g. the clause John said in John said that he was thirsty because he had worked hard and that he badly needed a drink. In other words, the matrix is the highest clause in the inverted tree structure representing the syntactic structure of a complex sentence.
Matrix clause. See matrix.
Maxim of Quantity. One of the Gricean Maxims. The most important claim of this Maxim is that a cooperative speaker should give the addressee all the information that is needed for a good understanding of the sentence(s) uttered. Because of this Maxim, a sentence like Kill the hostages! implicates (and will be understood as meaning) that all the hostages should be killed (otherwise the speaker should add an expression restricting the reference to the set of hostages, as in Kill the oldest six of the hostages!) – see inclusiveness implicature.
Maxim of Relation (or Maxim of Relevance). One of the Gricean Maxims. The most important claim of this Maxim is that a cooperative speaker should only say things that are relevant to the current discourse. This is why in ["I don't think John has a girl-friend." "Well,] he took Sybil out three times last week, the reply suggests (implicates) that John does have a girl-friend, namely Sybil.
Maxim of Relevance. See Maxim of Relation.
Measure phrase. Phrase 'measuring' a time interval, i. e. indicating the duration of the interval or making clear where its right boundary lies. The interval in question may be the time span taken up by the actualization of a situation. In the following examples, the measure phrases are underlined: John walked three miles/Simon slept for four hours/Soames repaired all these cars this morning.
Metalinguistic negation. Wide scope negation used to reject the truth of the sentence as a whole, i. e. to contradict a statement or implicature to the contrary. For example: ["The party was boring."] "The party was not boring. [On the contrary, it was quite lively."].
Modal backshifting. The substitution of the past perfect for the past tense in a before-clause in order to trigger a not-yet-factual meaning. For example, whereas I saw him before he saw me is roughly equivalent to 'He saw me after I saw him', I saw him before he had seen me is interpreted as 'He had not seen me yet when I saw him'.
Modality. Semantic category comprising two types of meaning: (a) the representation of the speaker's assessment of the likelihood that a proposition is true (or that the situation referred to by a proposition actualizes), and (b) the representation of one of the factors affecting the (non)actualization of the situation referred to, such as (un)willingness, (im)possibility, (in)ability, obligation, necessity, advisability, permission, prohibition, volition, etc. Modality which has to do with the truth of the utterance is called epistemic modality. The other type is referred to as nonepistemic (or root) modality.
Momentary (synonym of punctual). Lasting for a very short moment only, having no observable duration.
Mood. Grammatical (formal) category referring to the systematic use of lexical verb forms not preceded by a modal auxiliary to express particular kinds of modal meaning. English is generally considered to have three moods, viz. the indicative, the imperative and the subjunctive.
Multiple-orientation-time adverbial. Time-specifying adverbial denoting an Adv-time which contains two or more orientation times (which are usually situation times). For example, in Yesterday Sue left before Beth arrived, the times of the two situations referred to are included in the Adv-time specified by yesterday, which is therefore a multiple-orientation-time adverbial.
Multi-zone time-specifying adverbial (or multi-zone adverbial). Deictic timespecifying adverbial specifying a time span which includes more than one timezone. For example, today indicates a period which includes the present zone (t0) as well as the post-present and the pre-present or the past, and is therefore compatible with any of the four absolute tenses: He's doing it today, He finally did it today, He's done it today, He'll do it later today.
Narrative before-clause. Foregrounding before-clause. See narrative time clause.
Narrative time clause. Time clause which does not specify an Adv-time (containing the situation time of the head clause) but 'pushes forward the action', i. e. forms part of the backbone (foreground) of the story. A typical instance is a 'narrative when-clause', as in We had just entered the building when there was a terrific explosion in the street, where the head clause situation specifies the time of the when-clause situation rather than the other way round. The following is an example of a 'narrative before-clause': [When he arrived at the house] he hesitated a moment before he rang the bell.
Narrative when-clause. Foregrounding when-clause. See narrative time clause.
Narrow scope negation. Negation which has only one constituent of the clause in its scope (e. g. John was not responsible, [it was Fred!])
Narrow scope question. Question which has only one constituent of the clause in its scope (e. g. Who did you see?, Was it John who was responsible?). Whquestions always have narrow scope.
Necessary adverbial. Adverbial that cannot be omitted without a drastic change of meaning or without creating an ungrammatical or nonsensical clause. In I put the books on the table, the prepositional phrase on the table is such a necessary adverbial. Like verb complements, necessary adverbials form part of the verb phrase of the clause.
Negative polarity item. See nonassertive item.
Neutral prediction. Use of the future tense auxiliary will (or shall) in cases where the speaker merely predicts something or assumes that something is likely to happen, without representing the post-present (non)actualization of the situation as determined by present circumstances, such as the present volition or intention of the subject of the sentence or a present possibility, necessity, arrangement, etc. For example: Tomorrow it will be rainy but warm.
NICE-properties. Morpho-syntactic characteristic of auxiliary verbs: unlike lexical verbs (except be), auxiliaries are used without do-support in clauses that are negative, interrogative, used in code or involving emphasis on the verb. ('NICE' is an acronym for 'negation, interrogative, code, emphasis'.) For example, we say He {doesn't work/*works not}, but He {hasn't worked/*doesn't have worked}.
Nominal clause (or noun clause). Subclause with a nominal function, i. e. a function typically associated with a noun phrase. For example: in [I don't know] if I can believe that [because my sister denies it], the if-clause is a nominal clause because it functions as complement of the verb know.
Nonassertive clause. Clause of which the message is not that of an affirmative assertion, i. e. the message is negative and/or interrogative. Only nonassertive clauses can contain nonassertive items ('negative polarity items'). Thus, a negative assertion like I didn't lift a finger to help him is assertoric but nonassertive – hence the use of the nonassertive item lift a finger.
Nonassertive item. Word or expression (often also called 'negative polarity item') which can appear in nonassertive clauses only (e. g. at all).
Nonbounded. Not represented as having boundaries. See nonbounded clause, nonbounded noun phrase, nonbounded situation, L-nonbounded, W-nonbounded.
Nonbounded clause. Clause which does not represent the actualizing situation referred to as bounded. A nonbounded clause refers to a nonbounded situation and is by definition homogeneous.
Nonbounded noun phrase. Noun phrase with nonbounded reference, i. e. noun phrase referring to a set or mass whose boundaries are unspecified (e. g. bees, milk). A nonbounded noun phrase has homogeneous reference: bees can indicate any set or subset of bees that contains at least two bees; any amount of a given amount of milk is milk.
Nonbounded situation. Said of a particular instance of actualization of a situation. On the level of linguistic representation it means that the clause referring to the actualization of the situation does not represent it as bounded (reaching a terminal point, coming to an end). On the level of interpretation, it means that the actualization is not interpreted as terminating. Sentences like John was reading the letter or John drank whisky do not involve reference to a terminal point, so that the actualizations referred to are not represented as bounded. However, it is possible that for pragmatic reasons the actualization of a situation which is not linguistically represented as bounded is interpreted as being over (and hence as bounded). If that is the case, the (actualization of) the situation is W-bounded, but still L-nonbounded (not linguistically represented as bounded). A nonbounded clause is by definition homogeneous.
Nonboundedness. The quality of being nonbounded.
Nondeictic adverbial. Shorthand for nondeictic time-specifying adverbial.
Nondeictic time-specifying adverbial (or unanchored time-specifying adverbial). Time-specifying adverbial which does not relate the Adv-time to an anchor time. For example: in I've heard that name at some time or other, the Adv-time specified by at some time or other is not linked to a given temporal anchor.
Nondurative. See punctual.
Nonepistemic modality (or root modality). Type of modality that is not concerned with the truth of the utterance but either with the speaker's attitude towards the actualization of a situation (e. g. You must pay me back now!) or with other factors affecting the (non)actualization of the situation referred to, such as the presence or absence of willingness (e. g. I won't help you if you don't pay me), possibility (e. g. Aerosols can explode), ability (e. g. John can swim), etc.
Nonfactual world. A possible world which is not the actual world at a given time. A nonfactual world is either counterfactual (as in If only I was younger!), not-yet-factual (as in I will leave tomorrow) or purely hypothetical (as in If he changed his mind … or If he comes …).
Nonfinite clause. Clause whose verb form is a nonfinite verb form. Gerund clauses, infinitival clauses and participial clauses are nonfinite clauses.
Nonfinite verb form. A verb form that is an infinitive, gerund or participle. Such a verb form is not finite because it is not marked for tense, mood, person or number.
Nonhomogeneous. See heterogeneous.
Noninclusive duration adverbial. Duration adverbial answering the question For how long? (rather than Within what time?, as in the case of an inclusive duration adverbial), e. g. for hours, all afternoon. Such an adverbial can be added to nonbounded clauses only (disregarding a repetitive interpretation of bounded clauses), e. g. I ran all afternoon (I ran is a nonbounded clause); *I ran a mile for three days (I ran a mile is a bounded clause).
Nonpast time-sphere. See present time-sphere.
Nonprogressive form. Verb form which does not express progressive aspect and therefore does not consist of a form of be followed by the present participle. For example: walked in John walked home.
Nonprogressive meaning. The aspectual meaning that (the actualization of) the situation referred to is not viewed as ongoing (in progress) at the relevant vantage time. Nonprogressive meaning is normally expressed by a nonprogressive verb form.
Nonprogressive past. Nonprogressive form of the past tense.
Nonprogressive present. Nonprogressive form of the present tense.
Nonprogressive tense form. Nonprogressive form of a particular tense (e. g. walked, walks, has walked, will walk …).
Nonpunctual (or durative). See durative.
Nonquantificational constitution interpretation. See nonquantificational constitution reading.
Nonquantificational constitution reading (or nonquantificational constitution interpretation). Particular type of constitution reading of a specificational clause in the present perfect, namely the one in which the speaker is concerned with the nature of the situation that is conceived of as having lasted throughout the pre-present zone without including the temporal zero-point (e. g. What have you been doing?; Where have you been?).
Nonrepetitive aspect. The opposite of repetitive aspect: the verb form represents a situation as actualizing only once.
Nonrepetitive situation. Situation that actualizes only once, i. e. a semelfactive situation. A nonrepetitive situation is not a hypersituation consisting of subsituations of the same kind.
Nonstatic. See dynamic.
Nontensed verb form (or tenseless or untensed verb form). Verb form which is not marked for tense, i. e. which does not encode information about how a situation time is related (directly or indirectly) to the temporal zero-point. Nonfinite verb forms and subjunctive verb forms are tenseless in this sense.
Not-yet-factual (or not-yet-factual at t). See not-yet-factual at the binding time.
Not-yet-factual at t0. Said of a situation whose actualization is located in the post-present, since the predicted actualization is not yet a fact at t0, and has not even started to become a fact at t0.
Not-yet-factual at the binding time (or not-yet-factual at t). In a complex sentence, the interpretation that the actualization of the situation of the subclause is not yet a fact (i. e. has not yet actualized) at the time of the situation of the head clause. For example, in the sentence John {left/wanted to leave} before Bill arrived, the situation of Bill's arrival (irrespective of whether or not it eventually actualized at all) is interpreted as 'not-yet-factual at the time of John's leaving', since before represents the subclause situation as posterior to the head clause situation.
Not-yet-factual before-clause. Before-clause that is not-yet-factual at the binding time. For example, in the sentence John left before Bill had arrived, the situation of Bill's arrival (irrespective of whether or not it eventually actualized at all) is interpreted as envisaged but still nonfactual (not yet factual) at the time of John's leaving: The natural reading of this sentence is 'Bill hadn't yet arrived when John left'. Nothing is said about whether Bill eventually arrived or not. See also modal backshifting.
Noun phrase (NP). A phrase (structured set of words forming a syntactic unit) whose head is a noun or a nominal (such as a pronoun or gerund). For example: the girl in the corner; something special; those who are afraid; that poor handling of the case by the police. The set forming the phrase may be a singleton: in that case the phrase consists only of a noun or nominal (e. g. Elephants like walking).
NP. Conventional linguistic abbreviation of noun phrase.
Number-quantifying constitution interpretation. See number-quantifying constitution reading.
Number-quantifying constitution reading (or interpretation). Particular type of constitution reading of a clause in the present perfect: the clause is interpreted as expressing the speaker's concern with how many times a specific situation (or kind of situation) has actualized in the course of the pre-present zone (e. g. How many times have you met him in the past week?).
Ontological aspect (or lexical aspect or Aktionsart). Linguistic category pertaining to the way the lexical material in the verb phrase determines one or more inherent characteristics of a kind of a situation (or, more correctly, a type of situation-template), for example, whether it is (conceived of and represented as) durative or punctual (compare, for example, run with arrive), telic or atelic, dynamic or static, etc.
Ontological feature. One of the features constituting the ontological aspect (lexical-aspect) of a situation-template denoted by a verb phrase. For example, drive (when used as a one-word verb phrase) denotes a situation-template having the ontological features [– static], [agentive], [homogeneous], [– transitional], [durative], [– telic].
Opaque interpretation. See intensional interpretation.
Opaque world. See intensional world.
Open condition. Condition which is treated as one that may or may not be fulfilled. For example: [There will be a lot of damage] if the hurricane passes over this area; or [I don't know if Liverpool won this afternoon, but] if they did, [they must be top of the League now.]. An open condition concerning the post-present is not expressed by a tense form from the Absolute Future System but by a tense form from the Pseudo-t0-System: [We'll be in trouble] if there {is/*will be} a strike tomorrow.
Operator. The first auxiliary in a complex verb form, e. g. would in would have been killed or has in Has he lied?. If the verb form is marked for one or more of the categories person, number, mood and tense, it is the operator that is morphologically marked.
Optional adverbial. Adverbial that is not a necessary adverbial and therefore does not form part of the verb phrase of the clause. For example: carefully in I carefully put the books on the table.
Orientation time. Any time functioning as the origin of a temporal relation expressed by a tense form. There are five kinds of orientation time: the temporal zero-point (as in He was there, which relates the situation time to t0 in terms of 'pastness'), a situation time (as in I thought that he was feeling sick, where was feeling expresses T-simultaneity with the situation time of thought), an unspecified orientation time (as in He had already left, where the orientation time to which the situation time of had left is T-anterior is not specified), an otherwise unspecified time contained in an Adv-time (as in At five he had already left) or an implicit orientation time (as in He arrived before I had left, where had left represents its situation time as anterior to an orientation time that is implicit in before, which means 'before the time at which').
Orientation-time adverbial. Time-specifying adverbial indicating an Adv-time which does not contain (in terms of either inclusion or coincidence) the situation time but contains the orientation time to which the situation time is temporally subordinated. For example, in John will already have left at five the time adverbial at five specifies an Adv-time which contains the (otherwise unspecified) orientation time to which the situation time (the time of John's leaving) is represented as anterior. The same is true of {The next day/At five o'clock} John had already left).
Participial clause. Nonfinite clause whose verb form is a participle, as in Having missed my train, [I had to wait on that cold platform for another fifty minutes].
Participle. See present participle and past participle.
Participle clause. See participial clause.
Partly inchoative interpretation. The interpretation of a sentence like I had dinner at seven o'clock, which combines the idea 'I had a full dinner' and 'I started eating at seven o'clock'. (A 'purely inchoative' interpretation would be 'I started having dinner at seven o'clock', which would leave it vague whether I finished my dinner or not.)
Past. (a) Used as a noun, past can be shorthand for past zone (or past timesphere); (b) Past can also be used as an adjective modifying the noun situation, this combination then being short for 'situation whose situation time is located in the past zone (or past time-sphere)'. (Similarly, when we speak of, for example, a past period or a past point in time, we mean a period or a point located in the past zone or past time-sphere.); (c) The noun past is occasionally also used as shorthand for 'past tense' (in the sense of 'preterite'), when there can be no confusion, as in the combination '(non)progressive past'.
Past continuous. Progressive form of the past tense.
Past domain. See past temporal domain.
Past participle. Nonfinite verb form like taken, walked, crept, spun, known, etc. which follows the auxiliary verb(s) in a perfect or passive verb form (e. g. taken in has taken, had taken, was taken, would have been taken, etc.). Some past participles can also be used as modifiers to the head of a noun phrase, e. g. handed over in Next week, I will carefully examine the report handed over to us tomorrow. Such adjectival past participles are mostly interchangeable with relative clauses: Next week, I will carefully examine the report that will be handed over to us tomorrow.
Past perfect. Shorthand for past perfect tense.
Past perfect tense (or pluperfect). Tense whose forms (e. g. had said) are built by combining the past tense form of the auxiliary have with the past participle form of the main verb. The semantics of this tense is: 'The situation time is Tanterior to an orientation time in a past domain, or in a past subdomain (any subdomain within a past domain), or in a pseudo-past subdomain (within a post-present domain)'. For example: John said he had done it; John said that he would leave immediately after he had done it; [If John does it] he will tell everybody afterwards that he left immediately after he had done it.
Past subdomain. Subdomain within a past temporal domain.
Past subjunctive. Form of the subjunctive, which is a type of mood. In English, the only possible past subjunctive form is were (as in If I were you, I wouldn't do it), called 'past' because of its formal contrast with the present subjunctive form be and its formal identity with the past indicative form were. The meaning of the past subjunctive is not factual but either counterfactual (e. g. [I wish] he were here; If I were you …) or tentative (e. g. I would be surprised if he were to do that).
Past temporal domain (or past domain). Temporal domain established (by one of the past time-sphere tenses) in the past time-sphere. For example, in Erin arrived late, the past tense form arrived establishes a past domain. A past domain may sometimes comprise one or more situation times that are not Wanterior to the temporal zero-point, as in He promised me yesterday that he would do it tomorrow, but that is irrelevant to the definition of 'past temporal domain'. A domain is a past domain if and only if its central orientation time is located in the past time-sphere.
Past tense (or preterite). (a) The tense realized in such tense forms as ran, walked, was, etc. In this work we distinguish between the absolute past tense (or 'absolute preterite'), which locates a situation time in the past time-sphere and in doing so establishes a past domain, and the relative past tense (or 'relative preterite'), which expresses T-simultaneity in a past domain. (For example, in John said he was feeling tired, said is an absolute past tense form and was feeling is a relative past tense form.); (b) Both 'past tense' and 'preterite' are sometimes used (sloppily) in the sense of 'past tense form' (as in The preterite 'left' in 'John left early' is an absolute preterite.); (c) The plural form past tenses (but not *preterites) is sometimes used as an abbreviation of 'past timesphere tenses' (i. e. the four tenses used to locate a situation time in a past domain, viz. the preterite, the past perfect, the conditional tense and the conditional perfect).
Past time-sphere. Time-sphere conceptualized as a time span of indefinite length which lies wholly before the temporal zero-point (t0) and is disconnected from t0.
Past time-sphere tense. Cover term for any of the four tenses which typically represent a situation time as forming part of a temporal domain that is established in the past time-sphere: the past tense (or preterite), the past perfect, the conditional tense (realized as 'would + infinitive') and the conditional perfect (realized as 'would have + past participle'). These tenses all involve a past tense inflectional morpheme.
Past time-zone. See past zone.
Past zone (or past time-zone). Alternative term for 'past time-sphere'. (The terms zone and time-sphere are equivalent where the past is concerned, but not where the present time-sphere is concerned, which involves three time-zones, viz. the pre-present, the present and the post-present.)
Past-zone adverbial. Single-zone time-specifying adverbial which specifies a time in the past zone. Such an adverbial can combine with the past tense but not with the present perfect. For example: The doctor {came/*has come} yesterday.
Perfect. Shorthand for present perfect, present perfect tense form or perfect tense. The use of the term in any of these senses is avoided in this work: the full terms are used instead.
Perfect auxiliary. See perfect tense auxiliary.
Perfect gerund. Nonfinite verb form which is made up of the present gerund form having followed by a past participle form and which has a nominal syntactic function, e.g. having made in I admit (to) having made a mistake. The perfect gerund, though nontensed in our account, expresses anteriority to the time of the head clause situation.
Perfect infinitive. Nonfinite verb form made up of the present infinitive form have followed by a past participle form, e. g. have eaten, have been eaten. The perfect infinitive, though nontensed in our account, expresses anteriority to the time of the head clause situation.
Perfect of experience (or experiential perfect). (in this work), a particular usage type (a functional reading) of the indefinite perfect, namely one which refers to the actualization of one or more W-bygone situations which are not necessarily recent but which are 'carried along' as part of one's experience and knowledge. For example: Have you ever been to Casablanca?.
Perfect tense auxiliary. The grammatical auxiliary have, which combines with a past participle to form a perfect tense form.
Perfect tenses. Cover term for any of the four tenses whose tense forms involve the perfect tense auxiliary have: the present perfect (e. g. I have done it), the past perfect (e. g. I had done it), the future perfect (e. g. I will have done it) and the conditional perfect (e. g. I would have done it).
Perfective aspect. Kind of grammatical aspect: the speaker's choice of verb form (which is necessarily nonprogressive) reflects his wish to refer to (the actualization of) a situation in its entirety. There is no specific reference to any of the portions (beginning, middle or end) of the actualizing situation.
Perfective meaning. The idea that the verb form refers to the actualization of a situation in its entirety. For example, unlike John was drawing a circle, which expresses imperfective (more particularly progressive) meaning, John drew a circle expresses perfective meaning.
Performative speech act. Speech act that is performed by the very uttering of a sentence. For example, by uttering the sentence I wish you a merry Christmas, the speaker actually performs the act of wishing the hearer a merry Christmas.
Periphrastic auxiliary. The grammatical auxiliary do, which is used for dosupport, i. e. which is inserted into a verb phrase that does not contain an auxiliary when that verb phrase is to be used in a construction that requires an auxiliary (e. g. "I don't love her. Do you love her?" " Yes I do; I do love her.").
Permanent habit. Habit that is not represented as being restricted in time. For example: I don't drive to work. I take the bus or walk.
Phrase. Syntactic unit consisting of a word functioning as a 'head' or 'nucleus'- potentially accompanied by one or more other words or word groups clustering around the head. The nature of the phrase is determined by the word class of the head. Thus, in the sentence Most people in their thirties need money, we have a five-word noun phrase (NP) most people in their thirties (with people as head), a three-word prepositional phrase in their thirties, a two-word verb phrase (VP) need money, and a one-word noun phrase money.
Pluperfect. See past perfect tense.
Point of view. Term introduced in the discussion of temporal focus, to capture the observation that, by making a marked tense choice, a speaker may represent the actualization of a situation from someone else's viewpoint, e. g. from the temporal standpoint of a character in a past-tense narrative. For example, They climbed the Matterhorn, which was very steep differs from They climbed the Matterhorn, which is very steep in that by using the past tense the speaker assumes the point of view of the climbers: was makes it clear that it was they who experienced then and there that the Matterhorn is steep. In other words, while is triggers a transparent reading (i. e. reveals the speaker's point of view at t0), was triggers an intensional (opaque) reading.
Polar question (or yes/no-question or wide scope question). Interrogative sentence or subclause expressing a question to which the expected reply is yes or no. The clause does not contain a question word, and the question has scope over the entire proposition. For example: Is the house humid? ('Is it the case that the house is humid?')
Positive polarity item. See assertive item.
Possible world. Way that things are or might be. The actual world is the way things actually are at speech time. A nonfactual world is an alternative way of conceptualizing things, such as a future world, the hypothetical world of the imagination of the speaker, a counterfactual world, etc. Thus, Paris is the capital of France is true in the actual world, whereas the proposition 'Paris be the capital of Italy' in If Paris had been the capital of Italy [the Pope would have been living there] is true in a counterfactual world. Similarly, the proposition 'You be married' expressed in I thought you were married! is true in the speaker's past world of thinking but assumed (by implicature) to be counterfactual in the actual world.
Posterior. Following in time: time A is posterior to B if it follows B. See also T-posterior and W-posterior.
Posteriority. Type of temporal relation. A given time A is posterior to a given time B if A follows B in time. Posteriority is W-posteriority if A is interpreted as posterior to B in the possible world referred to. Posteriority is T-posteriority if it is a relation that not only exists in interpretation but is formally expressed by the tense form of the clause. Thus, in John said he would do it the next day the situation time of would do is represented as T-posterior to (following) the situation time of said.
Post-present. (a) shorthand for post-present zone; (b) can also be used as an adjective modifying the noun situation, this combination then being short for 'situation whose situation time is located in the post-present time-zone'. (Similarly, when we speak of the post-present actualization of a situation, we mean its actualization in the post-present zone.)
Post-present domain. Temporal domain whose central orientation time lies in the post-present zone. Such a domain can be established directly by the use of the future tense or by a futurish tense form (e. g. He's going to leave; I'm leaving tonight). It may also be established indirectly by expressions implying future time reference, such as imperatives or certain verbs whose lexical meaning implies posterior actualization of the situation referred to in its complement clause, like expect [to V] or intend [to V].
Post-present time-zone. See post-present zone.
Post-present zone (or post-present time-zone). Portion of the present timesphere that is conceptualized as following the temporal zero-point (t0). For example, I will leave and I'm going to leave both locate the time of the actualization of the situation of 'my leaving' in the post-present zone.
Potential full situation. In clauses using one of the perfect tenses and receiving a continuative reading, this term refers to the factual full situation plus that part of the full situation that may potentially continue beyond the relevant orientation time (which in the case of the present perfect is the temporal zeropoint). Thus, in Meg has been talking to the elephant for an hour now, the potential full situation is longer than an hour (since one hour is the adverbially specified length of the factual full situation).
Predicate. (a) syntactically: shorthand for predicate constituent; (b) semantically: what is said (or asked) about the referent of the subject of a clause.
Predicate constituent. The syntactic unit functioning as predicate within a clause. It is made up of all the elements of a clause except the subject, in other words, of the verb phrase and of additional optional phrases, if any.
Predicated situation. That part of the full situation (possibly all of it) about which an assertion is made (or a question is asked) in a tensed clause. In other words, the predicated situation is that part of the full situation (possibly all of it) that is located in time by a tense form. In Five minutes ago John was in the kitchen the predicated situation is that part of the situation that is represented as contained in (which here means: temporally coinciding with) the punctual Adv-time indicated by five minutes ago. The full (complete) situation may take up a much longer period (which may include the temporal zero-point), but the sentence does not tell us anything about this. It just makes a claim about (i. e. predicates something of) that part of the (actualization of the) situation that coincides with the time indicated by five minutes ago.
Predicational sentence. Any sentence that is not a specificational sentence; in other words, a predicational sentence merely says (or asks) something about the referent of the constituent functioning as topic (theme) of the sentence. An example of this is John has already read this book, provided there is no contrastive (extra heavy) accent on one of the constituents. (A contrastive accent always entails a specificational reading: John has already read this book means 'It is John who has already read this book'.)
Predictability. The expression, by means of the future tense (with will as auxiliary), of the probability of the truth of a conclusion about a present situation, e. g. That will be the milkman, when interpreted as 'It is predictable that that is the milkman'.
Prediction. The expression of an assumption that a situation will actualize in the post-present (or, in the case of would, at a time posterior to the time of making the prediction), e. g. John will be there, when interpreted as 'It is my opinion that John will be there' (rather than as 'It is predictable that John is there' – see predictability).
Preparatory phase reading. Interpretation produced by the use of a progressive form of a verb denoting a transitional situation (like dying). Because a progressive form only refers to the middle part of a durative situation, He was dying (as opposed to He died) is interpreted as only referring to the phase leading up to the transition (from life to death); in other words, He was dying does not state that he died but only refers to the durative process which was interpreted as leading up to his death: the sentence refers to the 'preparatory phase' only, not to the actual transition (which may even be denied, as in He was dying [when we found him, but he pulled through in hospital.]).
Pre-present. (a) shorthand for pre-present zone; (b) can also be used as an adjective modifying the noun situation, this combination then being short for 'situation whose situation time is located in the pre-present zone'. (Similarly, when we speak of the pre-present actualization of a situation, we mean its actualization in the pre-present zone.)
Pre-present domain. Temporal domain that is established by a present perfect tense form which locates its situation time in the pre-present zone of the present time-sphere. This situation time functions as the central orientation time of the pre-present domain that is established.
Pre-present time-zone. See pre-present zone.
Pre-present zone (or pre-present time-zone). Portion of the present time-sphere that is conceptualized as leading up to the temporal zero-point (t0) and whose endpoint is conceived of as adjacent to t0. (In other words, the pre-present zone is conceptualized as leading up to t0 without including t0.) To locate a situation time in the pre-present English uses the present perfect tense.
Pre-present-zone adverbial. Single-zone time-specifying adverbial which specifies a pre-present zone, e. g. from the beginning of May until now; over the past four years; so far; etc.
Present. (a) (as a noun) shorthand for present zone; occasionally also shorthand for 'present tense', when there can be no confusion, as in the combination '(non)progressive present'; (b) (as an adjective) 'located in the present', e. g. a present situation is a situation whose situation time is located in the present zone; 'present relevance' refers to the fact that the pre-present actualization of a situation is still relevant at the temporal zero-point.
Present continuous. Progressive form of the present tense. (synonym of progressive present)
Present domain. Temporal domain established by a present tense form which locates a situation time in the present zone (i. e. represents the situation time as coinciding with the temporal zero-point).
Present gerund. Nonfinite verb form involving the suffix -ing (e. g. walking, being hit, swimming) and forming part of a nominal clause, e. g. walking in the dark in I don't like walking in the dark. A present gerund differs from a perfect gerund in that it does not involve the -ing form of the perfect tense auxiliary have.
Present infinitive. Nonfinite verb form as it appears as an entry in a dictionary (e. g. eat, which is also the stem of the verb); also, the passive counterpart of the dictionary form (e. g. be eaten). The present infinitive is nontensed but is interpreted in terms of a single temporal relation, which is usually that of simultaneity with the time of the head clause situation, but occasionally a relation of posteriority: in I hope to see her tomorrow, the time of the situation referred to by the infinitive clause is interpreted as posterior to the time of the head clause situation.
Present participle. Nonfinite (and therefore nontensed) verb form consisting of the stem of the verb plus the suffix -ing and which can either have an adjectival function or form part of a progressive verb form, e. g. the form causing in The hotel guests causing a disturbance {last night/at the moment/tonight} will be arrested tomorrow. As this example shows, the time of the situation referred to by a participial clause with a present participle can (according to the context) be interpreted as anterior, simultaneous or posterior to the time of the head clause situation.
Present perfect. Tense which is formed by combining a present tense form of the auxiliary have with the past participle of the main verb. The semantics of this tense is: 'The situation time is located (i. e. 'contained') in the pre-present zone'. Since 'containment' means either proper inclusion or strict coincidence, there are two T-interpretations that are in keeping with this core meaning: a 'before now' reading ('The situation time lies wholly before t0') and a 'coextensive' reading ('The situation time leads up to now and therefore coincides with the pre-present zone').
Present subjunctive. Type of mood. In English, the present subjunctive form is homonymous and homophonous with the present infinitive (e. g. if the truth be told…; [It is vital that] she see her physician for treatment).
Present tense. Tense which is formed by using the stem of the verb, except for third person singular subjects, which require the verb form to take an added -(e)s ending. (There are some well-known exceptions, notably the verb be, the verb have and the auxiliaries.) When used as an absolute tense, the most basic meaning of the present tense is that the situation time coincides with the temporal zero-point. When used as a relative tense (as in [I will be happy] if she comes), it represents the situation time as T-simultaneous with a post-present situation time which is treated as a pseudo-present time.
Present time-sphere (or nonpast time-sphere). Time-sphere conceptualized as a time span of indefinite length containing the present zone, which coincides with the temporal zero-point (t0), the pre-present zone, which leads up to t0, and the post-present zone, which begins immediately after t0.
Present time-sphere tense. Cover term for the four tenses which typically locate a situation time in the present time-sphere: the present tense (as absolute tense), the present perfect, the future tense and the future perfect. These tenses all involve a present tense inflectional morpheme.
Present time-zone. See present zone.
Present zone (or present time-zone). Portion of the present time-sphere that coincides with the temporal zero-point. Since t0 is conceived of as punctual, so is the present zone.
Presuppose. 'presuppose something' means 'treat something as being a presupposition (of a certain linguistic expression)'. For example, in It was John who stole Maud's wallet it is presupposed that there is someone who stole Maud's wallet, hence that Maud's wallet was stolen.
Presupposition. Proposition which is assumed to be true by the speaker when he makes his utterance, in other words, a pragmatic condition which is assumed to be fulfilled. Thus, both I closed the door and I didn't close the door presuppose that the door was not closed at the relevant time. This illustrates a criterial property of presuppositions, viz. that they remain unaffected if the clause is made negative (except if the negation is of the metalinguistic kind).
Preterite. Tense locating a situation time in a domain in the past time-sphere. See also past tense (a)–(b).
Principle of Unmarked Temporal Interpretation. Strategy for the interpretation of temporal W-relations when two or more clauses with an absolute tense form follow each other and there is no linguistic or contextual indication of the temporal W-relation(s) holding between the situations referred to. In that case, the (non)boundedness of any two consecutive clauses is crucial, in that two bounded clauses are normally interpreted in terms of iconic sequencing, two nonbounded clauses are normally interpreted in terms of W-simultaneity, and a combination of a bounded and an unbounded clause is normally interpreted in terms of inclusion (i. e. the nonbounded situation includes the bounded one).
Prior (to). Anterior (to)
Process. Type of dynamic situation (i. e. a dynamic situation type), namely a situation which is not controlled by an agent and which is (conceived of as) durative and evolving, i. e. as involving incremental change that implies a scale of some sort (e. g. changing, getting dark, diminishing). In other words, a process is a situation type that is dynamic but not agentive and whose main characteristic is change, i. e. a development, a change of state or a transition into a state (e. g. The car slowed down; The man was dying).
Process verb. Verb denoting a process, e. g. change, grow, mature, die, widen, slow down, improve, thicken, deteriorate, strengthen, diminish, darken, deepen, develop, increase.
Progressive aspect. The only type of grammatical aspect that is to be found in English, i. e. the only aspect that is expressed by a special verb form. Progressive aspect means that the speaker uses a special verb form to express progressive meaning, i. e. to represent the actualization of a situation as 'ongoing' (i. e. as in progress at or throughout a given vantage time). Also called 'continuous' or 'durative' aspect.
Progressive form. Verb form which consists of a form of be followed by the present participle (as in John was walking home) and which is used to express progressive meaning. Also called 'continuous form'.
Progressive meaning. The idea that the situation referred to is viewed as ongoing at or throughout a given vantage time. Dynamic verbs use the progressive verb form to express this meaning.
Progressive present. Progressive form of the present tense.
Proposition. The semantic contents of a clause when one disregards the semantic contributions of tense, aspect and modality. Thus, the proposition 'John come at five' underlies both John will come at five and John came at five. Similarly, both John is running and John has run are possible expressions of the proposition 'John run'. A sentence like John came early can be referred to as a 'tensed proposition', because its meaning is the combination of the proposition 'John come early' and the meaning of the absolute past tense.
Pseudo-absolute past zone (or pseudo-absolute past time-sphere). Time-zone which is past relative to a pseudo-zero-point. For example, in Next time I will say that I was ill the day before, the form was locates its situation time in a pseudo-absolute past zone (which is defined relative to the situation time of will say, which is the central orientation time of a post-present domain and is therefore treated as a pseudo-zero-point).
Pseudo-absolute-relative tense form. A tense form whose basic use is as an absolute-relative tense form, but which now expresses a two-part relation with a basic orientation time which is not the temporal zero-point (t0) but a postpresent pseudo-zero-point. For example, the basic use of the future perfect is to express a two-part relation between a situation time and t0, as in I will have left on time, but the future perfect is used as a 'pseudo-absolute-relative' tense in [He will say that] he will have finished before 5 o'clock. In this sentence, the origin of the T-posteriority relation expressed by will (i. e. the basic orientation time) is not the (real) zero-point but a post-present pseudo-t0 (viz. the situation time of will say)
Pseudo-absolute tense form. A past, present perfect, present or future tense form that relates its situation time to a pseudo-zero-point rather than to the real temporal zero-point. For example: was in [Next time you see him John will again say that] he was thirsty the night before. In this example, was represents the being thirsty not as past relative to the (real) zero-point but rather as past relative to the post-present time referred to by will say, which is treated as if it were a zero-point (i. e. as a pseudo-zero-point).
Pseudo-absolute zone. Cover term for any of the four portions of time that are defined in direct relation to a pseudo-zero-point (i. e. a post-present time which is treated as if it were the zero-point): the pseudo-past zone, the pseudo-prepresent zone, the pseudo-present zone and the pseudo-post-present zone. See also Pseudo-t0-System.
Pseudo-cleft (or pseudo-cleft sentence, pseudo-cleft construction). Specificational copular sentence in which the variable is expressed by a wh-clause processed as subject and the value constituent is processed as subject complement, e. g. What I gave him was a book. (This is interpreted as 'the x which I gave him was: a book'.) We speak of an inverted pseudo-cleft when the nominal relative clause (representing the variable) follows the constituent expressing the value, as in A book was what I gave him.
Pseudo-past subdomain. Temporal subdomain forming part of a post-present domain and created by a pseudo-absolute past tense form, which locates a situation time in a pseudo-past zone, i. e. in a time-zone viewed as past with respect to, and as disconnected from, the central orientation time (treated as a pseudo-zero-point) of that post-present domain. For example, were staying establishes such a pseudo-past subdomain in Sooner or later the police will find out that you were staying here today, and not in London.
Pseudo-past zone. (1) time-zone viewed as past with respect to, and as disconnected from, the central orientation time (treated as a pseudo-zero-point) of a post-present domain. For example, in Sooner or later the police will find out that you were here today, the tense form were locates the time of the situation referred to in a pseudo-past zone. (The situation in question may be interpreted as W-posterior to the real zero-point, but that relation is not expressed by the past tense form.); (2) A pseudo-past zone can also be defined relative to a pseudo-zero-point which is the central orientation time of a pseudo-post-present subdomain.
Pseudo-post-present subdomain. (1) temporal subdomain forming part of a post-present domain and created by a pseudo-absolute future tense form, which locates a situation time in a pseudo-post-present zone, i. e. in a time-zone viewed as future relative to the central orientation time (treated as a pseudozero-point) of that post-present domain. For example, in I will announce tomorrow that, if I lose, I will leave the country for good, the future tense form will leave establishes a pseudo-post-present subdomain within the post-present domain established by will announce; (2) subdomain whose central orientation time is treated as a pseudo-zero-point because it is either T-simultaneous or T-posterior to the central orientation time of a post-present domain or of another pseudo-post-present subdomain.
Pseudo-post-present zone. Time-zone viewed as future with respect to the central orientation time (treated as a pseudo-zero-point) of a post-present domain. For example, in I will announce tomorrow that I will leave the country for good, the future tense form will leave locates its situation time in a timezone which is treated as post-present relative to a pseudo-zero-point, which is the post-present time of the announcement. Any situation time located in a pseudo-post-present zone (e. g. the situation time of will leave in the above example) is also treated as a pseudo-t0 and is therefore the central orientation time of a pseudo-post-present subdomain of its own.
Pseudo-pre-present subdomain. (1) temporal subdomain forming part of a post-present domain created by a situation time that is located in a period leading up to (and not felt to be divorced from) the central orientation time (i. e. the pseudo-zero-point) of that post-present domain. For example, the present perfect tense form have left in Who will look after you when Brad and Sybil have left? is used to locate the time of the situation of leaving in a pseudopre-present subdomain; (2) A pseudo-pre-present subdomain may also be a subdomain within a pseudo-post-present subdomain (e. g. the subdomain established by have left in Mother will ask you who will look after you when Brad and Sybil have left).
Pseudo-pre-present zone. (1) time-zone viewed as leading up to the central orientation time (treated as a pseudo-zero-point) of a post-present domain. In [If you leave tonight, the police will only discover tomorrow that] you have left, the present perfect tense form have left locates the time of the situation referred to in a pseudo-pre-present zone, i. e. in a period leading up to the time of the future discovering. (The situation in question may be interpreted as Wposterior to the real zero-point, but that relation is not expressed by the present perfect tense form.); (2) A pseudo-pre-present zone may also be a zone forming part of a pseudo-post-present subdomain. Thus, in Mother will ask you who will look after you when Brad and Sybil have left, the form have left locates its situation time in the pseudo-pre-present zone that is defined relative to the situation time of will look [after you], which functions as a pseudo-t0 and establishes a pseudo-post-present subdomain within the post-present domain established by will ask.
Pseudo-present time. A post-present time that is treated as if it were the temporal zero-point. A time is a pseudo-present time if (a) it is the central orientation time of a post-present domain or (b) it is a time that is T-simultaneous or Tposterior to that central time, or (c) it is a time that is T-simultaneous or Tposterior to a time of the kind mentioned in (b), etc.
Pseudo-present subdomain. (1) temporal subdomain forming part of a postpresent domain and created by a pseudo-absolute present tense form, which represents a situation time as T-simultaneous (coinciding) with the central orientation time of a post-present domain. (That central orientation time is treated as if it were the zero-point, i. e. as a pseudo-zero-point.) For example, in [If we hide the money there] the police will never find out where it is, the present tense form is creates a pseudo-present subdomain within the post-present domain established by will find out; (2) A pseudo-present subdomain may also be a subdomain within a pseudo-post-present subdomain. Thus, in [Next time Tim runs away] John will tell his parents that he will tell them in due time where Tim is, the form is expresses a pseudo-present subdomain within the pseudo-post-present subdomain established by will tell.
Pseudo-present zone. Time-zone viewed as coinciding with a pseudo-zero-point (i. e. with a post-present time which is treated as if it were the zero-point).
Pseudo-t0-System. System of tense forms that can be used to express a T-relation in a post-present domain. This system, which is based on a shift of temporal perspective (since the central orientation time of the domain is treated as if it were the temporal zero-point), comprises the pseudo-absolute tenses, which locate a situation time in one of the pseudo-absolute time-zones, which are defined relative to the post-present central time of orientation (which is treated as a pseudo-zero-point). As pseudo-absolute tenses we use the preterite or present perfect to express T-anteriority, the present tense to express T-simultaneity and the future tense (or a futurish form) to express T-posteriority. Each use of a pseudo-absolute tense establishes a pseudo-absolute subdomain, which can be expanded like a 'normal' domain established by an absolute tense form. For example, in [If we kill him tonight and put his body in the freezer for two days] the police will think that he was killed when he came home on Tuesday, the form will think establishes a post-present domain, whose central orientation time (the time of the thinking) is treated as a pseudo-t0, i. e. as if it were the temporal zero-point. The situation time referred to by was killed (which is W-posterior to the real t0) is located in the pseudo-absolute past timesphere (i. e. in a time-zone that is past relative to the pseudo-t0), where it establishes a pseudo-absolute past subdomain. The relative past tense form came expresses T-simultaneity in that subdomain. (In a true past domain, it is also the relative past tense that is used to express T-simultaneity, e. g. He was killed when he came home.)
Pseudo-zero-point (or pseudo-t0). Orientation time which is not the temporal zero-point but is treated as if it were t0. A pseudo-t0 is the central orientation time of a post-present domain or a situation time that is T-simultaneous with that or which is the central orientation time of a pseudo-post-present subdomain. For example, in Next time he will say that he is ill, the central time of orientation (the time of saying) of the post-present domain is treated as a pseudo-t0. This explains why the present tense (is) is used to represent the situation time of the that-clause as T-simultaneous with it.
Punctual (or nondurative, momentary). (a) ontological feature of a situationtemplate (as expressed by, e. g. the verb phrase knocked at the door) which is conceived of as needing no more than a moment to actualize. By extension, the term can also be applied to a verb phrase denoting such a situation-template (e. g. knock at the door) or to the actualization of a situation that is conceived of as having no (or hardly any) duration. (b) The term punctual is also applied to time-specifying adverbials that indicate a specific moment in time, i. e. a time that has no duration to speak of (e. g. at five), as well as to duration adverbials that indicate an interval that has no duration to speak of (e. g. for a split second).
Punctual situation verb (phrase). Verb or verb phrase which denotes a punctual situation-template.
Punctual time-specifying adverbial. Time-specifying adverbial which specifies an Adv-time that has (virtually) no duration (e. g. at five o'clock).
Pure duration adverbial. Temporal adverbial which (unlike a time-specifying adverbial or a bifunctional temporal adverbial) does not identify an Adv-time but only specifies duration, more specifically the duration of the full situation (e. g. [John was here] for a couple of hours).
Pure future. What is expressed by the future tense if the speaker merely makes a prediction, i. e. if he just expresses that he thinks that a particular situation will actualize in the post-present.
Quantificational constitution reading (or interpretation). Cover term for duration-quantifying constitution readings (e. g. Nearly a year has gone by since then) and number-quantifying constitution readings (e. g. How many times have you met him in the past week?).
Recency reading (or interpretation). A particular reading of the indefinite perfect, viz. that in which the pre-present situation time is lying close to the temporal zero-point. There is a recency reading if a sentence in the present perfect is used to convey 'hot news' (see hot news interpretation) or in cases in which the present perfect combines with an adverb like just, recently or this minute, which establishes a recent indefinite bygone Adv-time (e. g. I have recently heard that vitamin A may be linked to osteoporosis).
Recent indefinite bygone time. Adv-time indicated by one of the adverbials recently, just, this minute, lately.
Reduced cleft (or reduced it-cleft). Cleft sentence whose wh-clause is deleted because it would only repeat the contents of the preceding subclause. Thus, it's you in If anyone can do it, it's you (which is interpreted as 'If there is one x who can do it, that x is you') is short for it's you who can do it.
Referent. The entity (thing, person, actualization of a situation, etc.) that a linguistic expression (viz. a word, phrase or clause) refers to. This entity usually belongs to an extralinguistic possible world (such as the actual world). Its existence in that world is affirmed, denied, questioned, hypothesized or presupposed. In John left, the referent of the noun phrase John is a particular person known as having the name John. The referent of a finite clause is the actualization of a situation.
Referential noun phrase. When used in Donnellan's (1966) sense, said of a noun phrase which has definite reference in the sense that the speaker assumes the hearer to know the identity of the referent of the phrase. For example, in [I'd like to hear more about] the trip you've made, the hearer is assumed to be able to know which particular trip is being referred to. The speaker could therefore also use other NPs to refer to the trip in question, such as your trip to Italy.
Regular verb (or weak verb). Verb that forms its past tense and its past participle by adding the suffix -ed to the verb stem (which then sometimes has to undergo a minor spelling adjustment), e. g. play – played; love – loved; cry – cried, etc.
Relative-absolute deictic time-specifying adverbial. Time-specifying adverbial which indicates an Adv-time that is anchored to a time which is itself anchored to the temporal zero-point, e. g. the day before yesterday.
Relative deictic time-specifying adverbial. Time-specifying adverbial which indicates an Adv-time that is anchored to a time other than the temporal zeropoint, e. g. the same day, that morning, the next day, the day before, two days earlier, etc.
Relative past tense. Past tense which expresses T-simultaneity in a past domain. The semantics of the relative past tense is: 'The situation time is represented as T-simultaneous with an orientation time in a past domain (or in a past subdomain or in a pseudo-past subdomain)'.
Relative tense. Tense which does not T-relate the time of a situation directly to the temporal zero-point but T-relates it to some other time of orientation. A relative tense always indicates a temporal relation within a temporal domain. For example, the past perfect form had left in I knew he had left early expresses anteriority within the past domain established by the absolute past tense form knew.
Repetitive aspect (or iterative aspect). (1) kind of grammatical aspect, characterized by the fact that the speaker uses a special verb form to represent a situation as a hypersituation consisting of a number of subsituations of the same kind. (2) In this work we also speak of repetitive or iterative 'aspectual meaning' when a situation repeats itself on different occasions, as in I've only been in this town three times.
Repetitive habit. Habit which involves multiple instantiations of the situation referred to. None of these instantiations need actually be going on at the time at which the habit is located. For example: I used to smoke weed when I got hired for my first job.
Repetitive situation. Hypersituation, i. e. situation whose actualization involves the actualization of a number of similar subsituations, e. g. [All the time I was speaking] John was nodding assent; She stabbed him six times with her penknife.
Replay comment. Comment on a replay (e. g. on television).
Reported speech. The phenomenon of reporting an utterance or thought. Reported speech may be 'direct reported speech' (e. g. He said: 'I am ill.'), 'indirect reported speech' (e. g. He said that he was ill.) or 'free indirect speech'. In the latter case there is no reporting clause like He said … and what is a subclause in indirect reported speech appears as an independent clause (e. g. [He let me know that he couldn't come.] He was ill. He had to stay at home.)
Reporting clause. The head clause of a sentence that is an instance of reported speech (e. g. He said in He said he was ill).
Represented speech. Cover term for indirect reported speech (e. g. Jill told herself that she was going to take revenge) and free indirect speech (e. g. She was going to take revenge, when used to represent the thought of a character in a past-tense novel). Note that in both types, and especially in the latter, speech should be interpreted as also including thought rather than just spoken discourse.
Restrictive when-clause. Term that is sometimes used as an alternative to casespecifying when-clause. It is inspired by the fact that a case-specifying whenclause can as a rule be replaced by a restrictive relative clause without any obvious change in meaning: compare Children are orphans when their parents are dead with Children whose parents are dead are orphans.
Result. See direct result and indirect result.
Resultative reading (or interpretation). A particular usage type (a functional reading) of the indefinite perfect: the sentence in the present perfect is taken to draw attention to a present direct result. For example, the reading triggered by the sentence I've locked up the shop is that the shop is now locked up.
Rhetorical question. Sentence that has the form of an interrogative sentence but which is interpreted as a forceful statement (e. g. Who can blame him?, on the interpretation 'Nobody can blame him').
Right boundary. The point at which the actualization of a situation comes to an end.
Root modality. See nonepistemic modality.
Scalarity. The phenomenon that a word (e. g. a focusing adjunct like even) is interpreted as a 'scalar operator', i. e. as representing the constituent which it focuses as extremely high or extremely low on a particular scale of values. For example, Even Mary managed to do it implies that (of those who did it) Mary was the least likely person (or one of the least likely ones) to be able to do it. (Here the scale is a scale of unlikelihood, on which the values are people that are increasingly unlikely to be able to 'do it'.)
Seemingly sloppy simultaneity. In a complex sentence with an adverbial whenclause, the phenomenon that the (actualization of the) situation of the head clause and that of the when-clause are not interpreted as W-simultaneous (i. e. as having at least one point in common), although the tense form in the whenclause expresses T-simultaneity, e. g. When John sees this, he will phone the police. This phenomenon differs from 'real' sloppy simultaneity, as in e. g. You'll arrive at 8.35 if you take the 7.56 bus, in that it is not a question of tense choice (more specifically, choice of T-relation to be expressed) but follows naturally from the semantics of when, which does not require that the two orientation times that are contained by the durative common Adv-time be Wsimultaneous with each other.
Semantics of a tense. The invariant meaning of a tense, i. e. the tense structure expressed by any form belonging to the tense in question. For example, the basic semantics of the present tense is 'The situation time is T-simultaneous with the temporal zero-point'.
Semelfactive aspect. Kind of grammatical aspect: the speaker uses a special verb form to represent a situation as actualizing only once (rather than as being a repetitive situation).
Semelfactive situation. Situation that actualizes only once, i. e. a nonrepetitive situation. A semelfactive situation is not a hypersituation consisting of subsituations of the same kind. Sentence: linguistic unit which is prototypically made up of a clause or a combination of clauses and which can function as an independent utterance.
Shift of domain. The creation of a new temporal domain by the use of an absolute tense. In other words, the choice of an absolute tense form to create a new temporal domain (as in John left after I arrived, where the past tense form arrived does not temporally subordinate its situation time to the situation time of the head clause but establishes a new domain) rather than the use of a relative tense form to expand an already established domain (as in John left after I had arrived, where the past perfect is used to express T-anteriority within the domain established by the past tense form left).
Shift of temporal domain. See shift of domain.
Shift of temporal focus. Deviation from the unmarked choice of temporal focus by the use of a marked tense form. Consider the following example: [I asked John about the colour of the paint.] It is white. In the second clause, the speaker no longer focuses on the past time when he asked John about the colour of the paint – which he would do if he said It was white – but locates the actualization of the situation of the paint being white in the present zone, thus shifting the temporal focus from the past to the present.
Shift of temporal perspective. The selection of a tense, not in order to locate a situation time in a particular time-zone but in order to represent it as if lying in that time-zone; in other words, the creation or expansion of a temporal domain by a tense that is typical of domains lying in a different time-zone. For example, in They leave tomorrow, the present tense represents a post-present situation as if it were a present one. In I hear you have been promoted, the present tense represents a pre-present situation as if it were a present one. In Next time his excuse will be that he is ill the time of the post-present excuse is treated as if it were the present. The historic present is another typical case.
Shift the domain. Effect a shift of domain, i. e. create a new temporal domain. In He said that Gordon and Jill are married, the tense form are shifts the domain (from the past to the present).
Simple situation-template. What is denoted by a lexical verb.
Simultaneity. Type of temporal relation between two times. As a T-relation (relation expressed by a tense form), T-simultaneity means strict coincidence (between a bound situation time and the binding orientation time). Simultaneity that is not T-simultaneity may be a relation of either coincidence or overlap. An example is the containment relation that exists between an Adv-time and a situation time. See also W-simultaneity.
Simultaneous. See T-simultaneous and W-simultaneous.
Since-cleft. It-cleft whose second clause is introduced by since (rather than by that or by a wh-word as in It was John {who/that} did it). The highlighted (focused) value constituent is always an indication of duration. For example: It's been three weeks since I have heard from him.
Single-zone adverbial. See single-zone time-specifying adverbial.
Single-zone time-specifying adverbial (or single-zone adverbial). Deictic timespecifying adverbial which refers to only one absolute time-zone. For example, yesterday specifies an Adv-time which can only lie in the past zone.
Situation. Cover term for the various possible types of contents of propositions, i. e. for anything that can be expressed in a clause: an action, event, process, or state. The verb actualize is used as a cover term for the predicates that are typically associated with one of these categories.
Situation-template. Cover term for simple situation-template (denoted by a verb) and enriched situation-template (denoted by a verb phrase or a possibly longer predicate constituent). Situation-templates can be characterized in terms of ontological features.
Situation time (or time of the situation). The time of a predicated situation, i. e. the time of actualization of a situation as it is located in time by a tense form (i. e. as it is temporally related to the temporal zero-point or to another orientation time) and to which the situation time of another situation can be temporally related by a tense form. In homogeneous clauses, the situation time may be shorter than the time of the full situation. Thus, in At five o'clock I was in my bed, the situation time is that portion of the full situation (of my being in my bed) that is contained in (in this case: coincides with) the Adv-time specified by at five o'clock.
Situation-time adverbial. Time-specifying adverbial denoting an Adv-time which 'contains' (in terms of either inclusion or coincidence) a situation time (e. g. [I left there] {yesterday/at five o'clock}).
Situation type. In this work, a situation type is a type of situation (as denoted by a complete clause), such as an action or a state. For example, John smokes denotes a permanent habit, which is a kind of state. Where necessary, we distinguish 'situation type' (or 'type of situation') from 'type of situation-template' (as denoted by a verb, verb phrase or predicate constituent). (Other linguistic studies use the term 'situation type' to refer to both kinds of types.)
Situation-unbounding constituent. See unbounding constituent.
Sloppy simultaneity. The phenomenon that a situation time is linguistically represented as T-simultaneous with a binding situation time even though the binding situation time and the bound one are not strictly simultaneous (coinciding) with each other and the full situations are not even W-simultaneous (interpreted as having at least one point in common). Thus, both in If John received a letter, he replied almost at once and in If John receives a letter, he will reply almost at once, the if-clause situation is interpreted as W-anterior to the head clause situation, but the if-clause uses a relative tense form expressing T-simultaneity (received/receives) rather than a relative tense form expressing T-anteriority (had received/has received).
Special Present Time-sphere System. Systematic use of present-time-sphere tenses to refer to situations that are interpreted as actualizing in the past, the pre-present or the post-present. For example: the historic present.
Specificational clause/sentence. Clause or sentence which specifies a value for a presupposed variable and in doing so focuses (highlights) the value. For example, each of the following sentences specifies 'a book' as the value that satisfies the variable 'the x that I gave him' and implies 'nothing else' (contrast): It was a book that I gave him, What I gave him was a book, A book was what I gave him, I gave him a book.
State (or static situation). Type of situation (i. e. situation type) which is conceived of (and represented as) existing (rather than as being done, taking place or developing) and as being unchanged and hence homogeneous throughout its duration. A static kind of situation is not agentive and is not conceived of as needing a continuous input of energy to continue. For example: Bill's baby is a girl.
Statement (or declarative sentence). Sentence making an assertion rather than having the illocutionary force of another speech act (such as a question or command).
State verb (or static situation verb). Verb that can only be used to refer to a state, e. g. seem, contain, know, consist of, etc. Also known as 'verb of state'.
Static. Kind of ontological feature, viz. the opposite of dynamic. The term can be applied to a situation-template denoting a state, a verb phrase lexicalizing the situation-template in question (e. g. is a boy), a situation (e. g. Kim's being a boy) or to a sentence referring to a concrete actualization of a situation (e. g. Kim is a boy). In other words, 'static' is the quality of being a state, denoting a state or referring to a state.
Static situation. See state.
Static situation verb. See state verb.
Stem (or verb stem). That part of the verb that remains constant in the different forms of the verb, e. g. unchain in unchains, unchained, unchaining. The stem of a verb is homophonous with the present infinitive form and the present subjunctive form of that verb.
Strong intensional verb. Verb like imagine, fancy, dream, wonder, which establishes an intensional domain (possible world which is different from the actual world) which is so strong that the clause(s) in the scope of the verb can only receive an intensional (opaque, de dicto) interpretation. Such a strong intensional domain is treated as a temporal domain from which a shift of domain is very difficult or impossible. Thus, we can say Helen dreamed that she was pregnant, but not *Helen dreamed that she is pregnant.
Strong verb. See irregular verb.
Subclause (or subordinate clause, dependent clause, embedded clause). Clause that forms part of a complex sentence and is syntactically dependent on another clause (the head clause), e. g. if you leave in I'll be glad if you leave. Most subclauses are either nominal clauses, adjectival clauses or adverbial clauses, depending on their syntactic function.
Subdomain. Kind of temporal domain inside a temporal domain. See temporal subdomain.
Subject complement. The complement of a copula. It says something about the referent of the subject, i. e. it either ascribes a characteristic to that referent, as in He seems a reliable man, or identifies the person or entity in question, as in The chair is that woman over there.
Subjunctive. See present subjunctive and past subjunctive.
Subordinate clause. See subclause.
Subordinating conjunction. Conjunction (nonadverbial connector) introducing a subclause (e. g. because, if, that, unless, etc.).
Subordination. (a) as a syntactic term: the phenomenon that the combination of two clauses produces a complex sentence, consisting of a head clause and a subclause, rather than a compound sentence; (b) in connection with tenses: see temporal binding.
Subsituation. Any of a series of repeated situations that make up a durative hypersituation. For example, in [All the time I was speaking] John was nodding assent, any single nod of the head is a subsituation of the repetitive hypersituation. Habitual-repetitive situations are also hypersituations consisting of subsituations: She comes to see me very evening.
Superordinate clause. See head clause. Such a clause may or may not be the matrix of a complex sentence.
Syntactic subordination. The syntactic relation (often, but not necessarily, corresponding with a T-relation) between a subordinate clause and its head clause.
T0. Abbreviation of temporal zero-point.
T0-factual (or factual at t0). Said of a situation whose actualization is (interpreted as being) a past, pre-present or present fact.
T-anterior. Showing the relation of T-anteriority. For example, in Helen admitted she had made a mistake, had made represents the situation time of the situation of Helen making a mistake as T-anterior to (preceding) the time of Helen's admission.
T-anteriority. Anteriority expressed by a tense form; more specifically: the Trelation when the situation time is linguistically (viz. by a tense) represented as preceding the binding orientation time in one of two ways. Either the bound situation time lies completely before the orientation time (as in I knew I had locked the door) or it begins before the orientation time and leads up to it (as in I told them that we had been friends since we had first met).
T-binding. See temporal binding.
T-bound. See bound.
T-bygone situation. Predicated situation which is represented as T-anterior to the temporal zero-point (t0) by the use of a tense. Thus, in Ten minutes ago, Jane was working in the garden, the time of the predicated situation (which coincides with the punctual Adv-time of ten minutes ago) is represented as lying wholly before t0 by the use of the past tense form was working, even though the full situation may still be continuing at t0.
T-concept. Concept relevant to the description of the tense system. (contrasted with W-concept)
Telic. Ontological feature. Said of a situation-template if the verb phrase describing it represents any actualization of the situation as tending towards a natural (inherent) point of completion, i. e. a necessary terminal point, beyond which the actualization of the situation cannot continue. For example, in Betty ran three miles, the situation of Betty running three miles is complete and naturally comes to an end when Betty finishes running the third mile. If Betty happened to go on to run another three miles, this would not constitute a continuation of the same (instance of the) situation of Betty running three miles. The term telic is also applied to verb phrases representing a situationtemplate as telic, and, by further extension, to clauses and sentences containing a telic verb phrase.
Telicizing constituent. Constituent which renders a verb phrase telic, for example a mile in walk a mile.
Telos. Point of completion. In a telic verb phrase the telos may be indicated by a measure phrase (as in walk a mile) or may be pragmatically implied (as in write a book).
Temporal adverbial (or time adverbial). Cover term for three kinds of adverbials giving temporal information: time-specifying adverbials (e. g. at six o'clock), pure duration adverbials (e. g. for two hours) and bifunctional adverbials (specifying both time and duration, e. g. from six to eight).
Temporal anchor. See anchor time.
Temporal binding (or temporal subordination). The phenomenon that a situation time is T-related to another situation time (or other orientation time) within a temporal domain. For example, in Meg had seen Jill, the situation time of had seen is '(temporally) bound by' (or 'temporally subordinated to') an orientation time which is not explicitly referred to but forms part of a past temporal domain. Strictly speaking, it is only situation times that can be bound, but by extension we can also apply the label to the situation itself. In this way we can say that in Sue knew that Meg had seen Jill the situation of knowing is the 'binding situation', while the situation of Meg seeing Jill is the 'bound situation'.
Temporal clause. See time clause.
Temporal domain. Set of orientation times which are temporally related to each other by means of tenses. At least one of these orientation times is a situation time (since any tense form locates an actualization of a situation in time). A domain is normally established by an absolute tense form and expanded by one or more relative tense forms. The latter establish temporal subdomains. Thus, in John said he had prayed, the absolute past tense form said establishes a past domain and had prayed creates a subdomain within that domain.
Temporal focus. The phenomenon that the speaker's tense choice is determined by his wish to focus on the time of actualization of a situation or on a particular nonpresent portion of the time of a full situation which also includes t0. The former possibility is illustrated by the difference between He must have been the culprit (present conclusion about an anterior situation) and He had to be the culprit (past conclusion about a situation which was then actualizing). The latter possibility is exemplified by [I spoke to the foreigner in French because] he didn't understand English. (The foreigner presumably still does not understand English at the temporal zero-point, so the speaker could have used doesn't understand. Using the past tense, however, he focuses on the time when he spoke to the foreigner rather than on the present.)
Temporal subdomain. Temporal domain inside another temporal domain. Whenever a situation time is incorporated into an already existing temporal domain, it creates a subdomain. This newly introduced situation time automatically functions as the central orientation time of the subdomain in question. For example, in John said that he had warned the others that he felt sick, the tense form said establishes a past domain, and had warned establishes a subdomain within it. Felt [sick] expresses a T-relation (viz. simultaneity) in the subdomain established by had warned and in doing so creates another subdomain, which is not further expanded.
Temporal subordination. The use of a relative tense. See temporal binding.
Temporal W-interpretation. Interpretation of temporal relations as they exist in the actual world (or any other possible world referred to) regardless of whether they are expressed by tense forms or not. For example, in When they had first seen it, the house had made an overwhelming impression on them, the (actualizations of the) two situations are interpreted as W-simultaneous with each other, but neither of the past perfect tense forms expresses T-simultaneity.
Temporal zero-point (or zero-time or t0). The time which is the ultimate 'origin' of all the temporal relations expressed by the temporal structure of a tense, i. e. the only time in a tense structure that is not itself represented as dependent on another (more basic) time. It is the only time that is given ('assumed known') whenever a sentence is uttered. In English, the temporal zero-point is nearly always the encoding time, i. e. the time of uttering or writing the message. Occasionally, the zero-point is the decoding time, i. e. the time when the addressee is expected to hear or read the message, as is the case when a note stuck to someone's door reads I am in room 21. (As always, the present tense locates the situation time at t0, but t0 is the time of reading the message rather than the time of writing it.)
Temporally bound (or temporally subordinated). Said of a situation time that is related by a tense form to an orientation time functioning as central orientation time of a temporal domain – see temporal binding.
Temporally subordinated. See temporally bound.
Temporary habit. Habit that is represented as being restricted in time. If the verb is dynamic, a temporary habit is expressed by the use of the progressive form. For example: She's (currently) working 60 hours a week.
Tense. (a) the phenomenon that a language has a special system of verb forms to locate (the actualizations of) situations in time; (b) the correlation of a particular grammatical form with a particular tense meaning (e. g. the 'past tense'). In more detail: tense is a linguistic concept (as opposed to time) denoting the form taken by the verb to locate (the actualization of) the situation referred to in time, i. e. to express the temporal relation between the time of the situation in question and an orientation time which may be either the temporal zero-point or another orientation time that is temporally related (directly or indirectly) to the temporal zero-point. English has several tenses, such as the present tense, the past tense, etc., to which correspond different verb forms, which are called the tense forms of the verb.
Tense auxiliary. Cover term for the perfect tense auxiliary have and the future tense auxiliary will (or shall).
Tense form. A concrete verb form expressing a particular tense, in other words, a particular form taken by the verb to express a particular temporal meaning. A tense form can be a simple verb form (e. g. 'verb stem + past tense morpheme') or a complex one (e. g. '[verb stem of future tense auxiliary + past tense morpheme] + perfect infinitive', i. e. the conditional perfect tense form). That is, it may either consist of one constituent (the main verb) only or be a phrase involving one or more auxiliaries next to the main verb.
Tensed clause. Clause involving a tensed verb form, i. e. finite clause.
Tensed proposition. See proposition.
Tensed verb form. See tense form.
Tenseless verb form (or nontensed or untensed verb form). Verb form which is not marked for tense, i. e. which does not encode information about how a situation time is related (directly or indirectly) to the temporal zero-point. Nonfinite verb forms and subjunctive verb forms are tenseless in this sense.
Tense relation (or T-relation). Temporal relation expressed by a tense form. For example, the future perfect, which is an absolute-relative tense, expresses twoT-relations: 'The time of the situation is anterior to an implicit time of orientation' and 'the implicit time of orientation is posterior to the temporal zeropoint' (e. g. He will have left).
Tense structure. Particular temporal meaning expressed by a tense. This is the temporal structure (minimally involving a situation time, an orientation time and a temporal relation between them) which represents a specific way of locating the actualization of a situation in time. For example, the tense structure of the future tense consists of the temporal relation 'The situation time is T-posterior to the temporal zero-point'.
Tentative world. (a) possible world which is nonfactual and which is assumed by the speaker to be unlikely ever to become the actual world (e. g. the hypothetical future world in You would be punished if you did that); (b) Nonfactual world which is represented as tentative for reasons of tact, politeness, etc. (e. g. Would you please help me?).
Terminative aspect. See egressive aspect.
Time. Extralinguistic category (as opposed to tense), relating to our experience of the way that (the actualizations of) different situations are arranged with respect to one another along a nonspatial continuum (the time line), from the past through the present to the future.
Time adverbial (or temporal adverbial). Cover term for three kinds of adverbials giving temporal information: time-specifying adverbials (e. g. at six o'clock), pure duration adverbials (e. g. for two hours) and bifunctional adverbials (specifying both time and duration, e. g. from six to eight).
Time clause. Subclause indicating time. The unmarked interpretation is that of 'adverbial time clause', i. e. subclause specifying an Adv-time. In He left when I left, the when-clause specifies an Adv-time which contains (in terms of coincidence) the situation time of the head clause. There are various other types of time clauses, e. g. relative clauses depending on an antecedent referring to time (e. g. [I'll always remember the day] when she died), time clauses with a nominal function (e. g. [I don't know] when he did it), narrative time clauses (e. g. [We were having tea] when suddenly the window burst), etc.
Time line. The conceptualization of the way time 'flows' by users of English. The time line is conceptualized as consisting of two different time-spheres, viz. the past time-sphere and the present time-sphere, between which there is felt to be a break.
Time of orientation. See orientation time.
Time of the full situation. Time which is taken up by the full situation and which may be longer than the time of the predicated situation (the situation time) if the (actualization of the) situation is homogeneous (nonbounded). For example, in Two minutes ago John was in the library, the situation time is that portion of the full situation (of John being in the library) that coincides with the Adv-time specified by two minutes ago. The time of the full situation may be much longer and may include the temporal zero-point.
Time of the predicated situation. Time taken up by the predicated situation. Synonym of situation time.
Time of the situation. See situation time.
Time-specifying adverbial. Temporal adverbial like at 5 p.m., yesterday, etc. whose function is to locate a situation time or other orientation time in time by indicating a specific Adv-time ('adverbially indicated time'). This Adv-time 'contains' the orientation time in question in terms of inclusion or coincidence.
Time-sphere. One of the two main divisions of time reflected in English tense morphology, namely 'past' and 'nonpast'. Hence, we speak of the past timesphere and the present time-sphere (or nonpast time sphere). In more detail: the use of a tense form in English implies that the speaker views the time of the predicated situation referred to (the situation time) as either past or nonpast with respect to the time functioning as temporal zero-point (which is usually the moment of speech). This means that any tense form locates a situation time either in the past time-sphere or in the present time-sphere. These time-spheres are not objective physical entities but represent the ways in which an English-language user conceptualizes time. The past time-sphere is conceived of as a time span of indefinite length which lies wholly before (and hence does not include) the temporal zero-point. To locate a situation time in this timesphere the speaker uses the preterite (past tense). The present time-sphere is conceived of as a time span of indefinite length which includes the zero-point and is divided by it into three zones: the portion of the present time-sphere that starts before the zero-point and leads up to it is the pre-present (zone); the portion that coincides with the zero-point is the present (zone); and the portion that follows the zero-point is the post-present (zone).
Time-zone (or zone). Cover term for any of the four portions of time that together make up the two time-spheres: the three parts of the present timesphere, namely the pre-present zone, the present zone and the post-present zone, plus the past zone (which coincides with the past time-sphere). Since these four zones (pre-present, present, post-present and past) are defined in direct relation to the temporal zero-point, they constitute the set of absolute zones (or absolute time-zones).
T-interpretation. (a) in general: temporal reading which is based on the semantics (tense structure) of the chosen tense only; (b) in connection with the present perfect: one of two possible readings that are compatible with the semantics of this tense, namely a 'before now' interpretation (as in I have done it) and a 'co-extensive' interpretation (as in Where have you been? or I've been living here for years).
T-posterior. Showing the relation of T-posteriority. A given time A is T-posterior to another time B if the speaker uses a tense form (such as the conditional tense) to represents A as following B, i. e. as predicted or predictable (but not yet a fact) at time B.
T-posteriority. Posteriority (futurity) expressed by a tense. For example, in Jim said he would do it, the conditional tense form (would do) expresses T-posteriority: it represents the situation time of Tim's doing it as following the situation time of his speaking.
Transition. Punctual change of one state into another.
Transition reading. Punctual interpretation of a clause involving the use of a transitional situation verb, as in He died (as opposed to He was dying).
Transitional. Ontological feature of a situation-template which consists in a single transition, conceived of as punctual, from one state into another.
Transitional situation. Situation represented as involving, or consisting of, a single, punctual change of one state into another (e. g. a death).
Transitional situation verb. Verb like die, kill, etc., which refers to a punctual transition or, when the progressive form is used or a nonpunctual duration adverbial is added, to the durative preparatory phase leading up to the transition in question.
Transitive verb. (a) verb that is accompanied by a direct object as complement; (b) verb like eat that can in principle take a direct object, even if it does not do so in certain sentences (where it is used intransitively, i. e. without a complement, e. g. John is eating).
Transparent interpretation. Interpretation in terms of the speaker's actual world. For example, in John believes that Paris is the capital of Italy, the thatclause is true in the intensional world of John's belief, but not in (what the speaker knows to be) the actual world. That is, Paris is the capital of Italy is true on an intensional (opaque) interpretation, but not on a transparent one.
T-relate. Express a T-relation.
T-relation (or tense relation). Temporal relation expressed by a tense form. For example, the future perfect, which is an absolute-relative tense, expresses two.
T-relations. 'The time of the situation is anterior to an implicit time of orientation' and 'the implicit time of orientation is posterior to the temporal zeropoint' (e. g. He will have left).
T-simultaneity. Kind of T-relation: the situation time is linguistically represented as simultaneous with an orientation time. T-simultaneity is by definition a relation of strict coincidence. Thus, in Meg said that she was feeling ill, the situation time of Meg's feeling ill is represented by the tense form as strictly coinciding with the situation time of Meg's speaking, even though the W-relation between the (actualizations of) the two situations is assumed to be one of W-simultaneity, i. e. overlap or inclusion.
T-simultaneous. Showing T-simultaneity. A given orientation time A is T-simultaneous with an orientation time B if the speaker uses a tense form representing A as coinciding with B.
Type of situation. See situation type.
Unanchored time-specifying adverbial (or nondeictic time-specifying adverbial). Time-specifying adverbial which does not relate the Adv-time which it indicates to a temporal anchor. For example: in I've heard that name at some time or other, the Adv-time specified by at some time or other is anchored neither to the temporal zero-point nor to a contextually given time.
Unbounding constituent. Clause constituent which removes the idea of a temporal right boundary, thus rendering the clause L-nonbounded, e. g. the constituent to party activists in Bill handed out the Labour Party badge to party activists or the temporal adverbial in I will run the marathon for many more years.
Unembedded clause. Syntactically independent clause. See also matrix.
Unexpanded domain. Temporal domain which consists of just one situation time: the set of orientation times forming the domain is a singleton. For example, in He left at five and I will leave at eight, both tense forms establish a past domain of their own which is not further expanded.
Universal sentence (or gnomic sentence). Sentence referring to a habit or other state which holds at all times or at every time in the existence of the referent of the subject (e. g. Two and two is four; The sun rises in the east).
Unmarked interpretation. The interpretation which (failing any indication to the contrary) the addressee or hearer will naturally assume to be the reading that is intended by the speaker.
Unmarked up-to-now reading (or unmarked up-to-now interpretation). Up-tonow reading (of a clause in the present perfect) which is not a constitution reading, because it is not specificational. For example: You've been thinking of something else all the time I've been talking.
Unspecified orientation time. Orientation time which has to be recovered from the linguistic context. For example, in the case of the sentence Bill had left the room, the orientation time to which Bill's leaving is related as T-anterior may be the time of a predicated situation referred to in a previous sentence (as in [When Megan woke up, it was no longer dark.] Bill had left the room), or it may be an otherwise unspecified time contained in an Adv-time (e. g. Yesterday Bill had left the hotel). Only in the former case do we speak of an 'unspecified orientation time'.
Untensed verb form (or nontensed or tenseless verb form). Verb form which is not marked for tense, i. e. which does not encode information about how a situation time is related (directly or indirectly) to the temporal zero-point. Nonfinite verb forms and subjunctive verb forms are tenseless in this sense.
Up-to-now perfect. Shorthand for 'present perfect used in a clause receiving an up-to-now reading'.
Up-to-now reading (or up-to-now interpretation). One of three possible Winterpretations of a clause in the present perfect, namely that in which the full situation fills the entire period leading up to the temporal zero-point (t0) but does not include t0, thus coinciding with the situation time (which itself coincides with the pre-present zone). Such a reading is assigned, for example, to Where have you been?, when said to someone who has just come in.
Utterance. A structured set of words which a speaker or writer produces in the form of speech sounds or letters. A meaningful utterance is the physical form of a sentence.
Utterance-explaining because-clause. Clause which is introduced by the subordinating conjunction because and which explains why the speaker makes the speech act (i. e. assertion, question, instruction, etc.) that he makes by uttering the head clause. For example: [You'd better hurry up,] because there's going to be a storm.
Value (of specificational sentence). That constituent of a specificational structure that is specified as value for a presupposed variable, e. g. a book in It was a book that I gave him, What I gave him was a book, I gave him a book, A book was what I gave him. The value constituent always receives a heavy (contrastive) accent.
Value constituent. Constituent representing the value of a specificational sentence, e. g. a book in What I gave him was a book.
Vantage time. A point in time or a time interval from which (the actualization of) a situation is viewed as ongoing (in progress) by the speaker referring to that progressive situation. The vantage time is explicitly mentioned in sentences like At 7 p.m. I was still working.
Variable (of specificational sentence). The (presupposed) constituent of a specificational structure for which a value is specified (or, in questions, asked). For example, in each of the following sentences the variable is 'the x that I gave him': It was a book that I gave him, What I gave him was a book, I gave him a book, A book was what I gave him.
Variable constituent. Constituent representing the variable of a specificational sentence, e. g. What I gave him in What I gave him was a book.
Verb complement. A VP-internal argument of a verb (i. e. any argument of the verb that is not the subject), such as a direct object (e. g. I hit him), indirect object (e. g. I gave him a kite), subject complement (e. g. Bill is ill), object complement (e. g. We called him a fool), prepositional object (e. g. I looked into the question carefully).
Verb form. Particular form of a verb. In Bill sneezed, the verb form sneezed consists of a conjugated form of the verb sneeze only; so does takes in Bill takes drugs; in Bill may have been working, the verb form consists of the participle form of the main verb (working) preceded by three auxiliary verbs; in John will leave now, the form consists of one auxiliary followed by the present infinitive form of the main verb.
Verb of creation. Verb like write, form or build, which expresses the making (bringing into existence) of something. In clauses like A problem has {arisen/cropped up}, the verbs arise and crop up are also called verbs of creation because they refer to the coming into existence of something.
Verb phrase (VP). Phrase whose head is a main verb. In the clause John left the house last night, the verb phrase is left the house last night. In this case the verb phrase constitutes the entire predicate constituent. (The latter comprises the verb phrase plus the optional adverbials, if any.) A verb phrase minimally consists of a verb form. It also includes the verb complement(s) and/or the necessary adverbial(s), if any.
Verb stem. That part of the verb that remains constant in the different forms of the verb, e. g. unchain in unchains, unchained, unchaining. As a rule, the stem is identical in form with the present infinitive or the present subjunctive form of he verb.
Voice auxiliary. The grammatical auxiliary be when it is used to build a passive verb form.
VP. Conventional linguistic abbreviation of verb phrase.
W-anterior. Time A is W-anterior to time B if it is anterior to B without necessarily being represented as T-anterior to time B by a tense form.
W-anteriority. Anteriority that exists in the actual world (or in whatever nonfactual world is being referred to) but which is not necessarily expressed by the tense used. For example, in I left before John arrived, my leaving is Wanterior to John's arrival, but it is not represented as T-anterior to it by the tense form left.
W-bounded. Said of a bounded situation whose boundedness is not a question of linguistic representation – see L-bounded – but merely a matter of interpretation based on pragmatic inference. For example, out of context the sentence John was in the park this morning will be taken to imply that John is no longer in the park at the temporal zero-point, but this implicature can be cancelled by a contextual addition like and he told me he would stay there until you came to fetch him, so you'd better hurry off. In other words, in isolation the sentence John was in the park this morning is by implicature interpreted as Wbounded, but is not L-bounded (linguistically represented as bounded).
W-bygone situation. Situation which is conceived of as completely over at the temporal zero-point, as in I've closed the door; Once upon a time there was a princess who felt very lonely.
W-concept. Concept which has to do with the interpretation of situations and temporal relations in the actual world or in whatever alternative world is being referred to. (contrasted with T-concept)
Weak verb. See regular verb.
Weak intensional verb. Verb like see or say, which establishes an intensional domain but allows its object clause to create a new temporal domain so that the clause in question receives a transparent interpretation rather than an intensional (opaque) interpretation. There is such a shift of domain, e. g. in Bill {saw/said} that the bridge is rather mouldered. See also strong intensional verb.
Wh-question. Interrogative sentence or subclause containing a question word (usually in initial position), with the question having narrow scope (over the questioned constituent only), e. g. Who did that? – [I don't know] who did that.
Wide scope negation. Negation with scope over the entire clause or sentence, as in These spiders are not dangerous ('It is not the case that these spiders are dangerous').
Wide scope question (or 'polar question' or 'yes/no-question'). Interrogative sentence or subclause expressing a question which invites either yes or no as an answer (e. g. Did you tell him about me?). That such questions have wide scope is illustrated by the fact that they allow a paraphrase like Is it true that …? or Is it the case that …?
W-interpretation. (a) in general: temporal reading which is not exclusively based on the semantics of the chosen tense but also takes into account such elements as temporal adverbials, context, situation of speaking, knowledge of the (actual or nonfactual) world referred to and pragmatic principles such as the Gricean Maxims of conversation; (b) in connection with the present perfect: one of three possible readings related to the full situation: the 'indefinite reading' (i. e. the full situation comes to an end before the temporal zero-point), the 'continuative reading' (i. e. the time of the full situation includes t0) and the 'up-to-now reading' (i. e. the terminal point of the full situation preceding t0 is adjacent to t0).
W-nonbounded. Said of (the time of actualization of) a full situation which is not interpreted as bounded, even though its situation time may be represented as bounded. For example, in From 9 to 12 Tom was not in his office, the situation time is bounded by virtue of being contained by (in this case: coinciding with) the Adv-time specified by the heterogeneous time adverbial from 9 to 12. However, unless from 9 to 12 is taken to represent important new information, the time of (actualization of) the full situation is not interpreted as bounded: Tom may also have been absent from his office before nine and/or after 12. In fact, it is theoretically possible that he has never been in his office. In that case the (time of actualization of) the full situation of his not being in his office is clearly W-nonbounded, i. e. not interpreted as bounded. Similarly, sentences like John was reading the letter or John drank whisky do not involve reference to a terminal point, so that the actualizations referred to are not represented as bounded (reaching a terminal point). However, it is possible that for pragmatic reasons (e. g. present knowledge of the actual world) the actualization is interpreted as being over (and hence as bounded). If that is the case, the (actualization of) the situation is L-nonbounded but W-bounded.
World relation. See W-relation.
W-posterior. Time A is W-posterior to time B if it is posterior to B without necessarily being represented as T-posterior to B by a tense form.
W-posteriority. Posteriority that exists in the actual world (or in whatever nonfactual world is being referred to) but which is not necessarily expressed by the tense used. For example, in I left before John arrived, John's arrival is Wposterior to my leaving but is not represented as T-posterior to it by the tense form left. (T-posteriority would be expressed by had left.)
W-relation. Temporal relation that exists between two times but is not necessarily a T-relation (i. e. a relation expressed by a tense form). The unmarked interpretation of the term 'W-relation' is: temporal relation not expressed by a tense form. In that case, the nature of the temporal relation can only be identified from pragmatic knowledge or inference. A W-relation is either W-anteriority, W-posteriority or W-simultaneity.
W-simultaneity. Simultaneity that exists in the actual world (or in whatever nonfactual world is being referred to) but which is not necessarily expressed by the tense used. For example, in There had been no one in the house when he had first visited it, the two situations are (and are interpreted as being) Wsimultaneous with each other, but the past perfect tense forms represent both as T-anterior to the same (unspecified) past orientation time. Unlike T-simultaneity, W-simultaneity need not be a relation of strict coincidence: it is sufficient that the two times in question have a point in common. For example, in I live in London, the (durative) full situation includes the (punctual) temporal zeropoint. The containment relation between a situation time and the time (of actualization) of the corresponding full situation is also an instance of W-simultaneity.
W-simultaneous. Time A is W-simultaneous with time B if it is simultaneous with B but not necessarily represented as T-simultaneous with B by a tense form. Two times are W-simultaneous with each other if they have at least one point in common. See also W-simultaneity and W-simultaneous domains.
W-simultaneous domains. Separate temporal domains which are interpreted as W-simultaneous. For example, in He looked at the figure in the distance but didn't recognize it, both preterite forms establish a domain of their own, but these are interpreted as W-simultaneous with each other.
Yes/no-question (or polar question or wide scope question). Interrogative sentence or subclause expressing a question to which the expected reply is yes or no. The clause does not contain a question word, and the question has scope over the entire proposition. For example: Is the house humid? ('Is it the case that the house is humid?')
Zero-conjunction. This term is used in cases of syntactic subordination, when the subclause is not connected to the head clause by a subordinating conjunction. Thus, in I said you could trust me, the nominal clause (object clause) is not introduced by the conjunction that.
Zero-point. See temporal zero-point (t0).
Zero-time. See temporal zero-point (t0).
Zone (or time-zone). Cover term for any of the four portions of time that together make up the two time-spheres: the three parts of the present timesphere, namely the pre-present zone, the present zone and the post-present zone, plus the past zone (which coincides with the past time-sphere). Since these four zones (pre-present, present, post-present and past) are defined in direct relation to the temporal zero-point, they constitute the set of absolute zones (or absolute time-zones).
Zone-independent adverbial. See zone-independent time-specifying adverbial.
Zone-independent time-specifying adverbial (or zone-independent adverbial). Time-specifying adverbial which specifies a time which is not linked up with one particular time-zone, e. g. at five o'clock. Such an adverbial is compatible with more than one absolute tense: He left at five o'clock; He will leave at five o'clock.

Grammar of the English Verb Phrase (Volume 1 by Declerck)

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