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Re: "Anticipatory" Tense

From:Raymond Brown <ray.brown@...>
Date:Monday, March 4, 2002, 19:07
At 5:09 am -0500 2/3/02, David Peterson wrote:
>In a message dated 03/1/02 10:45:47 PM, Ian Maxwell writes: > ><< My question is, does a word already exist for this, or can I just use > >my own invented word? >> > >And exponent posited: > ><<Inchoative?>> > > It was my understanding that "inchoative" was "becoming", and that's how >I've been using it in my language.
This is correct - the inchoative aspect (also called by some 'inceptive' or 'ingessive') denotes "becoming" or "starting", e.g. Japanese: hanasu "to talk" >> hanashidasu "to start to talk" furu "rain" >> furidasu "to start to rain" Latin used -sc- to form new inchoative verbs, e.g. tremescere "to start trembling" (<< tremere "to tremble") obdormiscere "to fall asleep" (<< dormire "to sleep") ------------------------------------------------------------- At 7:06 am -0500 2/3/02, Patrick Jarrett wrote:
> Howdy, I am not an often poster but I do actually have something to >contribute to this string. What Ian is calling the "Anticipatory" is >actually covered in Latin grammar as the "Future Active Participle" -- >"going to do something" or "about to do something"
Yep - and 'tis used with the verb "to be" to form various tenses of the _prospective aspect_ (or 'anticipatory' aspect), e.g. oppugnaturi sunt = they are about to attack (present) oppugnaturi erant = they were about to attack (past) oppugnaturi erunt = they will be about tto attack (future) The same formations occur also in Esperanto and, I guess, in all languages with a 'future participle'. ------------------------------------------------------------------ At 9:40 am -0500 2/3/02, Ian Maxwell wrote:
>> > My question is, does a word already exist for this, or can I just use my >own invented word? >> >> I believe that would be the prospective aspect. ><snip> > >Thank you. I followed the link, checked the meaning, and that is in fact what >I'm looking for. I'm sure "anticipatory" would have worked fine, but then >"prospective" not only has a pre-defined meaning, but is quicker to say.
Spot on! ------------------------------------------------------------------- At 4:53 pm +0000 2/3/02, Lars Henrik Mathiesen wrote: [snip]
>According to Trask, prospective denotes the state of being about to do >something, not the immediacy of the actual act --- the crown prince is >going to become king, some time the next thirty years --- and it thus >shares the stative status of perfect, and presumably its aspecthood.
I agree.
>(I think Welsh and Irish express the perfect by something like 'is >after', and the prospective by 'is before', clearly marking them as >states).
Quite correct as regards the perfect in both languages, e.g. in Welsh: Mae e wedi canu Is he after singing = 'He has sung' I don't know about Gaelic and, maybe, in literary Welsh or earlier forms such formations occurred for the prospective forms; but modern colloquial Welsh uses "mynd i" (going to) in a similar way to English, French and many other languages, e.g. Mae e'n mynd i ganu - He is going to sing. The preposition 'ar' ("on") may be used like 'about' in english to express anticipation, e.g. Roeddwn i ar ganu Was I on singing = "I was about to sing" But this idiom is used much as its English equivalent; it doesn't really constitute a fully developed aspectual system. Actually early Classical Latin could also use "to go" + the supine (a form expressing purpose, used in conjunction with verbs of motion). Thus the above examples could also be: oppugnatum eunt oppugnatum ibant oppugnatum ibunt This form gave way to the 'present paretciple' + "to be" in the later Classical period, though the supine occasionally continued to be used the "impersonal passive" forms of "to go" to form the passive prospective tenses, e.g. urbem oppugnatum itur = the city is going to be attacked (literally: one-is-going to-attack the-city) urbem oppugnatum ibatur = the city was going to be attacked etc. (Latin, unlike Esperanto & ancient Greek, did not have a future passive participle). Ray. (back again at last :) ========================================= A mind which thinks at its own expense will always interfere with language. [J.G. Hamann 1760] =========================================

Replies

John Cowan <jcowan@...>
M.E.S. <suomenkieli@...>Inchoactive in Jpn? (was: "Anticipatory" Tense)
Raymond Brown <ray.brown@...>Inchoactive in Jpn? (was: "Anticipatory" Tense)