Re: CHAT: relative tense

>From:" dunn patrick w <tb0pwd1@...>"
>Subject:      relative tense
>
>Is there any natural language that has a relative verb tense?  For
>instance, if 'eho means "speak"
>
>ne'eho might mean "I speak now."
>to'eho might mean "I spoke/will speak sometime within the forseeable
>future/past"
>ke'eho might mean "I spoke/will speak sometime within the historical
>future/past"
>
>In other words, not differentiating for past or future, but for distance
>form the present.
>
A partial equivalent in English could be a modal statement:
"My speaking is necessary" The modal of necessity avers that some
statement is always true, it is timeless. Not quite what you wanted, but
you could restrict it by stating an interval.

Gerald Koenig