Re: THEORY: Tenses (was: Re: THEORY: ... Auxiliaries...)

Doug Dee wrote at 2005-07-09 20:26:47 (EDT)
 > In a message dated 7/9/2005 2:17:29 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
 > tomhchappell@YAHOO.COM writes:
 >
 > >Does Comrie, or anyone, know what the maximum number of tenses in any
 > >natlang is?
 >
 > Comrie says that some languages have 5 degrees of remoteness in the past and
 > 5 in the future (e.g., Bamileke-Dschang of Cameroon).  He doesn't mention any
 > with 6 & 6, so I presume he hasn't found any.
 >
 > He says the record for distinct past tenses is 6 or 7 (his source is
 > lamentably unclear) in Kiksht (a Chinookan language of the
 > northwestern USA).

There's a nice section on tense in Mithun's _Languages of Native North
America_.  A fairly detailed description is given of Upper Chinook (Kiksht):

| In many languages speakers have choices beyond whether or not to
| specify tense.  They may also have options among possible tense
| categories.  Upper Chinook, a Chinookan language spoken on the
| Columbia River, has an elaborate tense system, described by Sapir
| 1907, Dyk 1933, Silverstein 2974, and Hymes 1975.  As Silverstein
| points out, much of the tense system in this language evolved
| diachronically from earlier aspectual distinctions still visible in
| related languages, perhaps in part under the influence of neighboring
| Salish languages.  There are five basic tense prefixes, not unlike
| those seen earlier in Washo.
|
| (17)	UPPER CHINOOK (WISHRAM DIALECT) TENSE PREFIXES	 Sapir 1907: 538-9
|   _ga(l)-_	*MYTHIC PAST*
| 		  time long past, more than one year ago, used in the
| 		  recital of myths
|   _ni(g)-_	*REMOTE PAST*
| 		  used to refer indefinitely to time past, used in
| 		  speaking of events that happened less than a year
| 		  ago, yet more than a couple of days
|   _na(l)-_	*RECENT PAST*
| 		  recent time exclusive of to-day, more specifically
| 		  to yesterday
|   _i(g)-_	*IMMEDIATE PAST*
| 		  an action already performed today
|   --		*PRESENT*
| 		  an action now going on but with implication of soon
| 		  being completed
|   _a(l)-_	*FUTURE*	
|
|
| The language also contains two directional prefixes,  a translocative
| _u-_ 'thither' for motion away and a cislocative _t-_ 'hither' for
| motion toward the speaker.  (Directionals are discussed in section
| 3.7.3.)
|
| (18)	UPPER CHINOOK (KIKSHT DIALECT) DIRECTIONAL PREFIXES   Hymes 1975
|    _ga-n-*u*-ya_			_ga-n-*t*-i_
|    MYTHIC.PAST-1SG-*TRANSLOCATIVE*-GO	MYTHIC.PAST-1SG-*CISLOCATIVE*-GO
|    'I went'				'I came'
|
| As described in detail by Hymes, the already elaborate tense prefix
| system was further enriched by the introduction of the cross-cutting
| translocative/cislocative distinction, indicating earlier and later
| times respectively within each category.
|
| (19)	UPPER CHINOOK (KIKSHT) PREFIX COMBINATIONS             Hymes 1975
|    _gal...u-_	mythic age, or many years
|    _gal...t-_	within modern human experience, or a few years
|
|    _nig...u-_	last season
|    _nig...t-_	last week
|
|    _ig...u-_	earlier today
|    _ig...t-_	just now
|
|    _al...u-_	immediate future
|    _al...t-_	remote future
|
| (20)	UPPER CHINOOK (WISHRAM) TENSE			 Silverstein 1974
|    _*i*-n-i-*u*-+ada-ba_
|    *IMMEDIATE.PAST*-1SG.ERGATIVE-NEUTER.ABSOLUTIVE-*TRANSLOCATIVE*-THROW-OUT
|    "I threw it out of the house"
|
|    _*i*-n-i-*t*-+ada-ba_
|    *IMMEDIATE.PAST*-1SG.ERGATIVE-NEUTER.ABSOLUTIVE-*CISLOCATIVE*-THROW-OUT
|    "I just now threw it out of the house"
|
| Hymes notes that tense choice is more than a question of objective
| chronology.
|
|   The tenses are not mechanically geared to fixed units of time.  The
|   _relative_ temporal difference is invariably maintained within
|   regular limits, but the immediate context affects the resulting
|   calibration with days, hours, weeks, months, and years
|   ... Stylistic, or socioexpressive meaning enters as well.
|   (Hymes 1975: 318)

Note: + has been substituted for barred-l.  Underlined text has been
rendered *thus*.