Nominal Tense? The Meaning of Guaraní Nominal Temporal Markers

Paraguayan Guaraní has nominal markers that affect the temporal interpretation of the noun phrase they attach to. On the basis of data collected during recent fieldwork in Paraguay, I explore in this article the lexical semantic, semantic, and discourse properties of these nominal temporal markers and develop a semantic analysis that accounts for their meaning and use. I then address the claim (made e.g. in Nordlinger & Sadler 2004) that such markers are nominal past and future tenses. A comparison of the properties of verbal temporal markers to those of the Guaraní nominal markers reveals that the Guaraní nominal markers share few of the properties of verbal tenses and hence should not be called nominal tenses. I conclude by addressing the implications of these findings for theories of temporality.*

[1]  Renate Irene Musan,et al.  On the Temporal Interpretation of Noun Phrases , 2021 .

[2]  Judith Tonhauser,et al.  Word Order In Paraguayan Guaraní1 , 2010, International Journal of American Linguistics.

[3]  Maria Bittner,et al.  Aspectual universals of temporal anaphora , 2008 .

[4]  Susan Rothstein.  Theoretical and Crosslinguistic Approaches to the Semantics of Aspect , 2008 .

[5]  A. Kratzer.  The Notional Category of Modality , 2008 .

[6]  Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald,et al.  Language Typology and Syntactic Description: Typological distinctions in word-formation , 2007 .

[7]  Katharina Haude,et al.  A grammar of Movima , 2006 .

[8]  Lisa Matthewson,et al.  On the absence of tense on determiners , 2005 .

[9]  L. Sadler,et al.  Nominal Tense in Crosslinguistic Perspective , 2004 .

[10]  Martina Wiltschko.  On the interpretability of tense on D and its consequences for case theory , 2003 .

[11]  Silvia P. Gennari.  Tense Meanings and Temporal Interpretation , 2003, J. Semant..

[12]  Judith Tonhauser,et al.  A Dynamic Semantic Account of the Temporal Interpretation of Noun Phrases , 2002 .

[13]  Menno H. Kroeker,et al.  A Descriptive Grammar of Nambikuara , 2001, International Journal of American Linguistics.

[14]  Renate Musan,et al.  Temporal Interpretation and Information-Status of Noun Phrases , 1999 .

[15]  P. Portner,et al.  The Progressive in Modal Semantics. , 1998 .

[16]  A. Kratzer.  More Structural Analogies Between Pronouns and Tenses , 1998 .

[17]  Francis Jeffry Pelletier,et al.  The Generic book , 1997 .

[18]  Maura Velázquez-Castillo,et al.  The Grammar of Possession: Inalienability, incorporation and possessor ascension in Guaraní , 1996 .

[19]  P. Bloom.  Intention, history, and artifact concepts , 1996, Cognition.

[20]  E. Spelke,et al.  Spatiotemporal continuity, smoothness of motion and object identity in infancy , 1995 .

[21]  Carlota S. Smith,et al.  The Parameter of Aspect , 1991 .

[22]  Marianne Mithun,et al.  Active/agentive case marking and its motivations , 1991 .

[23]  Manfred Krifka,et al.  Nominal Reference, Temporal Constitution and Quantification in Event Semantics , 1989 .

[24]  F. Keil.  Concepts, Kinds, and Cognitive Development , 1989 .

[25]  Mürvet Enç,et al.  Towards a referential analysis of temporal expressions , 1986 .

[26]  E. Hinrichs.  Temporal anaphora in discourses of english , 1986, Linguistics and Philosophy.

[27]  Gregory T. Stump.  The semantic variability of absolute constructions , 1984 .

[28]  B. Partee.  Nominal and temporal anaphora , 1984 .

[29]  R. Sternberg,et al.  Natural, unnatural, and supernatural concepts , 1982, Cognitive Psychology.

[30]  David R. Dowty.  Tenses, time adverbs, and compositional semantic theory , 1982 .

[31]  Hannes Rieser,et al.  Words, Worlds, and Contexts: New Approaches in Word Semantics , 1981 .

[32]  David R. Dowty,et al.  Introduction to Montague semantics , 1980 .

[33]  E. Rosch,et al.  Family resemblances: Studies in the internal structure of categories , 1975, Cognitive Psychology.

[34]  B. Partee.  Some Structural Analogies between Tenses and Pronouns in English , 1973 .

[35]  Fred W. Householder,et al.  A Course in Modern Linguistics , 1959 .

[36]  Hans Reichenbach,et al.  Elements of symbolic logic , 1948 .

[37]  T. Shopen,et al.  Language typology and syntactic description , 2013 .

[38]  R. Dixon,et al.  Grammars In Contact: a cross-linguistic typology , 2007 .

[39]  Judith Tonhauser,et al.  The Temporal Semantics of Noun Phrases: Evidence from Guarani , 2006 .

[40]  R. Dixon,et al.  Feeling the need : The borrowing of Cariban functional categories into Mawayana (Arawak) , 2006 .

[41]  Robert Dixon,et al.  The Jarawara language of Southern Amazonia , 2004 .

[42]  S. Nordhoff.  Nomen/Verb-Distinktion im Guarani , 2004 .

[43]  ter Meulen,et al.  Empirical Issues in Syntax and Semantics 5 , 2004 .

[44]  Jacqueline Guéron,et al.  The syntax of time , 2004 .

[45]  M. Velázquez-Castillo.  Grammatical relations in active systems: The case of Guaraní , 2002 .

[46]  Robert Dixon,et al.  The Amazonian languages , 1999 .

[47]  Matthew Stone,et al.  The Anaphoric Parallel Between Modality and Tense , 1997 .

[48]  Tim Stowell,et al.  The Phrase Structure of Tense , 1996 .

[49]  Johan Rooryck,et al.  Phrase structure and the lexicon , 1996 .

[50]  Angelika Kratzer,et al.  Stage-Level and Individual-Level Predicates , 1995 .

[51]  Wolfgang Klein,et al.  Time in language , 1994 .

[52]  Uwe Reyle,et al.  From discourse to logic , 1993 .

[53]  W. Dietrich,et al.  More evidence for an internal classification of Tupi-Guarani languages , 1990 .

[54]  Silvio Liuzzi,et al.  Tiempo y aspecto en Guaraní , 1989 .

[55]  J.F.A.K. van Benthem,et al.  Semantics and Contextual Expressions , 1989 .

[56]  Mürvet Enç.  Anchoring conditions for tense , 1987 .

[57]  Silvio Liuzzi.  Temps et aspect en guarani , 1987 .

[58]  Mürvet Enç,et al.  Tense without scope : an analysis of nouns as indexicals , 1986 .

[59]  David R. Dowty,et al.  Word Meaning and Montague Grammar , 1979 .

[60]  Gregory Norman Carlson,et al.  Reference to kinds in English , 1977 .

[61]  Patrick Suppes,et al.  Approaches to Natural Language , 1973 .

[62]  Richard Montague,et al.  The Proper Treatment of Quantification in Ordinary English , 1973 .

[63]  Jaakko Hintikka,et al.  Approaches to natural language : proceedings of the 1970 Stanford workshop on grammar and semantics , 1973 .

[64]  Emma Gregores,et al.  A description of colloquial Guaraní , 1967 .

[65]  K. Haude.  Nominal tense marking in Movima , 2022 .