Analyzing Tenselessness
Résumé
This paper addresses a longstanding issue – that of the universality of tense – by assessing the theoretical and empirical claims underlying analyses of so-called tenseless languages – that is, languages lacking at least on the surface grammatical tense. We distinguish the following typology of approaches. (i) Analyses that posit syntactic tense, distinguishing two subclasses: positing both semantic and syntactic covert tense, thus preserving the universality of tense, vs. positing covert syntactic but not semantic tense, thus preserving the universality of syntactic tense, but not of semantic tense. (ii) Analyses refuting syntactic tense, distinguishing two further subclasses: positing covert semantic but not syntactic tense, thus preserving the universality of semantic, but not syntactic tense, vs. positing neither semantic, nor syntactic (covert) tense and thus refuting the universality of both semantic and syntactic tense. We then tackle an issue at the heart of many of the core arguments put forth either for or against tensed/tenseless analyses: constraints on future time reference. We provide novel arguments for (absolute) future time reference in Chinese, and in light of these arguments, conclude in favor of the universality of both syntactic and semantic tense, moreover correlating two putative tense universals.
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