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Remarks on the Aspect of the Present Tense in Latin

  • Martina Vaníková
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Recent Trends and Findings in Latin Linguistics
This chapter is in the book Recent Trends and Findings in Latin Linguistics

Abstract

For the grammatical aspect, the present tense in Latin does not clearly have any aspectual opposition in the sense of the imperfect and perfect tenses. However, if we consider aspect a universal characteristic of predication (cf. Vanikova 2019: 8), then even the predications with verbs in the present tense must have an aspectual value. But which constituents in such a predication add or change aspectual value? This paper shows that the present tense is imperfective, but that there are features that change this default value such as the situation type of the verb, especially its telicity, arguments, and prefixes. It is crucial to identify the possible combinations of these features and the meanings rendered by their various combinations. By analysing verbs with the prefix ex-, it reveals that the prefixed telic verbs generally do not function as the actual present. In 54% of the cases, these were historic present tenses denoting the narrative past; in 33% of the cases, they denote iterativity; 5% of the instances are praesens pro futuro; 4% are actual present; and 2% are conative present. Aspect is a compositional category, and this paper attempts to demonstrate an approach which may be used in more detailed descriptions of the category of aspect.

Abstract

For the grammatical aspect, the present tense in Latin does not clearly have any aspectual opposition in the sense of the imperfect and perfect tenses. However, if we consider aspect a universal characteristic of predication (cf. Vanikova 2019: 8), then even the predications with verbs in the present tense must have an aspectual value. But which constituents in such a predication add or change aspectual value? This paper shows that the present tense is imperfective, but that there are features that change this default value such as the situation type of the verb, especially its telicity, arguments, and prefixes. It is crucial to identify the possible combinations of these features and the meanings rendered by their various combinations. By analysing verbs with the prefix ex-, it reveals that the prefixed telic verbs generally do not function as the actual present. In 54% of the cases, these were historic present tenses denoting the narrative past; in 33% of the cases, they denote iterativity; 5% of the instances are praesens pro futuro; 4% are actual present; and 2% are conative present. Aspect is a compositional category, and this paper attempts to demonstrate an approach which may be used in more detailed descriptions of the category of aspect.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface VII
  3. Contents XI
  4. Volume I
  5. Latin Linguistics in Harm’s Way 1
  6. Section 1: Syntax and Semantics
  7. Aspects of the Expression of Definiteness in Classical Latin 19
  8. On the Zero Anaphora of Arguments in the Dative Case 45
  9. Interferencias colocacionales entre facere, agere y gerere en latín tardío 63
  10. Sēnsus cēnsēndī: On the Expression of Opinions in Latin, apropos CIC. Att. 1, 4, 1 79
  11. Substitution in Latin 97
  12. Remarks on the Aspect of the Present Tense in Latin 113
  13. Section 2: Syntactic Constructions
  14. El acusativo adverbial deadjetival en latín 135
  15. Expression of (Non-)Permanent Qualities and Coding of the Praedicativum in Latin 151
  16. Coordinative Repetition: Repetition as a Means of Coordination in Classical Latin 167
  17. Is au nominatif en fonction de sujet 181
  18. Non-finite Constructions in Latin, German and Turkish: A Trilateral Comparison 197
  19. Latin Translations of Greek ὅτι-clauses in the Vulgate and the Vetus Latina: A Comparative Analysis of the Four Gospels 217
  20. Section 3: Syntax and Pragmatics
  21. Les subordonnées causales corrélatives en latin 239
  22. The Sequence [sola + VIR at the Beginning of the Verse]: A New Textual Motif in Ovidian Elegy? 257
  23. Prepositional Phrase Hyperbaton in Cicero’s Orations 273
  24. Section 4: Digital Linguistics
  25. Lemmas in Dialogue: Linking the L.A.S.L.A. Corpus to the LiLa Knowledge Base 297
  26. New Perspectives on Latin Phraseology: Phrasemes and Textual Motifs 315
  27. Volume II
  28. Section 5: Semantics and Lexicography
  29. A Cognitive-Pragmatic Description of Evaluative Suffixes in Latin Letters: The Case of -llus 331
  30. Nota su perticarius e sarcitor: due nomi di mestiere di rara attestazione 349
  31. Expressing Rose Colour (roseus) from Ancient to Modern Latin: A Corpus-Based Study 363
  32. Glossing as a Rhetorical Strategy: Seneca the Younger’s Use of Greek Loan-Words in his Philosophical Works 381
  33. Le micro-champ lexical des noms de pains en latin – une approche étymologique 397
  34. L’expression de la non-virilité par le féminin en latin : lat. effēmināre, lat. effēminātus, lat. effēmināte 417
  35. Semántica y sintaxis de dare. Consideraciones intralingüísticas e interlingüísticas 437
  36. La lingua del De errore profanarum religionum di Firmico Materno 461
  37. Qualche esempio di usi linguistici sommersi nei grammatici latini 471
  38. Nescio an: Maybe or Maybe not? Constructions of Doubting Used Adverbially 483
  39. Section 6: Discourse Strategies
  40. Verbes introducteurs et stratégies d’introduction du Discours Direct dans la narration romanesque latine (le Satyricon de Pétrone et les Métamorphoses d’Apulée) 503
  41. Degrés et manières d’élaboration textuelle chez quelques historiens romains 521
  42. Límites del discurso directo en la lengua latina 535
  43. Linguistik der Emotionen: Gefühlsausdruck bei Terenz und Cicero 553
  44. Fronto’s Theory of Metaphor? An Enactivist and Psycholinguistic Perspective 569
  45. Section 7: Conversation and Dialogue
  46. Age/agite: the Artistic Re-elaboration of a Polyfunctional Interjection in Virgil’s Works 587
  47. Self-interruptions (aposiopesis) in Roman Comedy 603
  48. Gestualità disfunzionale nelle tragedie di Seneca 621
  49. Conversational Behaviour after Quarrels: Im/politeness in Latin Dialogues 637
  50. Conversational Strategies in Non- Conversational Texts: The Communicative Structure of Cicero’s Fourth Catilinarian 667
  51. The Pragmatic Marker age: Its Pragmatic Functions in Comedy and its Contribution to the Expression of Im/Politeness 685
  52. Subject Index 703
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110722116-007

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface VII
  3. Contents XI
  4. Volume I
  5. Latin Linguistics in Harm’s Way 1
  6. Section 1: Syntax and Semantics
  7. Aspects of the Expression of Definiteness in Classical Latin 19
  8. On the Zero Anaphora of Arguments in the Dative Case 45
  9. Interferencias colocacionales entre facere, agere y gerere en latín tardío 63
  10. Sēnsus cēnsēndī: On the Expression of Opinions in Latin, apropos CIC. Att. 1, 4, 1 79
  11. Substitution in Latin 97
  12. Remarks on the Aspect of the Present Tense in Latin 113
  13. Section 2: Syntactic Constructions
  14. El acusativo adverbial deadjetival en latín 135
  15. Expression of (Non-)Permanent Qualities and Coding of the Praedicativum in Latin 151
  16. Coordinative Repetition: Repetition as a Means of Coordination in Classical Latin 167
  17. Is au nominatif en fonction de sujet 181
  18. Non-finite Constructions in Latin, German and Turkish: A Trilateral Comparison 197
  19. Latin Translations of Greek ὅτι-clauses in the Vulgate and the Vetus Latina: A Comparative Analysis of the Four Gospels 217
  20. Section 3: Syntax and Pragmatics
  21. Les subordonnées causales corrélatives en latin 239
  22. The Sequence [sola + VIR at the Beginning of the Verse]: A New Textual Motif in Ovidian Elegy? 257
  23. Prepositional Phrase Hyperbaton in Cicero’s Orations 273
  24. Section 4: Digital Linguistics
  25. Lemmas in Dialogue: Linking the L.A.S.L.A. Corpus to the LiLa Knowledge Base 297
  26. New Perspectives on Latin Phraseology: Phrasemes and Textual Motifs 315
  27. Volume II
  28. Section 5: Semantics and Lexicography
  29. A Cognitive-Pragmatic Description of Evaluative Suffixes in Latin Letters: The Case of -llus 331
  30. Nota su perticarius e sarcitor: due nomi di mestiere di rara attestazione 349
  31. Expressing Rose Colour (roseus) from Ancient to Modern Latin: A Corpus-Based Study 363
  32. Glossing as a Rhetorical Strategy: Seneca the Younger’s Use of Greek Loan-Words in his Philosophical Works 381
  33. Le micro-champ lexical des noms de pains en latin – une approche étymologique 397
  34. L’expression de la non-virilité par le féminin en latin : lat. effēmināre, lat. effēminātus, lat. effēmināte 417
  35. Semántica y sintaxis de dare. Consideraciones intralingüísticas e interlingüísticas 437
  36. La lingua del De errore profanarum religionum di Firmico Materno 461
  37. Qualche esempio di usi linguistici sommersi nei grammatici latini 471
  38. Nescio an: Maybe or Maybe not? Constructions of Doubting Used Adverbially 483
  39. Section 6: Discourse Strategies
  40. Verbes introducteurs et stratégies d’introduction du Discours Direct dans la narration romanesque latine (le Satyricon de Pétrone et les Métamorphoses d’Apulée) 503
  41. Degrés et manières d’élaboration textuelle chez quelques historiens romains 521
  42. Límites del discurso directo en la lengua latina 535
  43. Linguistik der Emotionen: Gefühlsausdruck bei Terenz und Cicero 553
  44. Fronto’s Theory of Metaphor? An Enactivist and Psycholinguistic Perspective 569
  45. Section 7: Conversation and Dialogue
  46. Age/agite: the Artistic Re-elaboration of a Polyfunctional Interjection in Virgil’s Works 587
  47. Self-interruptions (aposiopesis) in Roman Comedy 603
  48. Gestualità disfunzionale nelle tragedie di Seneca 621
  49. Conversational Behaviour after Quarrels: Im/politeness in Latin Dialogues 637
  50. Conversational Strategies in Non- Conversational Texts: The Communicative Structure of Cicero’s Fourth Catilinarian 667
  51. The Pragmatic Marker age: Its Pragmatic Functions in Comedy and its Contribution to the Expression of Im/Politeness 685
  52. Subject Index 703
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