Languages & Linguistics
Future Tense
Future tense refers to a grammatical category that indicates actions or states that will occur after the present moment. In many languages, including English, the future tense is formed using auxiliary verbs or inflections to convey the idea of something happening in the future. It is an important aspect of language for expressing plans, predictions, and intentions.
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10 Key excerpts on "Future Tense"
eBook - PDFFunctional Semantics
A Theory of Meaning, Structure and Tense in English
- Peter Harder(Author)
- 2010(Publication Date)
- De Gruyter Mouton(Publisher)
The future 349 2.3. The future 2.3.1. Semantic description In discussing the meaning of the future I am not taking for granted that English has a structurally clear-cut Future Tense. The point-blank question of whether English has a Future Tense (cf., e.g., Davidsen-Nielsen 1988) only has an answer if we are quite sure precisely what a Future Tense is; and since the overarching category of tense does not obviously constitute a well-defined natural kind (cf. Bybee—Dahl 1989), that is not guaranteed to be the case. In approaching the issue I begin by discussing the temporal meaning that I see as defining for a pure future. As opposed to the deictic tenses discussed above, where I could take my point of departure in fairly uncontroversial structural elements in the grammar of English, the discussion of the future thus starts off as a discussion in terms of content substance only. However, I hope to show that the type of meaning I am after has a central status not only in relation to the cross-linguistic substance discussion, but also in relation to English. Futurity is an aspect of the meaning of a great many signs and con-structions: adjectives like imminent, nouns like destiny, verbs like become, etc. In homing in on the special status of the future in a verbal context, a central lexical class is that of verbs like plan or want whose complements are understood as awaiting future realization. As part of what such verbs do, they thus assign futurity to clauses that occur as their direct objects. This shared feature itself, abstracted from all indications of how it is to come about — i.e. abstracted from the rest of the content of these verbs — is what I understand by pure future. My paraphrase is the following: (70) The 'pure future' indicates that the state-of-affairs applies to some situation ahead in time (time F for future) An obvious path whereby a marker of pure future may arise is through a process of bleaching (cf. below).
eBook - PDF- Östen Dahl(Author)
- 2008(Publication Date)
- De Gruyter Mouton(Publisher)
The frequency of Spanish FTR devices in different sets of questionnaire examples Future Tense IR A CONSTRUCTION PRESENT TENSE OBL OPT TOT OBL OPT TOT OBL OPT TOT COGNITIVE 1 person intention 53 0 53 35 0 35 11 0 11 BASE 3 person intention 33 0 33 62 0 62 3 0 3 Prediction 72 2 74 12 2 14 8 0 8 REMOTE-Immediate 13 0 13 76 0 76 9 0 9 NESS “This evening” 45 0 45 30 0 30 22 0 22 “Tomorrow” 79 0 79 0 0 0 4 0 4 Distant 33 0 33 33 0 33 0 0 0 The grammar of future time reference in European languages 317 Summing up, the systems we have described here have several features that seem characteristic of grammaticalization in progress: (i) competition between an older, more grammaticalized and a younger, less grammaticalized construction; (ii) no ab-solute acceptability judgments; (iii) dependence on several factors, both stylistic and semantic; (iv) differences between written and spoken language. We seem to be rather far from the structuralist ideal of a system with neat oppositions and simple meaning correlates. 5. European future gram families In this section, I shall survey the different future gram families that characterize the languages spoken in Europe, or rather Europe excluding the non-Slavic-speaking parts of Russia and some other outlying parts like Malta and Turkey. The motivation for this delimitation is twofold: first, it makes sense from the areal-linguistic point of view; second, the available information above all about the Caucasian languages does not make it possible to map that region in sufficient detail. ‘Gram family’ is a somewhat vague term that I use for grams with related func-tions and diachronic sources that show up in genetically and/or geographically re-lated groups of languages. To take one example, constructions formed with a verb meaning ‘to go’, with uses sometimes referred to as ‘prospective’, show up in a num-ber of languages in Western Europe, both in the Germanic and the Romance group.
eBook - PDF- Martin J. Endley(Author)
- 2007(Publication Date)
- Information Age Publishing(Publisher)
We find ourselves doing this constantly. In light of this, it is quite common to find linguists arguing—contrary to what most lay- people believe—that the expression of futurity in English does not involve tense. In short, according to some linguists, English does not have a Future Tense. In order to make the point, here are a few representative quotations from recent linguistic works. Quirk et al. say, “Morphologically English has no future form of the verb in addition to present and past forms” (1985, p. 176). Precisely the same point is made by Berk, who states that “ English has never had a Future Tense. There is no suffix that the English speaker can attach to a verb to make it future” (1999, p. 105). And Huddleston and Pullam tell us that “while there are numerous ways of indicating future time, there is no grammatical category that can properly be analysed as a Future Tense” (2002, p. 209; emphasis original). On the other hand, it should also be acknowledged that some linguists are happy to continue talking about a Future Tense. An example is Dixon, who subdivides what he calls the English Future Tense into an established future, used for regular occurrences, and a particular future, used for non- regular or special happenings. As an example of the former, Dixon offers the following (Dixon, 2005, p. 213): (9) The sun rises at 7:06 tomorrow morning. Once more, I find what Dixon has to say here unconvincing. He him- self acknowledges that such utterances “will normally be accompanied by an adverb referring to future time” (2005, p. 212). But surely this is pre- cisely the point at issue? It is the presence of the adverbial expression in (9) that marks it as having future reference, not the tense of the verb. That this is the case is shown in the following: (10) The sun rises every morning. To me, at least, it is far from obvious that in (9) we have a “Future Tense,” whereas in (10) we do not. In both cases, the verb rise is in the present.
- Louis de Saussure, Jacques Moeschler, Genoveva Puskás, Louis de Saussure, Jacques Moeschler, Genoveva Puskás(Authors)
- 2008(Publication Date)
- De Gruyter Mouton(Publisher)
2. Future time reference Futurity can be expressed in a variety of ways in English. In (1), it is ex-pressed by means of an auxiliary will . (1) Tom will play at the Royal Albert Hall tomorrow night . In (2), present continuous is used for future time reference. This use is called futurative progressive . (2) Tomorrow night Tom is playing at the Royal Albert Hall . In (3), simple present is employed. This use is sometimes called tense-less future (see Dowty 1979) and this is the term I employ here. (3) Tomorrow night Tom plays at the Royal Albert Hall . Sentence (4) makes use of a periphrastic construction. (4) Tom is going to play at the Royal Albert Hall tomorrow night . Future time reference 195 The use of the auxiliary will for future time reference is relatively well researched (see e.g. Enç 1996; Dahl 1985; Abush 1988; Ogihara 1996). 2 Will is also well accounted for in DRT because it conforms to the require-ment that when the auxiliary will is present, the eventuality is placed in the future with respect to the utterance time: …[the feature] TENSE has three possible values, past , present , and future , signifying that the described eventuality lies before, at, or after the utterance time, respectively. The value of TENSE for a given sentence S is determined by the tense of the verb of S. When the main verb is in the simple past, TENSE = past ; when it is in the simple present, TENSE = pres ; and when the verb complex contains the auxiliary will , TENSE = fut . (Kamp and Reyle 1993: 512 – 513). Meaning representations of DRT, i. e. DRSs, are built on the foundation of the syntactic configuration. In other words, syntactic processing of a sen-tence (or, in dynamic approaches, of a string of sentences in discourse) leads to the establishment of the initial structure of discourse referents and dis-course conditions.
eBook - PDFThe Grammar of the English Tense System
A Comprehensive Analysis
- Susan Reed, Bert Cappelle(Authors)
- 2008(Publication Date)
- De Gruyter Mouton(Publisher)
the Future Tense. We also consider other verb forms that have an element of future time reference as part of their semantics. In section I (7.1 7.6) we first deal with the distinction between ‘Future Tense’ forms and what we call ‘futurish’ forms, the latter of which do not express pure future and combine future time reference with present time reference. Section II (7.7 7.12) provides some com-ments on be going to , which wavers between a futurish auxiliary and a Future Tense auxiliary, depending on whether it expresses the idea that a future situation is predictable because of pres-ent indications (e. g. My little girl is going to be very clever ) or whether it is a more neutral means of referring to the future (e. g. It’s going to rain tomorrow ). This section also deals, among other things, with the use of be going to to express a present intention (e. g. Cheryl is go-ing to marry Gordon when she has graduated ). Section III discusses some further futurish forms, including (among others) ‘ will be Verb-ing ’ (used without progressive meaning), the auxiliary be about to , and the auxiliary be to . I. ‘Future Tense’ forms vs ‘futurish’ forms 337 I. ‘Future Tense’ forms vs ‘futurish’ forms 7.1 Definition of ‘Future Tense’ The Future Tense locates a situation time in the post-present and normally expresses ‘pure future’. ‘Futurish forms’ are not Future Tense forms and do not express pure fu-ture. 7.1.1 The Future Tense refers to the post-present in the sense that it locates a situation time ( the time of a ‘predicated’ situation see 2.12 13) in the post-present zone of the present time-sphere. In English, Future Tense forms are not built by means of a special suffix but by means of the present tense of one of the auxiliaries will or shall (the latter in the first person only) or of the semi-auxiliary be going to (which, however, can also be used as a ‘futurish form’ see 2.9 and 7.8 9).
eBook - PDF- Martin Pütz, Susanne Niemeier, Martin Pütz, Susanne Niemeier(Authors)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- De Gruyter Mouton(Publisher)
Standard discussions are objectivist in spirit. They ignore construal and the subjective basis of factors like homogeneity and bounding. They have no conception of the myriad viewing arrangements that mediate between objective circumstances and the formulation of lin-guistic expressions. Thus they attempt to account for tense directly in terms of the temporal relation between the actual time of speaking and the full duration of an envisaged actual occurrence. They do this even when - according to the analysis presented here - the process being viewed and temporally located is only a portion of the actual occurrence (notably with imperfectives), or else a virtual process connected to it in a manner specified by the viewing arrangement. It is no wonder, then, that a cogent description remains elusive, and that the present tense is claimed to be anything but a present tense. The consideration of pedagogical issues can only be aided by an accurate understanding of what is being taught. In the case of lan-guage, unfortunately, traditional and modern understandings are usu-ally far from adequate, even for things as fundamental as the present tense. It is premature to suggest that cognitive linguistics is coming to the rescue. I do however see it as a positive development, providing new and revealing perspectives on specific problems as well as our overall conception of language and how it relates to culture, cogni-tion, and social interaction. In short, I think we are starting to get a real grip on how things work. If so, it should eventually give rise to successful pedagogical applications, which will lend it empirical support. 38 Ronald W. Langacker References Austin, J. L. 1962 How to Do Things with Words. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Uni-versity Press. Brisard, Frank 1999 A critique of localism in and about tense theory. Ph.D. disserta-tion, University of Antwerp. Fauconnier, Gilles 1997 Mappings in Thought and Language.
eBook - ePubGrammar and Meaning
A Semantic Approach to English Grammar
- Howard Jackson(Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
are handed out, and read. … [Dent 1906, reprint 1958, p. 350]Future
In our discussion of verb forms earlier we did not list any forms for a Future Tense in English. This is because there are no future inflections of the verb in English, as there are in French (je parlerai, tu parleras , etc.). There are in fact a number of expressions for referring to future time in English. Probably the most frequently used expression, and the one which is sometimes regarded as a ‘Future Tense’, is the periphrastic form with the auxiliary verb will , as in [18] and the following:[57] I will see you in the morning [P01: 124]Will is followed by the base form of the main verb, and it is often contracted to 'll in speech and informal writing.[58] Then we'll go for a stroll along the beach [P02: 26]Some speakers, especially in southern Britain, replace will by shall with the 1st person (I, we ), e.g.[59] I shall serve them with tomatoes and olives [P08: 3]Some speakers will pedantically insist on the shall/will distinction, but the use of shall for future reference is probably getting less common (compare [30]). The future expression with will is often regarded as the most neutral expression of future time in English, but it is not always completely neutral. It may have overtones of prediction [60] or, with 1st and 2nd persons, it may express willingness or intention in addition to simple futurity [61].[60] Regis Road pavements will soon be crowded with late-homers [P01: 85][61] I will be brief [P01: 60]Another common expression of future time, used especially in an informal style of speaking and writing, is be going to followed by the base form of the main verb, e.g.[62] He flew over from Barcelona and is going to stay two days [P02: 69]The meaning overtones of this future expression are said to be ‘future fulfilment of the present’. It tends to be used when the future event is seen as relatively close to the present. We noted earlier the expression of immediate future or ‘post-present’ with the periphrasis be about to
- Fernanda Pratas(Author)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- De Gruyter Mouton(Publisher)
The authors associate the future with irrealis, and further specify that the future “introduces a modal component (Enç 1996), which can be interpreted as assertion of non-coincidence between event world and utterance world” (Ritter & Wiltschko 2005: 343, fn. 2). 84 In Ritter & Wiltschko (2009, 2014), they explore the properties of the universal category INFL in clauses and languages where it has no variable substantive content (it is then “associated with temporal, spatial, or participant marking”; Ritter & Wiltschko 2014: 1331). Matthewson (2006) rather defends that St’át’imcets is only superficially tenseless, since every finite clause takes a phonologically covert tense morpheme which restricts the reference time to the past or the present (so it behaves as a non-future marker). Future and conditional interpretations are obtained by the combination of that covert tense with a modal operator analogous to Abusch’s (1985) ‘woll’, instantiated in this language by the overt morpheme kelh —since this operator needs to be anchored to some given tense, it is also presented as a proof that tense exists in the language. Tonhauser (2011) demonstrates the advantages of a tenseless analysis of Guaraní, whose temporal reference is “anaphoric to a contextually given antecedent reference time, just as in tensed languages like English” (Tonhauser 2011 : 300). In “matrix clauses, only context and (optional) temporal adverbials constrain temporal reference”, and they “are interpreted at past and present reference times, except” in two constructions where “absolute future antecedent reference times are made available” (Tonhauser 2011 : 297). As for the temporal reference of subordinate clauses, it “is affected by the subordinating constructions” (ibid.). The future “is realized almost exclusively by the eventuality time option, i.e
eBook - ePub- Ronice Müller de Quadros(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- De Gruyter Mouton(Publisher)
To this end, this research develops an analysis to describe elements in the grammar system of Libras to denote tense and aspect – far more than just a short list of lexical items, as has been assumed so far for this language. Within the analysis, morphological inflections and compositional relations between tense and aspect show that such a system is much richer than expected. The data shown here is obviously just a sample of tense/aspect forms, and the examples were chosen for being the most recurrent among Libras speakers. Thus, the first section presents a set of examples analyzed in order to describe the parameters involved in the temporal reference system in Libras, regardless of any theoretical proposition for the tense category. In the second section though, a theoretical model is provided, along with a conceptual definition for the aspect category, and its organizational rules in Libras.2 Description of tense signs
Reichenbach’s (1947) works have been constantly revisited and reconstructed when it comes to tense category description in natural languages. In summary, his proposition poses a model based on three primitive temporal entities: S, the speech time, regarding the moment a sentence is uttered; E, the event time, referring to the time that the event which the sentence is about takes place; and R, the reference time. Thus, tense is still defined as a deictic category, since it establishes localization in time, taking the speech time as reference point.Klein (2007[1994]) revisits and widens Reichenbach’s model, by rearranging it into a description of how the tense category is organized. To clarify the concepts related to this new model, we have to consider that temporality may, as the author defends, be expressed in natural languages by: grammar inflections, tense characteristics that are inherent in the verbs and/or their complements, adverbs, and discursive organization principles. Klein also asserts that there are four possible parameters to describe temporal meaning of a tense-form: (1) the deictic, that takes the moment of speech as reference and places the present tense as simultaneous, the future as posterior and the past tense as anterior; (2) the refined deictic, in which it is possible to observe time gradation, such as distant past, very distant past and remote past; (3) the deictic-relational that establishes relations between the moment of speech and the moment of the event (expressed by verb lexicality), without losing deictic temporality given by the moment of speech; (4) the non-deictic and non-relational, in which the tense inherent in the verb marks if the event is expressed as complete or incomplete, dismissing the temporality relation with the moment of speech. Klein (2007[1994]) draws attention to the fact that these parameters are not opposable – they are actually compatible, because they can be compositionally combined in one system. In his words:
eBook - PDFPerspectives on Variation
Sociolinguistic, Historical, Comparative
- Nicole Delbecque, Johan van der Auwera, Dirk Geeraerts, Nicole Delbecque, Johan van der Auwera, Dirk Geeraerts(Authors)
- 2011(Publication Date)
- De Gruyter Mouton(Publisher)
In (16) to see functions as a dynamic verb, meaning 'to meet'. ( 16) What time are you seeing Armstrong-Jones? (Cain 234) For Dutch, various motivations for the use of the present tense with future time reference have been proposed in the literature on the topic. They are not all clearly distinct from each other and the terminology is not always well-defined. The present tense is sometimes said to be used to refer to the future in order to represent the post-present situation more vividly. Others say that sentences characterized by the semantic feature [+probable] contain a present tense significantly more often than sentences referring to a situation whose future occurrence is more doubtful. One step further than probability is the idea of certainty. The speaker uses the present tense because he sees the situation as inevitable and completely certain. Said differently, the speaker thinks of the future situation as present reality or actuality. Or the present tense is used when the future situation is in some way already relevant at the present moment, etc. We believe that the above descriptions are not mutually exclusive. They can be captured under, or be derived from, a more general motivation: 'representing the situation as if factual, as if actualizing at to'. As we saw, this holds for English too, but the English present tense with future time reference is considerably more restricted than the Dutch one: in Dutch the speaker can shift his perspective more easily. When the speaker of English has a reason (factuality) to shift his temporal perspective to the present, the speaker of Dutch has one, too. The reverse does not necessarily hold. There are far more contexts in Dutch where the speaker can represent the future situation as a factual one, as (17a) and (17b) show. 262 Griet Be heydt (17) a. Tomorrow will be rainy and warm.
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