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Article published In:
Studies in Language
Vol. 46:1 (2022) ► pp.40–75

Beyond nominal tense

Temporality, aspect, and relevance in Tariana noun phrases

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Tariana, an Arawak language from Brazil, has nominal markers which convey temporal and aspectual information about the noun phrase. Besides nominal future, there is a distinction between completed and non-completed nominal pasts. The completed nominal past has three meanings – decessive (‘late, gone’), temporal (‘former’), and commiserative or deprecatory (‘poor thing’). The latter is only applicable to humans and higher animates. The non-completed nominal past has a further semantic component of relevance of the state or property for the present time. The usage of the markers is governed by the principle of communicative necessity – in contrast to clausal, or propositional, tense-cum-evidentiality markers which are always obligatory. Having special means for expressing tense, aspect and relevance within a noun phrase – distinct from tense and aspect categories with clausal scope – constitutes a typologically rare feature of the language.

Keywords: nominal tense, decessive meaning, relevance, Tariana, Arawak languages
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Non-propositional tense in its varied guises
    • 1.2Expressing tense in Tariana
  • 2.Non-propositional pasts in Tariana: Temporality, completion, and relevance
    • 2.1The non-completed non-propositional past in Tariana
    • 2.2The completed non-propositional past in Tariana
      • 2.2.1Decessive meaning of the completed non-propositional past
      • 2.2.2The temporal meaning of the completed non-propositional past
      • 2.2.3Commiserative and deprecatory meanings of the completed non-propositional past
      • 2.2.4The completed non-propositional past in Kumandene Tariana
      • 2.2.5The Tariana completed non-propositional past: A typological backdrop
  • 3.‘Tense stacking’
    • A.Completed non-propositional past followed by non-propositional future
    • B.Non-completed non-propositional past followed by completed non-propositional past
  • 4.Beyond non-propositional tense: Temporality, aspect, and relevance
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 23 February 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.20056.aik
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