{"title":"Languages Without Tense","authors":"Maziar Toosarvandani","doi":"10.1111/lnc3.70017","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Within formal semantics, languages with no exponent of tense, or with optional tense, have begun to be incorporated into the theory of temporality only in the last couple decades. This article traces the development of their study, identifying empirical arguments that arbitrate between competing analyses of tenselessness. How future and past reference is established for root clauses, both in information-seeking exchanges and in narratives, requires differentiating at least three types of tenseless languages. Their temporal systems vary in whether they make use of a topic time, distinct from the eventuality and utterance times, and how they do so. While human language seems to allow for some variation in the temporal interpretation of tenseless clauses, it remains to be seen how constrained this variation is.</p>","PeriodicalId":47472,"journal":{"name":"Language and Linguistics Compass","volume":"19 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/lnc3.70017","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Language and Linguistics Compass","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/lnc3.70017","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
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Abstract
Within formal semantics, languages with no exponent of tense, or with optional tense, have begun to be incorporated into the theory of temporality only in the last couple decades. This article traces the development of their study, identifying empirical arguments that arbitrate between competing analyses of tenselessness. How future and past reference is established for root clauses, both in information-seeking exchanges and in narratives, requires differentiating at least three types of tenseless languages. Their temporal systems vary in whether they make use of a topic time, distinct from the eventuality and utterance times, and how they do so. While human language seems to allow for some variation in the temporal interpretation of tenseless clauses, it remains to be seen how constrained this variation is.
期刊介绍：
Unique in its range, Language and Linguistics Compass is an online-only journal publishing original, peer-reviewed surveys of current research from across the entire discipline. Language and Linguistics Compass publishes state-of-the-art reviews, supported by a comprehensive bibliography and accessible to an international readership. Language and Linguistics Compass is aimed at senior undergraduates, postgraduates and academics, and will provide a unique reference tool for researching essays, preparing lectures, writing a research proposal, or just keeping up with new developments in a specific area of interest.
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