The category of tense.

The verbal category of tense expresses the time characteristics denoted by the verb. We should distinguish (мы должны различать) between time as a general category and time as a linguistic category. Time in the general presentation along with space is the form of existence of matter (материя). It is independent of human perception and is constantly changing. Time is reflected by human beings through their intellect and finds in expression in language. The moment of immediate perception of actually reality is linguistically fixed as the “moment of speech”. It serves as the line between the past and the future Linguistic expression of time maybe either “absolutive” or “non - absolutive”. The absolutive time denotation differentiates 3 spheres: the Past, the Present and the Future. The sphere of the Present includes the moment of the speech, the sphere of the Past precedes the sphere of the Present and the sphere of the Future follows the sphere of the Present. Thus (таким образом) the absolutive time correlates the action or process with the moment of speech.

The non – absolutive time denotation is independent from the moment of speech. It may be either factual or relative. The factual expression of time denotes real astronomical time which is independent from either the moment of speech or any other time center. For example, During the Second World War, In 1985 etc. Factual time can be expressed only lexically. Relative time denotation shows the correlation of two or more events and differentiate the priority (relative past) the simultaneity (одновременность) (relative present) and posteriority (следование) (relative future) of one event in relation to another. The relative time can be expressed both lexically and grammatically.

The tense category in English differs a lot from the verbal category of tense in Russian. The tense category in Russia renders absolutive time semantic in the three Russian verbal tense forms present the events as developing in time the past to the future, for example, работал – работаю – буду работать. In English there are 4 verbal tense forms: the Present, the Past, the Future and the Future – in – the – Past. The 2 future tense forms of the verb express the future in 2 separate ways: as an after - event in relation to the present (moment of speech), for example, He will work tomorrow, and as after – event in relation to the past, for example, He said he would work the next day. The Present, the Past and the Future forms of the verb render absolutive time semantic. The Future – in – the – Past form of the verb on English express the relative time – posteriority in relation to the Past. Thus there is not just 0ne verbal category in English but two interconnected tense subcategories, one of them rendering absolutive time semantic and the other rendering relative time semantic.

The opposition of the past and the present can be reduced in certain context so the transposition takes place (транспозиция – когда гр. форма используется не в своем значении, когда значение выражается не привычной формой) for example the present tense of the verb can be used to describe past events in order to create a vivid picture of the past (I stopped to greet him and what do you think he does? He pretends he does not know me - я остановился поприветствовать его, и представь что он делает, он претворяется что не узнает меня). This type of transposition is known as “historic present” (историческое настоящее).

The transposition of past tense form into the context of the present is used to express various degrees of politeness (attitudinal past)

For example: Could you help me, please?

The opposition the future and present cam also be refused. For example present forms are regularly used to denote future action, plan or anticipated in the near future. For example: We are going to London tomorrow.

Transposition takes place when the future forms are used to express insistence (настойчивость). For example: When he needs something he will talk and talk about for days.

There is one more problem in English grammar concerning the future tenses: the status of the verb shall/will and should/would. As a matter of fact these verbs in their etymology (происхождение) are model verbs: verbs of obligation (долженствование) and willingness, but now days they preserve (сохранили) their modal meaning in no high degree then the future tense forms in other languages. The future differs (defers) in this respect from the past and the present because none can be positively shire about events that have not yet taken place or are not taken place now.

A certain modal coloring is characteristic of the future tense semantics in any language as future actions are always either anticipated or planed or necessary or desired. Thus the homonymous verbs shall/will and should/would are to be distinguished in context in which their function is as purely modal verbs (payment should be made) and in context in which their function is as auxiliary verbs of the future tense forms which subdue modal semantics.

The category of aspect (категория вида)

The general meaning of category of aspect is the inner mode of realization of proses. Aspect is closely connected with time semantic showing the temporal structure of the action. Like time (tense) aspect can be expressed both by lexical and grammatical means.

In English the aspect is manifested in the lexical subdivision of verbs into limited and unlimited (durative).

There are four correlated forms of the aspect in English: the indefinite (simple), the continuous (progressive), the perfect and the perfect continuous. As we have already mentioned the expression of aspective semantics in English is into connected with the expression of the temporarily semantics. That’s why in practical grammar they are treated as tense-aspect forms (16).

The category of aspect just like the category of tense is a system of two subcategories. The first subcategory is realized through the opposition of the continuous forms and the indefinite forms of the verbs. This category can be called the category of development (категория развития). The majority of linguists support the point of view that the meaning of continuous is purely aspective – action in progress or developing action. The unmarked member of the opposition the indefinite stresses the mere fact of the performance of action.

The category of development can be neutralized for example the transposition regularly takes place with statal verbs, their indefinite forms are used instead of the continuous for semantic reasons: statal verbs denote developing process by their own meaning. The use of the statal verbs in the continuous can be treated as “reverse transposition” (обратная транспозиция) stylistically colored context for example: you are being naughty.

One more case of transposition is the use of the continuous instead of the indefinite to denote habitual, repeated action in emphatic speech with negative connotations.

Лекция 9 (18.11.15)

The second subcategory may be called the category of retrospective coordination (ретроспективной координации). It is formed by the opposition of the Perfect and the non – Perfect forms of the verbs. The Perfect forms denote a preceding action successively (следовать за чем то) connected with a certain time limit or another action (Perfect обозначает предшествующее действие которое связано отношением последовательности с каким то определённым временным моментом или другим действием). The following situation is included in the sphere of interest of the preceding situation. So the two semantic components constitute the mixed semantics of the perfect: priority (relative time, предшествование) and coordination or result (результат, aspective meaning). Hence (следовательно), the general name for this situation is retrospective coordination. In different context prominence may be given to either of these semantic components. For example, He has opened the window and it is cold in the room (prominent is given to result); When John came home the guests have already left (prominent is given to priority).

When the Perfect is used in combination with the Continuous the action is treated as prior and developing at the same time, for example, I have been thinking about you since we passed our last exam. Thus the Perfect Continuous form actually marks both subcategories: the subcategory of development and that of retrospective coordination. The subcategory of retrospective coordination can be reduced. This transposition takes place with some verbs of physical and mental perception, for example, Sorry I forget your name. Within the system of verbal aspect in English the two subcategories are interconnected: any action is evaluated as developing or non – developing or then it is estimated retrospectively coordinated or not coordinated with another action or time limit.

(Continuous и Perfect реально маркированы)

The category of voice (категория залога)

The verbal category of voice shows the direction of the process concerning the participants of the situation reflected in the syntactic structure of the sentence (Глагольная категория залога показывает направление процесса касательно участников ситуации отражаемое в синтаксической структуре предложения). Voice is a very specific verbal category. First it does not reflect the actual properties of the process denoted but the speaker’s estimation of it: the speaker chooses witch of the participates of the situation (the agent or the patient) should be presented as the subject (подлежащее) of the syntactic construction. Second, though it is expressed through the morphological forms of the verbs, voice is closely connected with the structural organization of the syntactic construction: the use of passive or active forms of the verb involves the use of the passive or active syntactic constructions. The category of voice is expressed by the opposition of the passive or active forms of the verb. The active form of the verb is the unmarked member of the opposition (нет специальной формы) and the passive is the strong member (маркированный) marked by the combination of the auxiliary verb to be(to get, to become…) and past participle two. It denotes the action received or estate experienced by the referent of the subject of the syntactic construction, for example, The cup was broken by his son. Passive constructions are used when the agent is unknown or irrelevant. For example, He was killed during the war; The cup was broken.

In most cases the active and passive syntactic constructions actually depict the same situation presented differently by the speaker. Thus in many cases active and passive constructions are mutually transformed. For example, His son broke the cup, The cup was broken by his son. But there is a group of verbs (most of them statal) which are not used in the passive in English (to be, have, consist, resemble and others).

The passive is more widely used in English than in Russian. Not only transitive verbs but almost all objective complementive verbs can be passivized. For example, The doctor was sent for. If a transitive verb involves both direct and indirect objects in a syntactic construction sometimes both of them can be used as a subject in the passive construction, for example, John told me a story; A story was told by John; I was told a story.

Лекция 25.11.15

Besides passive and active construction there are also the so call “medial” voice types, their status is problematic: semantically they are neither strictly passive nor active, though the verb used is formally active. There are three medial voice types:

1) Reflexive (возвратный, рефлексивный) the action performed by the referent of the subject is not passed to any outer object but to the referent itself. Thus the subject of the action is the object of the action at the same time. (he dressed quickly – он оделся быстро).

2) Reciprocal construction (взаимные конструкции): the subject denotes the group of doers whose actions are directed towards each other. Again the subject of the action is its object at the same time (they quarreled они ссорятся).

3) Middle construction: the subject combined with the transitive verb is neither the doer of the action nor its immediate object. The action is performed as if it is own occurred (the door opened, the concert began).