4.3.1 A brief example
The following overview, taken from a mid-twentieth-century grammar written for German learners of English [Schad 1960, pp.139–147], illustrates one possible way of applying the notions of aspect and aktionsart to the English language:
• Aspekte (Aspects)
– Temporale Aspekte (Time Aspects)
∗ Der retrospektive Aspekt — R¨uckschau
∗ Der introspektive Aspekt — Innenschau
∗ Der prospektive Aspekt — Vorschau – Der modale Aspekt (Emphatic Aspect)
• Aktionsarten (Actions, Characters of Action) – Ingressive Action21
– Progressive Action (Die Verlaufsform)
– Egressive Action, Conclusive Action (Abschlußform) – Kausative Aktionsart (Causative Action)
– Frequentativum (Frequent Action) – Das Intensivum (Intensive Action)
Theaktionsart part of Schad’s system is compatible with the use of the term in Slavonic studies. He points out that aktionsarten refer to the manner of verbal action in an objective way.22 The aspect part of Schad’s system is radically different from the perfective-imperfective opposition of the Slavic languages, although his definition of aspect is in accord with the Slavicist definition:
21The inconsistent mixture of German and English in this overview is due toSchadhimself.
22“Die Aktionsarten bezeichnen [. . . ] objektiv die Art und Weise, in der die im Verb aus-gedr¨uckte Handlung vor sich geht, wie sie ausgef¨uhrt wird, wie der Vorgang an sich ist”
[Schad1960, p.139].
Die Aspekte bezeichnen die Art der Sicht oder Schau des Sprechen-den ¨uber ein Geschehen, d.h. die Art und Weise, wie er den durch das Verb ausgedr¨uckten Vorgang von seinem Standpunkt aus sieht und auffaßt und auch vom Leser oder H¨orer gesehen haben m¨ochte.
Die Aspekte sind also subjektive Anschauungsformen [Schad1960, p.139].
The remarkable thing is the appearance of the terms aspect and aktionsart as such in a pedagogical grammar that was written 50 years ago.
4.3.2 Chronogenesis
In Guillaumean linguistics “verbal systems [are seen] as cognitive systems having successive developmental stages” [Hewson 2006, p.169]. Language is seen as an activity, tongue as its means of production, discourse as the product. The production of discourse takes time: “thought engaged in language activity re-quires real time”.23 Of course, the representation of time itself takes real time too. Guillaume calls this preconscious mental processchronogenesis24 ‘emer-gence of time’. He posits three stages of chronogenesis, which he characterizes as follows:
1. La r´ealisation de l’image verbale dans le temps in posse25 2. La r´ealisation de l’image verbale dans le temps in fieri26 3. La r´ealisation de l’image verbale dans le temps in esse27 The three stages are explained as from p.69.
Memory, sensory experience and imagination are the elements of conscious-ness that correspond to past, present and future. The past can be memorised, the present can be experienced and the future can be imagined. According to [Hewson and Buben´ık 1997, p.3]
23English translation taken from [Hewson1994, p.1508]; French original: “La pens´ee en action de langage exige r´eellement du temps” [Guillaume 1929, p.8, footnote].
24From Greekχ%´oνoς ‘time, tense’ andγ´ενεσις ‘emergence, creation’.
25Cf. [Guillaume1929, p.15–27].
26Cf. [Guillaume1929, p.29–50].
27Cf. [Guillaume1929, p.51–75].
[t]here are therefore three important moments essential to the pro-cess of consciousness:
i. the immediate past (the omega field), recorded in the memory ii. the moment of immediate experience (ω0/α0) being recorded
by the senses
iii. the immediate future (the alpha field), visualised in the imagi-nation
For any practical purposes it is completely irrelevant that the topological manifold time ishausdorff, i.e. that any two distinct points have disjoint neighbourhoods, because there is a lower limit to human resolution of infinitesimally short time intervals. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that time can be represented by a set of discrete points. Experiencing the flow of time is comparable to watching a film. Each picture represents a moment in time, the one currently being watched corresponds to ω0/α0, the ones just watched to ω1, ω2, ω2, etc., the ones to be watched to α1, α2, α3, etc. The direction of the action on the film, (. . . , ω3, ω2,ω1,ω0/α0, α1,α2,α3, . . . ), corresponds toascending time, whereas the direction of the film in the camera, (. . . , α3, α2, α1, α0/ω0, ω1, ω2, ω3, . . . ), corresponds todescending time. Table 4.228summarises the differences between the two concepts.
The first stage of chronogenesis: the quasi-nominal mood
The most rudimentary verb forms are the building blocks(to) verb,verb-ing and verb-en, which “can have noun (substantive and adjective) functions in discourse”
[Korrel 1991, p.13]. According to [Hewson and Buben´ık 1997, p.5]
[t]he three forms found at this level may be analysed and compared as follows:
i. in the infinitive(to) sing, the event is represented as the kind of event that is conceived by the imagination, a complete whole
28The film analogy and the table are taken from [HewsonandBuben´ık1997, p.3], who use quotes fromLakoffandGuillaume.
Table 4.2: Ascending and descending time
ω −→ α α −→ ω
Ascending Time Descending Time
direction of action on film direction of film in camera future in front, past behind future behind, past in front in the weeks ahead of us (future) in the following weeks (future) that’s all behind us now (past) in the preceding weeks (past) we move, time stands still we stand still, time moves
l’esprit qui marche dans le temps le temps qui marche dans l’esprit mind works in time time works in the mind
time required for conative or time that records our sensory emptyimaginative mental activity emptyexperience in the memory
ii. in the present participlesinging, the event is represented as the kind of activity that takes place in immediate sensory experience iii. in the past participle sung, the event is represented as the kind of event that is recorded in the immediate memory, just com-pleted.
According to Guillaume, the infinitive is under tension (event not yet actu-alised), the present participle has some of it defused, i.e. tension (Frenchtension) and laxity (French d´etension) are juxtaposed (event being actualised), and the past participle is completely lax (event already actualised): (to) sing → singing
→ sung. This process can start anew by addinghave: (to) have sung →having sung → *had sung. Whether the same stages of actualisation are applicable to the second series is questionable.29 The following examples may illustrate the different stages of actualisation: “in the offing, e.g. To give in would be incon-ceivable, [. . . ] partly actualized, partly to be actualized, e.g. Waiting for Godot, [. . . ] seen in retrospect as left behind: This done, he locked the door and went to bed” [Korrel 1991, p.13].
29Guillaume’s original paradigm was: marcher →marchant →march´eandavoir march´e
→ ayant march´e → eu march´e. In French it is even possible to derive an incomplete third series: avoir eu march´e →ayant eu march´e→∅, calledformes surcompos´ees.
The second stage of chronogenesis: the representation of Universe Time The term ‘Universe Time’ refers to an intermediate stage between the Mental Time represented at the first stage of chronogenesis and the Event Time repre-sented at the third stage of chronogenesis. (The capital letters indicate mental concepts.) Universe Time (le temps expliqu´e) is nothing but a temporal con-tainer, similar to the manifold time (see above) before fixing the moment of speech. Even the temporal order and the one-dimensionality of the manifold are unimportant at this stage, i.e. not necessary for it to represent a temporal con-tainer. Universe Time is the sphere of subjunctives, which lack precise localisation in time. Therefore, they “may be used in subordinate clauses where the localisa-tion is determined by the tense of the main verb” [Hewson and Buben´ık 1997, p.9], e.g. I asked that she suggest a successor and I wish it were over, “the
’present’ subjunctive expressing positive possibility [. . . ] and the ‘past’ subjunc-tive expressing negasubjunc-tive possibility, a condition that is not real” [Korrel 1991, p.14].
The third stage of chronogenesis: the indicative
The speaker’s consciousness represents a focus that fixes the moment of speech and thereby turns Universe Time into Event Time. The amorphous Universe Time becomes the linear Event Time with a tripartite structure: future, present, and past. The present “separat[es] past time (Memorial Time) from non-past (Imaginary Time) [and in Greek, Slavic, and Germanic] it is seen as a watershed, a divide” [Hewson and Buben´ık 1997, p.9]. Guillaumean linguistics has put forward the following hypothesis: simple, i.e. non-periphrastic, tense forms of a particular language carry an immanent aspect, depending on whether the tense system of that particular language is represented in Ascending or in Descending Time. The nature of the basic past tense in that particular language is indicative for this distinction, cf. table 4.3. According to [Hewson and Buben´ık 1997, p.12], periphrastic verb forms of English give rise to three aspects, corresponding to prog, perf and mod (see appendix): firstly, the progressive aspect, which locates the subject in the middle of the event; secondly, the retrospective aspect, which locates the subject after the event; thirdly, the prospective aspect, which
Table 4.3: Basic past tense and immanent aspect empty Descending Time Ascending Time empty e.g. Greek, Slavic e.g. English
Basic past tense: imperfect preterit Immanent aspect: imperfective performative
locates the subject before the event, cf. table 4.4. Guillaumehimself illustrated Table 4.4: Aspectual forms in English according to Hewson and Buben´ık
Aspect Non-Past Tense Past Tense Performative I speak I spoke
Progressive I am speaking I was speaking Retrospective I have spoken I had spoken Prospective I will speak I would speak
his concept of chronogenesis by a ‘chronogenetic line’ (temps chronog´en´etique) with three axes perpendicular to it. The time-in-posse axis is attached to the initial point of the chronogenetic line, the time-in-fieri axis is attached to an intermediate point, and the time-in-esse axis is attached to the final point.