In linguistics, a tenseless language is a language that does not have a grammatical category of tense. Tenseless languages can and do refer to time but they do so using lexical items such as adverbs or verbs, or by using combinations of aspect, and mood, and words that establish time reference. Examples of tenseless languages are Burmese, Dyirbal,[1] Chinese, Malay (including Indonesian), and in some analyses Greenlandic[2] and Guaraní.[3]
References
- ^ Comrie 1985, pp. 50–53.
- ^ Bittner 2005.
- ^ Tonhauser 2011.
Bibliography
- Bittner, Maria (2005). "Future discourse in a tenseless language". Journal of Semantics. 12 (4): 339–388. doi:10.1093/jos/ffh029.
- Comrie, Bernard (1985). "Tense". Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-28138-5.
- Tonhauser, Judith (2011). "Temporal reference in Paraguayan Guaraní, a tenseless language". Linguistics & Philosophy. 34 (3): 257–303. doi:10.1007/s10988-011-9097-2.
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