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Article published In: Development of tense and aspect systems
Edited by Jadranka Gvozdanović
[Journal of Historical Linguistics 10:2] 2020
► pp. 325–345

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Continuity and change in the aspect systems of Vedic and Latin

 | UIT The Arctic University of Norway
Published online: 21 August 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.18013.dah
Abstract
This paper examines the development of the aspect systems in the Indo-European languages Vedic and Latin. Even though aspectual distinctions are central in the verbal systems of both of these languages at the beginning of their attested traditions, they undergo quite different developments in the course of their history. The Vedic verbal system instantiates a classic case of the development from aspect to tense, whereas Latin maintains an aspect-based verbal system, which survives in the Romance languages. The paper explores the semantic properties of the Vedic and Latin past tenses in some detail from two distinct perspectives: a neo-Reichenbachian model, where aspect is regarded as a type of relation between reference time and event time (cf. e.g., Dahl, Eystein. 2010. Time, Tense and Aspect in Early Vedic Grammar. Exploring Inflectional Semantics in the Rigveda. Leiden: Brill. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2015. Toward a Formal Model of Semantic Change: A Neo-Reichenbachian Approach to the Development of the Vedic Past Tense System. Lingua Posnaniensis 57:1.41–76. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), and a model where aspect involves different types of partitive operators (cf. Altshuler, Daniel. 2013. There is no Neutral Aspect. Proceedings of SALT 23 ed. by Todd Snider, 40–62. LSA and CLC Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2014. A Typology of Partitive Aspectual Operators. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 321.735–775. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Although these two approaches may first appear to be in conflict, the paper attempts to show that they represent complementary perspectives highlighting different dimensions of aspectual meaning.
Article outline
  • 1.Introductory remarks
  • 2.Two approaches to aspectual semantics
    • 2.1Aspect as a relation between temporal parameters – A neo-Reichenbachian approach
    • 2.2Aspectual categories as partitive operators – Altshuler (2014)
  • 3.Chronological stages of Vedic and Latin
  • 4.Outline of the Early Vedic aspect system
  • 5.Outline of the Early Latin aspect system
  • 6.Interim summary: The Early Vedic and Early Latin aspectual systems compared
  • 7.The development of the Vedic past tense system according to Dahl (2015)
  • 8.An alternative account of the development of the Vedic past tense system
  • 9.The development of the Latin aspect system in a time-relational perspective
  • 10.An alternative approach to the development of the Latin aspect system
  • 11.Summary
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
References (22)
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Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Dahl, Eystein
2024. Remarks on the diachrony of verbal periphrasis in Vedic Sanskrit. Journal of South Asian Languages and Linguistics 11:1-2 ► pp. 7 ff. DOI logo
Hoose, Anahita Gwenllian
2024. Notes on Verbal Aspect in Three Vedic Prose Narratives. Transactions of the Philological Society 122:2 ► pp. 223 ff. DOI logo

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