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Article published In: Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages
Vol. 39:2 (2024) ► pp.435–462

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Guest column

Evidence from bare verbs for the future versus non-future split in Creoles

ORCiD logo with link | Université de Picardie Jules Verne, France
Published online: 28 October 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.24022.pre
Abstract
Vincentian Creole makes a future/non-future temporal distinction on the basis of the categorisation proposed in several studies, according to which languages combining present and future make a past/non-past distinction and those using the same form for past and present make a future/non-future tense opposition. In Vincentian Creole examples of absolute tense, underspecified (or unmarked) predicates do not generally obtain a future interpretation: only readings in the past tense (for dynamic predicates) or the present (for non-dynamic predicates) are available. Thus, predicates in the future tense are unambiguous regardless of the lexical aspect of these predicates, unlike the context of past and present tense interpretations which I explored in my previous column. Evidence from other English-related creoles supports this claim.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Categorisation of languages based on their tense systems
  • 3.Looking back at the English future
  • 4.The future / non-future split in Vincentian Creole
  • 5.Extending the future versus non-future split to English-related creoles
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (40)
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