Cover not available

Article published In: Studies in Language
Vol. 49:1 (2025) ► pp.119–157

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Discontinuous past interpretation in Abaza

ORCiD logo with link | Institute of Linguistics, RAS, Russia
Published online: 6 June 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.23026.kly
Abstract
Abaza (Northwest Caucasian) has two perfective tenses which mark events in the past. In single clauses, however, one of them has a discontinuous interpretation. Recently, it has been argued that at least in some languages a discontinuous interpretation of past forms is a pragmatical implicature rather than a part of the encoded meaning. The aim of the paper is to describe the functions of the Abaza perfective past tenses and investigate the origin of the discontinuous interpretation in Abaza. Special attention is paid to the distribution of two tenses in various types of finite and non-finite clauses. The data show that there is no obligatory discontinuous interpretation in the syntactic environments where only one of the tenses can be used. However, the discontinuous interpretation does arise if two tenses compete with each other. Thus, the discontinuous implicature in Abaza can be considered a pragmatical implicature.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Discontinuous past
    • 2.2Cessation implicature
  • 3.Verbal morphology in Abaza
    • 3.1Tense system in Abaza
    • 3.2Past tenses in Abaza
  • 4.Aorist and Retro-aorist in single clauses: An experiment
  • 5.Aorist and Retro-aorist in non-finite clauses and questions
    • 5.1Argument relative clauses
    • 5.2Adjunct relative clauses
    • 5.3Questions
  • 6.Discussion
    • 6.1Scalar alternatives approach
    • 6.2Modal dimension approach
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
References (57)
References
Altshuler, Daniel. & Roger Schwarzshild. 2013. Moment of change, cessation implicatures and simultaneous readings. In Emmanuel Chemla, Vincent Homer & Grégoire Winterstein (eds), Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 17, 45–62. Paris: ENS.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Arakelova, Daria & Peter Arkadiev. 2019. Sistema neopredelennyx mestoimenij abazinskogo jazyka: opyt pilotnogo tipologičeski-orientirovannogo issledovanija polevymi metodami [The system of indefinite pronouns in Abaza: a pilot typologically-oriented study by means of field methods]. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Arkadiev, Peter. 2024. Abaza. In Yury Koryakov, Yury Lander & Timur Maisak (eds.). Forthcoming. The Caucasian languages. An international handbook. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2020. Syntax in morphological guise: Interrogative verbal morphology in Abaza. Linguistic Typology 24(2). 211–251. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barboza, Jerônimo Soares. 1862. Grammatica philosophica da lingua portugueza ou principios da grammatica geral applicados a nossa linguagem. [Philosophical Grammar of the Portuguese Language or Principles of the General Grammar applied to our Language.] 3rd edn. Lisboa: Academia das Sciencias.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bochnak, Ryan. 2016. Past time reference in a language with optional tense. Linguistics and Philosophy 391. 247–294. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bochnak, Ryan & Martina Martinovic. 2019. Optional past tense in Wolof. Samson Lotven, Silvina. Bongiovanni, Phillip Weirich, Robert Botne & Samuel Gyasi Obeng (eds), African linguistics across the disciplines: Selected papers from the 48th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, 187–202. Berlin: Language Science Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bybee, Joan, Revere Perkins & Pagliuca William. 1994. The evolution of grammar: Tense, aspect and modality in the languages of the world. Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cable, Seth. 2017. The implicatures of optional past tense in Tlingit and the implications for ‘discontinuous past’. Natural Language and Linguistics Theory 35(3). 635–681. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chkadua, Lidia. 1970. Sistema vremen i osnovnykh modalnykh obrazovaniy v abkhazo-abazinskikh dialektakh [System of Tenses and Modal Formations in Abkhaz-Abaza Dialects]. Tbilisi: Metsniyereba.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Church, Eric. 1981. Le système verbal du wolof. (Documents linguistiques, 27.) Dakar: Université de Dakar, Faculté des Lettres et Sciences humaines. Manuscript.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Comrie, Bernard. 1976. Aspect: An introduction to the study of verbal aspect and related problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dahl, Östen. 1985. Tense and aspect systems. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dahl, Östen & Viveka Velupillai. 2013. The perfect. In Matthew Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds.), The world atlas of language structures online. Munich: Max Planck Digital Library, retrieved from [URL] (accessed July 25, 2022).
Declerck, Renaat & Susan Reed. 2001. Conditionals. A comprehensive empirical analysis. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Genko, Anatoly. 1955. Abazinskij jazyk. Grammatičeskij očerk narečija tapanta [The Abaza language. A grammatical sketch of the Tapanta dialect]. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo AN SSSR.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gorbunova, Irina. 2016. Atayalskiy yazyk: yazyk bez vremeni [Tense in Atayal]. Acta Linguistica Petropolitana 12(1). 364–378.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grice, Paul. 1975. Logic and Conversation. In Peter Cole, & Jerry Morgan. (eds.), Syntax and Semantics, Vol. 3 Speech Acts. New York: Academic Press. 41–58. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Iatridou, Sabine. 2000. The grammatical ingredients of counterfactuality. Linguistic Inquiry 311. 231–270. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
James, Deborah. 1991. Preterit forms in Moose Cree as markers of tense, aspect and modality. International Journal of American Linguistics 57(3). 281–297. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kamp, Hans, Uwe Reyle, & Antje Rossdeutscher. 2011. Perfects as Feature Shifting Operators. Institüt für maschinelle Sprachverarbeitung, Universität Stuttgart. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kim, Nam-Kil. 1974. The double past in Korean. Foundations of Language 121. 529–536.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klein, Wolfgang. 1992. The present perfect puzzle. Language 68(3). 525–552. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1994. Time in Language. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klyagina, Evgenia. & Peter Arkadiev. 2019. Discontinuous past is real: Evidence from Northwest Caucasian. Talk at the workshop “Tense, aspect and mood categories across languages”, 52nd Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea, Leipzig, 21–24 August 2019.
Klyagina, Evgenia. & Anastasia Panova. 2019. Phasal polarity in Abaza. NRU HSE. Series WP BRP “Linguistics” 89/LNG/2019. (Preprint version). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koval’, Antonina & Bureyma Gnalibouly. 1997. Glagol fula v tipologicˇeskom osvesˇcˇenii [Fula verb in a typological perspective]. Moscow: Institute of linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kuteva, Tania. 2000. TAM-auxiliation, and the avertive category in Northeast Europe. Fernandez-Vest, Jocelyne (ed.), Areal grammaticalization. Louvain-Paris: Peeters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kuteva, Tania, Bas Aarts, Gergana Popova & Anvita Abbi. 2019. The grammar of ‘non-realization’. Studies in Language. 43(4). 850–895. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leer, Jeffry. 1991. The schetic categories of the Tlingit verb. Chicago: University of Chicago. PhD dissertation.
Levinson, Stephen. 2000. Presumptive meanings: The theory of generalized conversational implicature. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lindstedt, Jouko. 2000. The perfect – aspectual, temporal and evidential. In Östen Dahl (ed.), Tense and aspect in the languages of Europe, 365–383. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lomtatidze, Ketevan. 2006. Abazinskiy yazyk (kratkoye obozreniye) [The Abaza Language: A Short Overview]. Tbilisi: Universal.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lomtatidze, Ketevan, Ruslan Klychev, & Brian George G. Hewitt. 1989. Abaza. In Brian George Hewitt (ed.), The Indigenous Languages of the Caucasus Vol. 2. The North West Caucasian Languages, 91–154. Delmar, N.Y.: Caravan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maisak, Timur. 2018. The Aorist / Perfect distinction in Nizh Udi. In Diana Forker & Timur Maisak (eds.), The semantics of verbal categories in Nakh-Daghestanian languages: Tense, aspect, evidentiality, mood and modality, 120–165. Brill’s Studies in Language, Cognition and Culture. Leiden: Brill. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mellet, Sylvie. 1994. Les temps du passé: le plus-que parfait. In Sylvie Mellet, Marie-Dominique Joffre, & Guy Serbat (eds.), Grammaire fondamentale du latin: le signifié du verbe, 105–123. Louvain: Peeters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
O’Herin, Brian. 2002. Case and agreement in Abaza. Arlington: SIL International & University of Texas Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Partee, Barbara. 1984. Nominal and Temporal Anaphora. Linguistics and Philosophy 71. 243–286. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pazov, Sergey. 2008. Podležaščee v abazinskom jazyke: sintaksičeskaja pozicija i sposoby vyraženija [The subject in Abaza: syntactic position and means of expression]. Fundamental’nye issledovanija 91.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Plungian, Vladimir. 2001. Antirezultativ: do i posle rezultata [Antiresultative]. In Vladimir Plungian (ed.), Issledovaniya po teorii grammatiki. Vyp. 1. Glagolnyye kategorii, 50–88. Moscow: Russian Dictionaries.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Plungian, Vladimir & Johan van der Auwera. 2006. Towards a typology of discontinuous past marking. Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung 59(4). 317–349.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Robert, Stéphane. 1991. Approche énonciative du système verbale: Le cas du wolof. Paris: Editions du CNRS.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rossius, Alexandra. 2017. Strategii reljativizacii v abazinskom jazyke [Relativization strategies in Abaza]. Moscow: Russian State University for the Humanities. Fieldwork report.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sakurai, Eiko. 2015. Past habitual tense in Lithuanian. In Peter Arkadiev, Axel Holvoet & Björn Wiemer (eds.), Contemporary Approaches to Baltic Linguistics, 383–436. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Salkie, Raphael. 1989. Perfect and pluperfect: What is the relationship? Journal of Linguistics 25(1). 1–34. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Seiler, Hansjakob. 1971. Abstract structures for moods in Greek. Language 47(1). 79–89. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sitchinava, Dmitry. 2013. Tipologija pljuskvamperfekta. Slavjanskij pljuskvamperfekt [A Typology of pluperfect. The Slavic pluperfect]. Moscow: AST-Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Smith, Carlota, Ellavina Perkins & Theodore Fernald. 2007. Time in Navajo: Direct and indirect interpretation. International Journal of American Linguistics 73(1). 40–71. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sorokina, Anna. 2017. Otnositel’nye konstrukcii v abazinskom [Relative clauses in Abaza]. Moscow: Higher School of Economics. Fieldwork report.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Squartini, Mario. 1999. On the semantics of the Pluperfect: Evidence from Germanic and Romance. Linguistic Typology 3(1). 51–89. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Steele, Susan. 1975. Past and irrealis: just what does it all mean? International Journal of American Linguistics 41(3). 200–217. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tabulova, Nyria. 1976. Grammatika abazinskogo yazyka. Fonetika i morfologiya [A grammar of Abaza: Phonetics and morphology]. Cherkessk: Stavropolskoye knizhnoye izdatelstvo, Karachayevo-Cherkesskoye otdeleniye.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thomason, Richmond. 1984. Combinations of tense and modality. In Dov Gabbay & Franz Guenthner (eds.), Handbook of philosophical logic. Synthese library, Vol 1651, 135–165. Springer, Dordrecht. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van Linden, An, Jean-Christophe Verstraete & Hubert Cuyckens. 2008. The semantic development of essential and crucial: Paths to deontic meaning. English Studies 89(2). 226–247. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
von Prince, Kilu. 2017. Paradigm-induced implicatures in TAM-expression: A view from the Daakaka distal. In Robert Truswell, Chris Cummins, Caroline Heycock, Brian Rabern & Hannah Rohde (eds.), Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 211, 969–984. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2019. Counterfactuality and past. Linguistics and Philosophy 42(6). 577–615. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vostrikova, Natalia. 2010. Tipologija sredstv vyraženija èksperiencial’nogo značenija [Typology of means of expressing experiential meaning]. Moscow: Moscow State University. PhD dissertation.
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue