The Grammatical Category of Time as a Means of tfe Expression of Temporal Deixis in Belarusian and English in the Comparative Aspect
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Date
2017
Authors
Artsiomava, Volha
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Abstract
The article analyzes the grammatical category of time as a means of actualizing temporal deixis in Belarusian and English in typological aspect. It is revealed that the category of time represented by the verbal forms in Belarusian and English is not identical to the physical time model and has an indexical nature, where the point of reference depends on the congruence or divergence of the moment of perception and the time of the speech act. In the relative temporal model of the narrative mode of interpretation, there is a shift of the deictic personal center in the Belarusian language in contrast to the English language, where thereis a shift of personal and temporal deictic centres together.
Background. The article analyzes the grammatical category of time as a means of actualizing temporal deixis in Belarusian and English in the typological aspect. Traditionally, the reference point of temporal deixis is the moment of speech. Nevertheless, it is important to take into account both the speaker and the observer. Purpose. The purpose of the research is to carry out the comparative analysis of the grammatical category of time in Belarusian and English in terms of the speaker and the observer, as well as to reveal universal characteristics and national and specific features. Methods. The research is based on the contexts selected from Belarusian and English parallel corpuses of Russian National Corpus and Internet resources. Results. It has been revealed that the category of time represented by the verbal forms in Belarusian and English is not identical to physical time model, has absolute and relative uses and is characterized by the indexical nature, where the point of reference depends on the congruence or divergence of the moment of perception and the time of the speech act. Belarusian and English verbs in the absolute use represent an action, event or phenomenon as preceding (past tense), simultaneous (present tense), or subsequent (future tense) to the moment of speech as the starting point of reference. The relative time model of verbs correlates with another point of reference, different from the moment of speech. In the English language there are special forms for expressing relative time. This feature is reflected in the rules of sequence of tenses in compound sentences: when the verb-predicate of the main clause is used in one of the past forms, the verb in the subordinate clause must be in one of the past tenses. Discussion. The existence of relative tenses is not a mere mechanistic transformation from direct speech to indirect one, since an utterance with direct speech out of the context cannot have a one-to-one correspondence with the form of this utterance with indirect speech, especially in the media, where the relevance of the information reported is of paramount importance, and sequence of tenses rule is almost never used. In the deictic concept, the relative verb tenses of the English language are the sphere of the narrative mode of interpretation or secondary deixis with the location of the mental subject in the imaginary situation which is accompanied by the shift of personal and temporal deictic centres of the utterance in contrast to the Belarusian language with the shift of the deictic personal center only.
Background. The article analyzes the grammatical category of time as a means of actualizing temporal deixis in Belarusian and English in the typological aspect. Traditionally, the reference point of temporal deixis is the moment of speech. Nevertheless, it is important to take into account both the speaker and the observer. Purpose. The purpose of the research is to carry out the comparative analysis of the grammatical category of time in Belarusian and English in terms of the speaker and the observer, as well as to reveal universal characteristics and national and specific features. Methods. The research is based on the contexts selected from Belarusian and English parallel corpuses of Russian National Corpus and Internet resources. Results. It has been revealed that the category of time represented by the verbal forms in Belarusian and English is not identical to physical time model, has absolute and relative uses and is characterized by the indexical nature, where the point of reference depends on the congruence or divergence of the moment of perception and the time of the speech act. Belarusian and English verbs in the absolute use represent an action, event or phenomenon as preceding (past tense), simultaneous (present tense), or subsequent (future tense) to the moment of speech as the starting point of reference. The relative time model of verbs correlates with another point of reference, different from the moment of speech. In the English language there are special forms for expressing relative time. This feature is reflected in the rules of sequence of tenses in compound sentences: when the verb-predicate of the main clause is used in one of the past forms, the verb in the subordinate clause must be in one of the past tenses. Discussion. The existence of relative tenses is not a mere mechanistic transformation from direct speech to indirect one, since an utterance with direct speech out of the context cannot have a one-to-one correspondence with the form of this utterance with indirect speech, especially in the media, where the relevance of the information reported is of paramount importance, and sequence of tenses rule is almost never used. In the deictic concept, the relative verb tenses of the English language are the sphere of the narrative mode of interpretation or secondary deixis with the location of the mental subject in the imaginary situation which is accompanied by the shift of personal and temporal deictic centres of the utterance in contrast to the Belarusian language with the shift of the deictic personal center only.
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Keywords
temporal deixis, grammatical category of time, observer, speaker, perception, aspect, narrative mode of interpretation, secondary deixis, article
Citation
Artsiomava Volha. The Grammatical Category of Time as a Means of tfe Expression of Temporal Deixis in Belarusian and English in the Comparative Aspect / Volha Artsiomava // Мова : класичне - модерне - постмодерне : збірник наукових праць / відп. ред. В. Ожоган ; Нац. ун-т "Києво-Могилянська академія". - Київ : Дух і Літера, 2017. - Вип. 3. - С. 259-266.