a model in which temporal concepts can be understood.. The time axis model... 10 is a more serious case... 13 has the value contain - before, and Ib the value before - before... Dowry, D
Trang 1Frank van E y n d e - C a t h o l i c U n i v e r s i t y L e u v e n
B l i j d e I n k o m s t s t r a a t , 21, 3000 Leuven, B e l g i u m Louis des T o m b e - U t r e c h t State U n i v e r s i t y Trans I 14~ 3512 3K Utrecht, H o l l a n d
Fons Maes - C a t h o l i c U n i v e r s i t y of T i l b u r g
P o s t b u s g0153, 5000 LE Tilburg~ H o l l a n d
In t h i s paper, we put Torward some ideas on
the reoresentation of time in a machine
t r a n s l a t i o n system In such a system, we
u s u a l l y have the f o l l o w i n g four r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s :
- source t e x t
- source r e p r e s e n t a t i o n
- t a r g e t representation
- target text
In an i n t e r l i n g u a l system, there i s no
d i f f e r e n c e between source and t a r g e t
r e p r e s e n t a t i o n ; in a transfer-based system,
the step between the two i s u s u a l l y c a l l e d
t r a n s f e r , and t h i s step i s meant to be as
simple as p o s s i b l e
The research described was o r i g i n a l l y done in
the framework of the EUROTRA MT p r o j e c t ,
which i s transfer-based However, i t can
be used in other MT systems as w e l l ; in
Tact, i t i s very well suited f o r i n t e r l i n g u a l
systems
The problem with time meaning i s that i t i s
expressed in natural languages in a way t h a t
i s non-universal and, moreover, not very
perspicuous prima f a c i e As a consequence, i t
i s d i f f i c u l t to f i n d r u l e s f o r the
t r a n s l a t i o n of the tense form of the verb
In t h i s paper, we propose a conceptual
calculus in which the meanings of
language s p e c i f i c temporal expressions
can be represented in an i n t e r l i n g u a l way,
so that the t r a n s l a t i o n of the l a t t e r can
be achieved via the corresponding conceptual
r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s
The e x p o s i t i o n w i l l consist of three p a r t s
F i r s t , we define a time axis model, i e a
model in which temporal concepts can be
understood
Second, we e s t a b l i s h two types of general
c o n s t r a i n t s :
~i) Constraints on p o s s i b l e time meaning
r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s , r e s u l t i n g in a r e s t r i c t e d
class of meanings f o r time anO r e l a t e d
phenomena in terms of t h i s model
( i i ) Constraints on the r e l a t i o n s between
s y n t a c t i c / m o r p h o l o g i c a l forms and time meanings, r e s u l t i n g in a n o n - a r b i t r a r y
r e l a t i o n between form and meaning
Third, we show how the calculus can be used f o r the i n t e r l i n g u a l a n a l y s i s of the tense forms of verbs
I The time axis model
The model i s a temporal s t r u c t u r e
<time,< >, where
time i s a set of elements c a l l e d t i m e - p o i n t s ; ( i i )
< i s a binary r e l a t i o n t h a t l i n e a r l y orders time (and can be i n t e r p r e t e d as ' p r e c e d e s ' ) ;
An i n t e r v a l (1) i s a subset of time that does not contain ' g a p s ' , i e : ~ t l , t 2 E I
t3 G time (t1<t3<t2 -> t3 E I )
We now turn to the time meanings anq t h e i r
r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s
F i r s t , we want to separate the expression that represents time meaning from the rest of the sentence The instruments we use are based on Dowty (1979):
( i )
A tNo-place operator AT that takes an
i n t e r v a l and a formula to y i e l d another formula, with the f o l l o w i n g i n t e r p r e t a t i o n : W(AT(I~O)=I at whatever time t i f ÷ W(O)=I at the i n t e r v a l I
( i i ~ Temporal predicates that take an i n t e r v a l to
y i e l d a formula, e g , W(yesterday(1))=1 i f f the i n t e r v a l I i s a subset of yesterday
Trang 2( i i i )
Temporal r e l a t i o n s t h a t take two i n t e r v a l s
to y i e l d a formula, e g ,
W ( b e f o r e i l , J ) ) = 1 i f f
t , t ' c time ( t E I & t ' s J - - - > t < t ' )
( i v )
k - a b s t r a c t i o n t o s e p a r a t e t h e t e m p o r a l
e x p r e s s i o n from t h e b a s i c p r o p o s i t i o n , so
t h a t t h e r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of t h e t e m p o r a l
e x p r e s s s i o n t a k e s t h e following f o r m :
( I )
k p 3 I , , I=, S time ( R e l , ( I j , l , ) k ° &
P r e d ( l J & m ! & AT ( I , , p) )
where the I, are i n t e r v a l s , the R e l j are
b i n a r y r e l a t i o n s between i n t e r v a l s l i k e
: b e f o r e , t h e Predw are p r e d i c a t e s l i k e
y e s t e r d a y ~, and p i s a basic p r o p o s i t i o n ,
from which a l l t i m e - r e l e v a n t p a r t s have
been removed
The category of expression (I
be a p p l i e d to a basic proposi
f u n c t i o n a l way
) i s t / t ; i t can
t i o n in a
The i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of ( I ) is the set of
p r o p o s i t i o n s t h a t are t r u e at some given
i n t e r v a l I , This is s i m i l a r to K r i p k e ' s
d e f i n i t i o n of the n o t i o n of ' p o s s i b l e w o r l d ' :
'A p o s s i b l e world i s given by the d e s c r i p t i v e
c o n d i t i o n s we a s s o c i a t e w i t h i t ' (1972,
p 44) Analogously, a time i n t e r v a l
can be i d e n t i f i e d w i t h the c o l l e c t i o n of
p r o p o s i t i o n s t h a t are t r u e at i t
2 A t h e o r y of time meanings
In many discussions of time meaning, a
O i s t i n c t i o n is made between an i n t e r n a l and
an e x t e r n a l temporal system The e x t e r n a l
system represents the t e m p o r a l r e l a t i o n
between the s t a t e of affairs as described by
the basic p r o p o s i t i o n and the time at which
the u t t e r a n c e takes p l a c e This system always
r e f e r s to the speaker or w r i t e r , and
consequently i t i s a d e i c t i c system The
i n t e r n a l system i s about such t h i n g s as
whether the s t a t e of a f f a i r s expressed in the
basic p r o p o s i t i o n i s described as going on,
h a v i n g l u s t s t a r t e d , h a v i n g been c o m p l e t e d ,
e t c This type of i n f o r m a t i o n is o f t e n c a l l e d
a s p e c t u a l
In t h i s paper, we adopt the f o l l o w i n g t h r e e
basic p r i n c i p l e s f o r the r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of
time meanings:
( I )
Each time meaning r e p r e s e n t a t i o n c o n t a i n s
e x a c t l y t h r e e time i n t e r v a l s :
- the time of speech or n a r r a t i o n (S)
- the time of event (E), i e the i n t e r v a l
at which the basic p r o p o s i t i o n i s said
to be t r u e
- one time of r e f e r e n c e (R)
The S - i n t e r v a l c o n s i s t s of one p o i n t o n l y :
i t i s a s i n g l e t o n The R- and E - i n t e r v a l s are non-empty subsets of t i m e
( I I ) The d e i c t i c p a r t of time meaning i s represented
by a b i n a r y r e l a t i o n between S and R and
o p t i o n a l l y by o n e p r e d i c a t e o v e r R, ( I l l )
Aspect i s represented by a b i n a r y r e l a t i o n between R and E, and o p t i o n a l l y by one
p r e d i c a t e over E
P r i n c i p l e s ( 1 ) , ( I I ) , and ( I l l ) t o g e t h e r imply t h a t the general form of a time meaning
r e p r e s e n t a t i o n can be somewhat s i m p l i f i e d I t
w i l l now be:
(2)
k p 3 S,R,E ~ t i m e ( R e l t ( R , S ) & P r e d ( R ) &
R e l = ( E , R ) & Pred=(E) & A T ( E , p ) ) Apart from the c o n s t r a i n t s on p o s s i b l e time meaning r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s t h e r e are some
c o n s t r a i n t s on the r e l a t i o n between the time meanings and the language s p e c i f i c morphosyntactic forms f o r expressing those meanings:
(IV) The p r e d i c a t e s o v e r R a r e t h o s e t i m e
a d v e r b i a l s t h a t can be used as answers to when-questions, such as
(3) y e s t e r d a y , now, next week, on Tuesday (V)
The p r e d i c a t e s o v e r E a r e ( a o ) the
d u r a t i o n time a d v e r b i a l s , such as (4) f o r an hour, f i v e weeks, since Christmas, u n t i l ~une
( v I ) The r e l a t i o n s between R and S and between
E and R a r e determined by the i n t e r a c t i o n
of the v e r b a l tense forms and the time
a d v e r b i a l s in ways to be s p e c i f i e d and
e x e m p l i f i e d in s e c t i o n t h r e e
We w i l l now present the d e i c t i c and the aspectual components of the temporal system
in some d e t a i l
2.1 The d e i c t i c system
As p o s s i b l e r e l a t i o n s between S and R we
w i l l take ( i ) b e f o r e (R,S), defined as in I ( i i ) a f t e r (R,S), defined analogously ( i i i ) c o n t a i n (R,S), defined as f o l l o w s :
t s time (t ~ S - - - > t ~ R)
Trang 3The s p e c i f i e r s of the r e f e r e n c e time are the
w h e n - a d v e r b i a l s A c l a s s i f i c a t i o n of the
l a t t e r t h a t appears to be r e l e v a n t f o r the
assignment of d e i c t i c values in p a r t i c u l a r
cases i s the f o l l o w i n g one :
i n f a c t , an i t e r a t i v e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n , and f o r such i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s we need a more complex
r e p r e s e n t a t i o n f o r m a t T h i s w i l l n o t be
d e v e l o p e d i n t h i s p a p e r , b u t see Van Eynde ( f o r t h c o m i n g )
b e f o r e a f t e r c o n t a i n on Tuesday
yesterday n x t now
week
The d e i c t i c w h e n - a d v e r b i a l s d e f i n e t h e p o s i t i o n
of t h e r e f e r e n c e t i m e w i t h r e s p e c t t o t h e t i m e
of s p e e c h , and c a n n o t be combined w i t h a l l
p o s s i b l e tenses An a f t e r - a d v e r b i a l i s , f o r
i n s t a n c e , not compatible with the simple past:
(5) * he came n e x t week
The absolute when-adverbials determine the
p o s i t i o n of the r e f e r e n c e time i n d e p e n d e n t l y
from the speech time Depending an which tense
they are combined with they can e i t h e r s p e c i f y
a r e f e r e n c e t i m e t h a t p r e c e d e s t h e speech t i m e ,
as in
(b) she came on Tuesday
or a r e f e r e n c e t i m e t h a t f o l l o w s t h e speech
t i m e , as i n
(7) she c o m e s / i s c o m i n g / w i l l c o l e on Tuesday
Since t h e r e i s o n l y one reference time in the
r e p r e s e n t a t i o n (= p r i n c i p l e ( I ) ) and since
the when-adverbials always s p e c i f y the r e f e r e n c e
time (= p r i n c i p l e ( I V ) ) , i t is p r e d i c t e d t h a t a
p r o p o s i t i o n can c o n t a i n at most one w h e n - a d v e r b i a l
At f i r s t s i g h t t h i s p r e d i c t i o n seems t o hold:
o f the u n g r a m m a t i c a l i t y of
(8) a * He l e f t y e s t e r d a y one week ago
b * In 1990 he w i l l have a r r i v e d in 1998
c * In 1955 he had died in 1944
There a r e , h o w e v e r , some p r o b l e m c a s e s , such as
(9) He l e f t on Tuesday a t 9 o ' c l o c k
(10) L a s t y e a r he used t o a r r i v e a t 9 o ' c l o c k
(9) contains two w h e n - a d v e r b i a l s , but n o t i c e
t h a t they can be used t o g e t h e r as an answer to
one when-question, and t h i s i n d i c a t e s t h a t
o n Tuesday at 9 o ' c l o c k ' is j u s t a complex
s p e c i f i c a t i o n of one and the same i n t e r v a l
(10) is a more serious case Here the two
a d v e r b i a l s cannot be considered to s p e c i f y the
same i n t e r v a l : ' l a s t y e a r ' denotes the time
of his h a b i t to a r r i v e at 9 o ' c l o c k and
"at 9 o ' c l o c k ' denotes the time of each of h i s
a r r i v a l s of l a s t year What we have in (10) i s ,
2.2 The aspectual p a r t
There i s much discussion in the l i t e r a t u r e about what aspect i s A d e s c r i p t i o n t h a t i s nat v e r y p r e c i s e , but has the merit of being independent of l i n g u i s t i c form, i s the one given by Coerie (1976, p 3 ) :
'As the general d e f i n i t i o n of aspect, we may take the f o r m u l a t i o n t h a t "aspects are
d i f f e r e n t ways of viewing the i n t e r n a l temporal c o n s t i t u e n c y of a s i t u a t i o n "
In an a r t i c l e on the general t h e o r y of
aspect Friedrich d i s t i n g u i s h e s three
p o s s i b l e aspects : ( i ) p u n c t u a l , c o m p l e t i v e , p e r f e c t i v e , e t c ; ( i i ) d u r a t i v e , c o n t i n u a t i v e , e t c ;
( i i i ) s t a t i v e , p e r f e c t , e t c ( o f F r i e d r i c h 1974, p 36) The same t h r e e a s p e c t s t u r n up i n t h e work
of C o e r i e , 3ohnsan, H o p p e r , and o t h e r s
We w i l l c a l l them r e s p e c t i v e l y p e r f e c t i v e ,
i m p e r f e c t i v e , and r e t r o s p e c t i v e The i n t u i t i o n s about the t h r e e are b a s i c a l l y the f o l l o w i n g :
( i ) p e r f e c t i v e This aspect presents a s i t u a t i o n 'as a
s i n g l e unanalyzable whole' (Camrie, o c ,
p 3 ) ( i i ) i m p e r f e c t i v e : This aspect ' l o o k s at the s i t u a t i o n from the
i n s i d e ' (Comrie, op t i t , p 4 ) , and focusses
on b e g i n n i n g , c o n t i n u a t i o n , or ending of i t ( i i i ) r e t r o s p e c t i v e :
This aspect 'expresses a r e l a t i o n between two
t i m e - p o i n t s , on the one hand the time of the
s t a t e r e s u l t i n g from a p r i o r s i t u a t i o n , and
on the o t h e r the time of t h a t p r i o r
s i t u a t i o n ' ( i b i d , p 5 2 )
In order to make these n a t i o n s more p r e c i s e , and - a t the same t i m e - to i n t e g r a t e them i n t o our r e p r e s e n t a t i o n f o r m a t , we w i l l adopt the
f o l l o w i n g proposal by Johnson:
'What I am proposing concerning the semantics
of the aspect forms i s t h a t they s p e c i f y the
r e l a t i o n between r e f e r e n c e time and event time
in an u t t e r a n c e ' (Johnson 1981, p 153)
Trang 4As a p p l i e d t o t h e d i f f e r e n t a s p e c t s t h i s
g i v e s t h e f o l l o w i n g r e s u l t s :
( i ) p e r f e c t i v e :
In t h , s case we t a k e t h e r e l a t i o n between E and
R t o be one of c o n t a i n m e n t ( d u r i n g ( E , R ) ) t w h e r e
t h e l a t t e r i s d e f i n e d as f o l l o w s :
d u r i n g i x , y ) i f f ~ t E t i m e i t s x - - - > t e y)
The f a c t t h a t E i s c o n t a i n e d i n R i s meant t o
be t h e f o r m a l c o u n t e r p a r t of t h e i n t u i t i o n t h a t
E i s seen as a s i n g l e u n a n a l y z a b l e whole from
t h e p o i n t of v i e w d e f i n e d by R
( i i ) i m p e r f e c t ( r e :
This i s subdivided i n t o t h r e e classes:
i i i ) d u r a t i v e : c o n t a i n (E,R), defined as i n 2 1
( f o c u s on t h e c o n t i n u a t i o n )
i i i i ) i n c h o a t i v e : since (E,R), d e f i n i t i o n :
s i n c e i x , y ) i f f x n y #
& 3 t " E time ~ t e time i t E x & t ' E~y - - - > t ' < t )
& 3 t E time ~ t ' s time i t ~ x & t ' E y - - - > t > t ' )
ifocus on the beginning of E)
i i i i i i ) t e r m i n a t i v e : U n t i l iE,R), d e f i n i t i o n :
u n t i l i x , y ) i f f x n y # e
3 t e t i m e ~ t ' E t i m e ( t s x ~ t " E y - - - > t ( t ' )
& 3 t " s time ~ t i time ( t E x ~ t " E y -> t ' > t )
( f o c u s on t h e e n d i n g o f E)
( i i i ) r e t r o s p e c t i v e :
The r e l a t i o n is simply b e f o r e (E,R)
Some a u t h o r s a l s o d i s t i n g u i s h a s o c a l l e d
' p r o s p e c t i v e ' a s p e c t ( o f Comrie 1976) I t
seems t o be l e s s common t h a n t h e o t h e r o n e s ,
and t h e r e i s some d i s a g r e e m e n t on t h e i s s u e
of what i t s l a n g u a g e s p e c i f i c c o u n t e r p a r t s
a r e ( ' t o be g o i n g t o ' ? ) , b u t c o n c e p t u a l l y
i t can be defined f a i r l y e a s i l y , namely as
the complement of the r e t r o s p e c t i v e aspect:
( i v ) p r o s p e c t i v e : a f t e r (E,R)
The i n t e r v a l E can be s p e c i f i e d by
a d v e r b i a l s One class of E - s p e c i f i e r s i s the
class of d u r a t i o n a d v e r b i a l s The reasons
f o r t r e a t i n g these a d v e r b i a l s as
E - s p e c i f i e r s are the f o l l o w i n g ones :
I they always denote the i n t e r v a l at which
the basic p r o p o s i t i o n i s said t o take place;
i n t h a t r e s p e c t t h e y a r e d i f f e r e n t from t h e
w h e n - a d v e r b i a l s , since the l a t t e r can also
denote a time t h a t does not c o i n c i d e with the
event time ( o f the n o n - p e r f e c t ( r e aspects)
2 they cannot be combined with a l l p o s s i b l e
p r o p o s i t i o n s ; they are, f o r i n s t a n c e , not
compatible with momentaneous events:
(11) t h e y r e a c h e d t h e summit f o r a w h i l e
The u n g r a m m a t i c a l i t y of 411) can be e x p l a i n e d
i f we t a k e t h e d u r a t i o n a d v e r b i a l s t o s p e c i f y
the event t i m e , since the l a t t e r cannot be
b o t h a moment (as r e q u i r e d by t h e p r o p o s i t i o n ) and an i n t e r v a l o f some d u r a t i o n l a s r e q u i r e d
by t h e a d v e r b i a l )
3 they never have a d e ( e r i c f u n c t i o n : they are not used f o r s p e c i f y i n g the r e l a t i o n between some i n t e r v a l and the.moment of speech
As i n t h e case of t h e w h e n - a d v e r b i a l s i t i s
p o s s i b l e t o have two d u r a t i o n a d v e r b i a l s i n t h e same c l a u s e :
(12) he has been s t u d y i n g two h o u r s a day
s i n c e h i s c h i l d h o o d now
N o t i c e , h o w e v e r , t h a t i12) has an i t e r a t i v e
i n t e r p r e t a t i o n , and s i n c e t h e t r e a t m e n t of such i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s r e q u i r e s a more
e l a b o r a t e d r e p r e s e n t a t i o n scheme anyway,
we can s t i c k t o the p r i n c i p l e t h a t a clause
c o n t a i n s at most one E - s p e c i f i e r In t h i s case the E - s p e c i f i e r i s "since h i s c h i l d h o o d ' ; 'two hours' i s another type of s p e c i f i e r ( c f Van Eynde, f o r t h c o m i n g )
2 3 The c a l c u l u s as a w h o l e
In the preceding s e c t i o n s i t has been s t i p u l a t e d
t h a t t h e r e are t h r e e p o s s i b l e r e l a t i o n s between
S and R, and six p o s s i b l e r e l a t i o n s between R and E At f i r s t s i g h t t h a t seems to be r a t h e r
a r b i t r a r y , but a c a r e f u l a n a l y s i s of the concepts
i n v o l v e d shows t h a t t h e y , in f a c t , exhaust the range of l o g i c a l p o s s i b i l i t i e s :
For any tuo i n t e r v a l s x and y c t i m e ,
e i t h e r x n y = 0
and t h e n e i t h e r b e f o r e i x , y )
or a f t e r ( x , y )
or x n y # 0 and t h e n e i t h e r x c y , i e d u r i n g ( x , y ~
or ~(x c y) and then e i t h e r x = y,
i e c o n t a i n ( x , y J
or - ( x = y) and t h e n e i t h e r s i n c e ~ x , v ~
or u n t i l ~x,y) These are the s i x aspectual values The reason why the d e ( e r i c system has o n l y t h r e e p o s s i b l e values i s t h a t the speech time - u n l i k e the
r e f e r e n c e and the event time - is always a
s i n g l e t o n , and i f one of the i n t e r v a l s i n v o l v e d
i s a s i n g l e t o n , then the r e l a t i o n s ' s i n c e and ' u n t i l ' and e i t h e r " d u r i n g ' or ' c o n t a i n ' cannot hold by d e f i n i t i o n I t appears, thus, t h a t both the d e i c t i c and the aspectual d i s t i n c t i o n s are not o n l y m u t u a l l y e x c l u s i v e but also e x h a u s t i v e
w i t h i n t h e i r r e s p e c t i v e domains
Together they form the core of the temporal
c a l c u l u s This core has to be extended in
v a r i o u s ways i f one wants to take i n t o account the phenomenon of i t e r a t i v i t y , the sequence of tenses in complex sentences, and the r e l e v a n c e of the event type of the basic
p r o p o s i t i o n ( o f V e n d l e r ' s d i s t i n c t i o n of
Trang 5s t a t e s , a c t i v i t i e s , accomplishments,
achievements) Part of t h i s has already been
incorporated in the formalism, but in stead
of presenting those extensions me t h i n k i t
more useful to round o f f t h i s paper with a
demonstration of how the calculus can be used
f o r the i n t e r l i n g u a l a n a l y s i s of verbal
tense forms
3 The i n t e r l i n g u a l a n a l y s i s of tenses
For the i n t e r l i n g u a l a n a l y s i s of the verbal
tense Torms #e adopt the f o l l o w i n g p r i n c i p l e :
(VII)
The i n t e r l i n g u a l r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s of verbal
tense forms are p a i r s c o n s i s t i n g of one
d e i c t i c and one aspectual value
As the number of p o s s i b l e combinations of
d e i c t i c and aspectual values i s 18 (3x6), i t
f o l l o w s that each tense form can have at
most 18 d i f f e r e n t i n t e r l i n g u a l r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s
tense can a c t u a l l y have one has to examine
i t s c o m p a t i b i l i t y with the d i f f e r e n t types of
time a d v e r b i a l s
As f o r the d e i c t i c subpart~ i t i s not so
d i f f i c u l t to invent a c r i t e r i o n :
( i )
I f t e n s e X i s c o m p a t i b l e w i t h a d e i c t i c
Y - a d v e r b i a l , , h e r e Y [ ( a f t e r , b e f o r e ,
c o n t a i n } , then t h e t e n s e X can have t h e
value Y
For the aspectual subpart the c r i t e r i a are
a b i t more complicated:
( i i )
IT tense X can be used in a sentence with a
when-adverbial in #hich the event i s said to
take place before or a f t e r the i n t e r v a l
denoted by that when-adverbial, then the
aspectual value of X can be e i t h e r " b e f o r e '
e i t h e r r e t r o s p e c t i v i t y or p r o s p e c t i v i t y
( i i i ~
If tense X can be used in a sentence which
contains both a , h e n - a d v e r b i a l and a duration
adverbial that denotes an i n t e r v a l that i s
l a r g e r than the i n t e r v a l denoted by the
when-adverbial, then tense X can be used to
express the d u r a t i v e aspect
Similar c r i t e r i a have to be stated f o r the
other aspects ( i n c h o a t i v e , t e r m i n a t i v e , and
p e r f e c t i v e ) As f a r as ,e can see no# the
p e r f e c t i v e aspect might well be considered
to be the d e f a u l t value: from a conceptual
p o i n t of vie# the l e a s t marked s i t u a t i o n
i s the one in which the event time i s contained
in or i d e n t i c a l with the time (E c R or E = R)
As an i l l u s t r a t i o n of how these c r i t e r i a can
be used in p r a c t i c e we give an i n t e r l i n g u a l
a n a l y s i s of the Dutch ' V o l t o o i d Tegenwoordige
T i j d (VTT)' This tense i s expressed by the combination of an a u x i l i a r y ('hebben" or ' z i j n ' ) and the p e r f e c t p a r t i c i p l e of a
l e x i c a l v e r b The VTT can be combined with a l l kinds of
#hen-adverbials:
(13) nu heb i k her gevonden
n o w - h a v e - l - i t - f o u n d (14) morgen heb i k her gevonden
t o m o r r o w - h a v e - I - i t - f o u n d (15) g i s t e r e n heb i k het gevonden
y e s t e r d a y - h a v e - l - i t - f o u n d
In ( 1 3 ) and ( 1 4 ) the time of event precedes the time denoted by resp "nu" and "morgen"; hence, the aspectual value of the VTT in these sentences i s the r e t r o s p e c t i v e one
In f a c t , ( 1 3 ) and (14) belong to a paradigm
of r e t r o s p e c t i v e tenses The other members
of the paradigm are the " g o l t o o i d Verleden
T i j d " and the " V o l t o o i d Toekomende T i j d " ,
as in
(Ib) g i s t e r e n had ik bet al gevonden
y e s t e r d a y - h a d - l - i t - a l r e a d y - f o u n d (17) morgen zal i k bet gevonden hebben
t o m o r r o w - s h a l l - l - i t - f a u n d - h a v e (14) and (17) even have the same meaning and, hence, the same i n t e r l i n g u a l r e p r e s e n t a t i o n , namely the combination a f t e r - before
(13) has the value contain - before, and (Ib) the value before - before
In (15) the s i t u a t i o n i s d i f f e r e n t : here, the time of f i n d i n g does not precede the i n t e r v a l denoted by "yesterday" (as in ( I b ) ) , but i s
r a t h e r contained in i t The aspectual value of the VTT in (16) i s hence the p e r f e c t i v e one, and the i n t e r l i n g u a l r e p r e s e n t a t i o n in that case
is before - durin 9
I t can f u r t h e r be sho,n t h a t the VTT cannot be used to express a d u r a t i v e aspect Comoare (18) g i s t e r e n ben ik de hele dag ziek geweest
y e s t e r d a y - a m - l - t h e - w h o l e - d a y - i l l - b e e n (19) * g i s t e r e n ben ik d r i e dagen ziek geweest
y e s t e r d a y - a a - l - t h r e e - d a y s - i l l - b e e n
In ( 1 8 ) the event time denoted by the d u r a t i o n
a d v e r b i a l "de hele dag" i s a subset of the
i n t e r v a l denoted by " g i s t e r e n " (= p e r f e c t i v e aspect); in (19), on the other hand, the event time (three days) i s said to be longer than the reference time (one day) Since t h i s
Trang 6c o m b i n a t i o n l e a d s t o u n g r a m a a t i c a l i t y ( i n
D u t c h ) , i t f o l l o w s t h a t t h e VTT c a n n o t e x p r e s s
d u r a t i v i t y
I f t h e s e a n a l y s e s are c o r r e c t , i t f o l l o w s t h a t
t h e Dutch VTT can have t h r e e d i s t i n c t i n t e r -
a f t e r - before, and before - durino
The general idea now i s that t h i s information
i s contained in the lexicon, and that f o r the
assignment of temporal representations to
p a r t i c u l a r sentences one f i r s t looks in the
lexicon to see which i n t e r l i n g u a l representations
the tense used in that p a r t i c u l a r sentence can
have, and then singles out that subset of
representations which i s compatible with the
time adverbials used in the sentence
I f t h a t s u b s e t c o n t a i n s e x a c t l y one member t h e
s e n t e n c e may be s a i d t o be u n a e b i g u o u s w i t h
r e s p e c t t o t h e t e m p o r a l c a l c u l u s ; i f t h e s u b s e t
contains more members, the sentence is said to
be temporally ambiguous; and i f the subset i s
empty, the sentbnce i s simply not well-formed
As a c o n c l u s i o n t o t h i s s e c t i o n we g i v e t h e
r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s of some of t h e d i s c u s s e d
s e n t e n c e s
13) 3 S,R,E ~ t i m e ( c o n t a i n ( R , S ) & nu(R) &
b e f o r e ( E , R ) & AT (E, i k h e r v i n d e n ) )
15) 3 S,R,E S t i m e ( b e f o r e ( R , S ) & g i s t e r e n ( R ) &
d u r i n g ( E , R ) & AT(E, i k h e t v i n d e n ) )
(18) 3 S,R,E ~ t i m e ( b e f o r e ( R , S ) & g i s t e r e n ( R ) &
d u r i n g ( E , R ) k de h e l e dag(E)
& AT(E, ik ziek z i j n ) )
Re÷erences
Bruce, Bertram (1972) 'A model for temporal references and i t s a p p l i c a t i o n in a question answering program', in
A r t i f i c i a l I n t e l l i g e n c e 3, 1-25
Comrie, Bernard (1976) Aspect: an i n t r o - duction to the study o÷ verbal aspect and
r e l a t e d problems, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Dowry, David (1979) Word meaning and Montague grammar, Reidel, Dordrecht
van Eynde, Frank (forthcoming) Meaning and
t r a n s l a t a b i l i t y , doctoral d i s s e r t a t i o n , Leuven
F r i e d r i c h , Paul (1974) 'On aspect theory and Homeric aspect', in I n t e r n a t i o n a l 3ournal
of American L i n g u i s t i c s 40, memoir 28 Johnson, Marion (1981) 'A u n i f i e d temporal theory of tense and aspect', in Tedeschi & Zaenen (eds.), Syntax and semantics
Volume 14 Tense and Aspect, Academic Press, New Y o r k
Kripke, Saul (1972) Naming and necessity, Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass Reichenbach, Hans (1947) Elements of symbolic
l o g i c , University of C a l i f o r n i a Press, Berkeley
In t h i s paper we have concentrated on the
d e f i n i t i o n of a conceptual calculus f o r the
representation of time meanings in natural
language We have also given p r i n c i p l e s
( I V , V , V I , V I I ) and c r i t e r i a ( i , i i , i i i ) for
r e l a t i n g the concepts of the calculus to
language s p e c i f i c morphosyntactic categories
Given these t o o l s , i t should be possible to
analyse the tenses of the d i f f e r e n t languages
in such a way that the r e s u l t s of the analysis
are comparable and, indeed, i d e n t i c a l i f f they
express the same concept
I t goes without saying that the actual analysis
of a l l possible tenses cannot be carried out
in a paper of t h i s size, but we have the
f e e l i n g that ,e have at least cleared the
ground for such an enterprise