This means that the situation time of thewhen-clause is never directly related to the situation time of the head clause: the situation time of the when-clause is T-related to the con-ta
Trang 1He was arrested when he tried to steal a car in 1931, but he had more success in 1933
when he tried again.(This example shows that it is sometimes irrelevant whether the
speaker uses a when-clause including a second specifying adverbial or a
time-specifying adverbial accompanied by a when-clause as second time-time-specifying
adver-bial In the latter case the situation time of the when-clause is contained in the first
time-specifying adverbial rather than the other way round.)
Because of this containment relation between the two Adv-times, it is not
un-common for the time adverbial to follow when immediately:
When, in late afternoon on the last day in June, he saw two people ( ) walk toward
the house, he quit work immediately and strode to his rifle (BR)
When awhen-clause combines with another time-specifying adverbial, the
lat-ter may itself be awhen-clause:
[He maintains he cannot raise his arm.] When it was raised up quickly by a doctor
when he wasn’t expecting it, he let out such a scream that (LOB)
13.5 The relation between the situation time of the head
clause and the Adv-time of the head clause
Thewhen-clause can specify either the situation time of the head clause or an
orienta-tion time which binds the situaorienta-tion time of the head clause in terms of T-anteriority or T-posteriority In other words, the when-clause can be used either as a situation-time
adverbial or as an orientation-time adverbial In both cases the when-clause uses a
relative tense, which represents the situation time of thewhen-clause as anterior,
T-simultaneous or T-posterior to the contained orientation time of thewhen-clause This
means that the situation time of thewhen-clause is never directly related to the situation
time of the head clause: the situation time of the when-clause is T-related to the
con-tained orientation time of the when-clause, which is contained by the common
Adv-time The function ofwhen is to identify an orientation time in the tense structure of
the head clause with an orientation time in the tense structure of thewhen-clause (The
two orientation times are identified with one another in the sense that both are con-tained in a common Adv-time.)
As we have seen, aclause does not relate the situation time of the
when-clause directly to the situation time of the head when-clause Rather, it relates the
situation time of theclause to a contained orientation time of the
when-clause, i e to an implicit orientation time that is contained by the ‘common
Adv-time’ established by when Since this common Adv-time also contains the
Trang 2652 13 Adverbialwhen-clauses and the use of tenses
situation time of the head clause or an implicit orientation time binding the situation time of the head clause, the when-clause ultimately establishes an
Adv-time for the head clause We can therefore call it the ‘Adv-time of the head clause’ The Adv-time of the head clause may directly locate (specify) the time of the head clause situation, in which case the contained orientation time
of the head clause is the situation time of the head clause, or it may locate another time which is part of the tense structure of the head-clause verb form
In that case the contained orientation time of the head clause is that other orientation time.4 In John left when Bill arrived, the Adv-time specifies the
precise location of the situation time of the head clause in the past time-zone
InJohn had left when Bill arrived, the Adv-time specifies the precise location
of the implicit contained orientation time of the head clause prior to which the situation time of the head clause is located In other words, when a
when-clause is used, the situation time of the head when-clause may be related to the Adv-time of the head clause in two different ways: either the situation Adv-time of the head clause is the orientation time that is located by the Adv-time (i e the contained orientation time of the head clause) or the situation time of the head clause is T-related to another orientation time functioning as contained orientation time of the head clause In the former case the when-clause
func-tions as a situation-time adverbial, in the latter as an orientation-time adver-bial ⫺ see 2.24⫺25 In both cases the when-clause uses a relative tense, i e.
the tense T-relates the situation time of thewhen-clause to the contained
orien-tation time of thewhen-clause For example:
John left when he had finished his work (⫽ ‘John left at the time [at which time
he had finished his work]’) (The when-clause is used as a situation-time adverbial; had finished represents the situation time of the when-clause as T-anterior to the contained orientation time of the when-clause ⫺ see Figure 13.4 in 13.3.2.)
John left when I was in the kitchen (The when-clause is used as a situation-time adverbial; was represents the situation time of the when-clause as T-simultaneous with the contained orientation time of the when-clause ⫺ see Figure 13.7.)
[I lucked out in that] they had just come available when I was going to order them (www)(The when-clause is used as a situation-time adverbial; had come represents the situation time of the head clause as T-anterior to the contained orientation time
of the head clause; was going to order represents the situation time of the when-clause as T-posterior to the contained orientation time of the when-when-clause ⫺ see Figure 13.8.)
When I arrived, John was just going to leave.(The when-clause is used as an orienta-tion-time adverbial; arrived, which is a relative preterite, represents the situation time of the when-clause as T-simultaneous with the contained orientation time of
4 In what follows we will disregard the possibility that the when-clause is a
‘multiple-orientation-time adverbial’ (see 2.26).
Trang 3the when-clause; was going to leave represents the situation time of the head clause
as T-posterior to the contained orientation time of the head clause ⫺ see Figure
13.9.)
The first of these sentences has the temporal structure represented by Figure
13.4 The other three have the temporal structures shown in Figures 13.7⫺9,
respectively
left
x
common Adv-time
x
contained orientation time
x
was
Figure 13.7 The temporal structure of John left when I was in the kitchen.
x contained orientation time common Adv-time
xcontained orientation time
x
had come
x
was going to order
Figure 13.8 The temporal structure of They had just come available when I was going
to order them.
contained orientation time
x
common Adv-time
x
contained orientation time
x
was going to leave
x
arrived
Figure 13.9 The temporal structure of When I arrived, John was just going to leave.
As is clear from these diagrams, the situation time of thewhen-clause is never
directly related to the situation time of the head clause: the situation time of
the clause is T-related to the contained orientation time of the
Trang 4when-654 13 Adverbialwhen-clauses and the use of tenses
clause, which is contained by the common Adv-time.5This leads to the conclu-sion that the tense form in an adverbial when-clause is always a relative tense
form, and that the function of when is to identify an orientation time in the
tense structure of the head clause with an orientation time in the tense structure
of thewhen-clause (The two orientation times are identified with one another
in the sense that they are both contained in a common Adv-time.)
13.6 The definition of ‘simultaneity’ and ‘situation time’
T-simultaneity, as it is used here (and elsewhere in the book), is defined in terms of strict coincidence, not overlap ⫺ see also 2.17 This definition is possible because we distinguish between the situation time and the ‘time of the full situation’ The situation time is the time of the ‘predicated situation’, i e the time of that part of the full situation (possibly all of it) about which a statement is made ⫺ see 2.12⫺13 In An hour ago John was in the kitchen,
the situation time is that portion of the time of the full situation that coincides with the time indicated by an hour ago It is only this part that is referred to
in the sentence and that is located in time by the tense form The time of the full situation may be much longer ⫺ John may even still be in the kitchen at
t0⫺ but that is irrelevant to the definition of ‘situation time’
It is also worth noting that this definition of ‘situation time’ is also compati-ble with the claim that an Adv-time always contains a contained orientation time, in terms of either inclusion or coincidence, hence that the contained orien-tation time in question cannot be longer than the Adv-time In John will still
be in bed when I leave, the when-clause situation is interpreted as punctual.
That punctual situation time is represented as T-simultaneous (⫽ coinciding) with the implicit containted orientation time of the when-clause This means
that the Adv-time of the when-clause (and hence the common Adv-time) are
(by implicature) also interpreted as punctual Since the contained orientation time of the head clause is contained in this punctual common Adv-time, it is also conceived of as punctual Because in this example [John will still be in bed when I leave] the contained orientation time of the head clause is the
situation time of the head clause (i e thewhen-clause functions as a
situation-time adverbial), the situation situation-time of the head clause is also conceived of as punctual In sum, in John will still be in bed when I leave, the situation time
of the head clause is not the time of the full situation but just that portion (point) of it that coincides with the situation time of thewhen-clause, which is
punctual and is therefore also the time of the ‘full situation’ of thewhen-clause.
5 This is the rule when the situation time of thewhen-clause is bound directly Apart from
this,when-clauses sometimes also allow indirect binding (see 13.9⫺10) In that case too,
the situation time of thewhen-clause is not directly related to the situation time of the
head clause.
Trang 5III Configurations of temporal relations
13.7 Possible combinations of tenses in head clause and
when-clause
Since an adverbial when-clause represents the situation time of the when-clause as
T-anterior, T-simultaneous or T-posterior to the contained orientation time of the
when-clause, and since an adverbial when-clause can be used either as situation-time
adver-bial or as orientation-time adveradver-bial, there are nine unmarked configurations of tempo-ral relations, realizing nine different tempotempo-ral structures involving the common Adv-time expressed by when These nine configurations, which have in common that the
situation time of the when-clause is bound by the contained orientation time of the when-clause, can be considered as forming the set of unmarked options as far as tense
choice is concerned As the examples will show, all nine of them are compatible with reference to the past as well as with reference to the post-present
Since the situation time of the when-clause may be related to the contained
orientation time of thewhen-clause in terms of T-simultaneity, T-anteriority or
T-posteriority, and since thewhen-clause can be used either as a situation-time
adverbial or as an orientation-time adverbial, there are at least nine possible
combinations of tense forms in the head clause and the when-clause (Next to
these, there are also configurations in which the situation time of the
when-clause is bound indirectly ⫺ see 13.9⫺10 These will be disregarded in the
present section.)
13.7.1 Configuration 1: the situation time of the head clause is the contained
orientation time of the head clause, while the situation time of thewhen-clause
is represented as T-simultaneous with the contained orientation time of the
when-clause (see Figure 13.7):
(3) When I arrived, Bill was still in his study
(4) The shops will probably still be closed when we arrive
It should be noted that the analysis offered here involves the claim that the
formarrived in (3) is a relative past tense form (representing the situation time
of the when-clause as T-simultaneous with the contained orientation time of
the when-clause) and not an absolute preterite (relating the situation time of
the when-clause directly to t0) In other words, (3) realizes the same kind of
temporal structure as (4) As there is no doubt that in (4)arrive does not locate
the arrival at t0but expresses T-simultaneity (coincidence) in the post-present
domain established by will be closed, we can assume that in (4) arrived is
Trang 6656 13 Adverbialwhen-clauses and the use of tenses
also a relative tense form (Note, however, that this assumption has no drastic consequences: since T-simultaneity is defined in terms of coincidence, it is irrel-evant to the interpretation of the when-clause whether the situation time of
the when-clause is analysed as related to the contained orientation time of the when-clause in terms of T-simultaneity or as being the contained orientation
time of the when-clause itself.)
13.7.2 Configuration 2: the situation time of the head clause is the contained
orientation time of the head clause, while the situation time of thewhen-clause
is represented as T-anterior to the contained orientation time of the
when-clause (see Figure 13.4 in section 13.3.2) For example:
When John had finished eating I was still doing the washing-up
When John has finished eating I will still be doing the washing-up
13.7.3 Configuration 3: the situation time of the head clause is the contained
orientation time of the head clause, while the situation time of thewhen-clause
is represented as T-posterior to the contained orientation time of the
when-clause For example:
When Hamlet was going to kill Claudius the first time, he stopped himself, [because Claudius was in confession] (www)
[I believe that] when there is going to be another attack, we will not get a warn-ing (www)
Note that is going to be in the second example is not an absolute tense form
but a form from the Pseudo-t0-System It represents the situation time of the
when-clause as T-posterior to the contained orientation time of the when-clause
and not as T-posterior to t0
13.7.4 Configuration 4: the situation time of the head clause is represented
as T-anterior to the contained orientation time of the head clause, while the situation time of the when-clause is represented as T-simultaneous with the
contained orientation time of thewhen-clause For example:
When I arrived, Bill had just left
When we arrive, the gates will probably just have been closed
13.7.5 Configuration 5: the situation time of the head clause is represented
as T-posterior to the contained orientation time of the head clause, while the situation time of the when-clause is represented as T-simultaneous with the
contained orientation time of thewhen-clause (see Figure 13.9 in section 13.5).
For example:
[I knew that] when somebody left a message in my voice mail inbox, I was going to
be informed about that by SMS (adapted from www) When we reach the shop, they will already be going to put up the shutters
Trang 713.7.6 Configuration 6: the situation time of the head clause is represented
as T-anterior to the contained orientation time of the head clause, while the
situation time of the when-clause is represented as T-anterior to the contained
orientation time of thewhen-clause For example:
When John had finished eating, I had almost finished doing the washing-up
When John has finished eating, I will almost have finished doing the washing-up
13.7.7 Configuration 7: the situation time of the head clause is represented
as T-posterior to the contained orientation time of the head clause, while the
situation time of the when-clause is represented as T-anterior to the contained
orientation time of thewhen-clause For example:
When John had finished eating, he was going to clear the table [but his wife said he
didn’t have to]
When John has finished working in the garden, it will no doubt be going to rain
(⫽ ‘I expect that at the time that John has finished working in the garden it will
look as if it is going to rain.’)
13.7.8 Configuration 8: the situation time of the head clause is represented as
T-anterior to the contained orientation time of the head clause, while the
situa-tion time of thewhen-clause is represented as T-posterior to the contained
orien-tation time of thewhen-clause (cf Figure 13.8 in section 13.5) For example:
[I lucked out in that] they had just come available when I was going to order
them (www)
?When the police were going to intervene I had already deemed it wise to leave the
pub.(⫽ ‘There was a time when the police were going to intervene At that time I
had already deemed it safe to leave the pub.’)
When the police are finally going to question John, he will have disappeared
13.7.9 Configuration 9: the situation time of the head clause is represented
as T-posterior to the contained orientation time of the head clause, while the
situation time of thewhen-clause is represented as T-posterior to the contained
orientation time of thewhen-clause For example:
?When the police were going to intervene, the rioters were clearly going to use
vio-lence [In the end, however, both parties refrained from using viovio-lence.]
?When he is going to commit suicide, he will also be going to kill his wife and
chil-dren
13.8 Further remarks on the configurations
13.8.1 Although all of the above nine configurations are grammatically
cor-rect, some of them (especially those involving T-posteriority) may sound rather
awkward This is because we tend to use simpler structures wherever possible