Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-fvjsw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-12T14:41:53.195Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Nominal tense in crosslinguistic perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

Rachel Nordlinger and
Louisa Sadler
Rachel Nordlinger*
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
Louisa Sadler*
Affiliation:
University of Essex
*
Nordlinger, Department of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia [racheln@unimelb.edu.au]
Sadler, Department of Language and Linguistics, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ, Essex, United Kingdom [louisa@essex.ac.uk]
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

It is a general assumption in linguistic theory that the categories of tense, aspect, and mood (TAM) are inflectional categories of verbal classes only. In a number of languages around the world, however, nominals and other NP constituents are also inflected for these categories. In this article we provide a comprehensive survey of tense/aspect/mood marking on NP constituents across the world's languages. Two distinct types are identified: propositional nominal tam, whereby the nominal carries TAM information relevant to the whole proposition, and independent nominal tam, in which the TAM information encoded on the nominal is relevant only to the NP on which it is marked—independent of the TAM of the clause as a whole. We illustrate these different types and their various properties using data from a wide range of languages showing that, while certainly unusual, the phenomenon of nominal tense/aspect/mood marking is far less marginal than is standardly assumed. Nominal TAM inflection must be accepted as a real possibility in universal grammatical structure, having significant implications for many aspects of linguistic theory.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 80 , Issue 4 , December 2004, pp. 776 - 806
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 Linguistic Society of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Abbott, Miriam. 1991. Macushi. Handbook of Amazonian languages, vol. 3, ed. by Derbyshire, Desmond C. and Pullum, Geoffrey K., 33–127. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. 1999. Multiple marking of syntactic function and polysynthetic nouns in Tariana. Chicago Linguistic Society 35. 235–48.Google Scholar
Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. 2003. The Tariana language of Northwest Amazonia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, Stephen R. 1985. Typological distinctions in word formation. Language typology and syntactic description 3, ed. by Shopen, Timothy, 3–56. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, Stephen R. 1993. Wackernagel's revenge: Clitics, morphology and the syntax of second position. Language 69. 68–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, Mark C. 2003. Lexical categories’. Verbs, nouns and adjectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barron, Julia. 1998. ‘Have’ contraction: Explaining ‘trace effects’ in a theory without movement. Linguistics 36. 223–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bender, Emily, and Sag, Ivan. 2001. Incorporating contracted auxiliaries in English. Grammatical interfaces in HPSG, ed. by Cann, Ronnie, Grover, Claire, and Miller, Philip, 17–32. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar
Bhatia, Tej K. 1993. Punjabi. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Blake, Barry. 1979. Pitta Pitta. Handbook of Australian languages, vol. 1, ed. by Dixon, Robert and Blake, Barry, 183–242. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blake, Barry. 1987. Australian Aboriginal grammar. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Boas, Franz. 1947. Kwakiutl grammar. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.Google Scholar
Bohnhoff, Lee E. 1986. Yag Dii (Duru) pronouns. Pronominal systems, ed. by Wiesemann, Ursula, 103–29. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.Google Scholar
Burquest, Donald. 1986. The pronoun system of some Chadic languages. Pronominal systems, ed. by Wiesemann, Ursula, 71–101. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.Google Scholar
Burton, Strang C. 1997. Past tense on nouns as death, destruction, and loss. North Eastern Linguistic Society 27. 65–77.Google Scholar
Burr, Miriam, and King, Tracy Holloway. 2004. The status of case. Clause structure in South Asian languages, ed. by Dayal, Veneeta and Mahajan, Anoop. Dordrecht: Kluwer, to appear.Google Scholar
Carlson, Robert. 1994. A grammar of Supy ire. Beilin: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CoMRiE, Bernard, and Thompson, Sandra A.. 1985. Lexical nominalization. Language typology and syntactic description 3, ed. by Shopen, Timothy, 349–98. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Crystal, David. 1997. A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Daley, Jon. 1985. Tzutujil grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
de Canese, Natalia Krivoshein. 1983. Gramatica de la lengua Guaraní. Asunción: Colección Nemity.Google Scholar
Dench, Alan, and Evans, Nicholas. 1988. Multiple case-marking in Australian languages. Australian Journal of Linguistics 8. 1–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Derbyshire, Desmond. 1979. Hixkaryana. Amsterdam: North Holland.Google Scholar
Derbyshire, Desmond. 1999. Carib. The Amazonian languages, ed. by Dixon, Robert M. W. and Aikhenvald, Alexandra, 23–64. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dixon, Robert M. W. 2004. The Jarawara language of southern Amazonia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enç, Mürvet. 1981. Tense without scope: An analysis of nouns as indexicals. Madison: University of Wisconsin dissertation.Google Scholar
Enç, Mürvet. 1986. Towards a referential analysis of temporal expressions. Linguistics and Philosophy 9. 405–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, Nicholas. 1995. A grammar of Kayardild: With historical-comparative notes on Tangkic. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, Nicholas. 2000. Word classes in the world's languages. Morphologie/Morphology, ein internationales Handbuch zur Flexion und Wortbildung/An international handbook on inflection and word-formation, vol. 1, ed. by Booij, Geert, Lehmann, Christian, and Mugdan, Joachim, 708–32. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Evans, Nicholas. 2003a. A pan-dialectal grammar of Bininj Gun-Wok (Arnhem land): Mayali, Kunwinjku and Kune. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Evans, Nicholas. 2003b. Typologies of agreement: Some problems from Kayardild. Transactions of the Philological Society 101. 203–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Everett, Dan, and Kern, Barbara. 1997. Warí. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Facundes, Sidney. 2000. The language of the Apurina people of Brazil (Maipure, Arawak). Buffalo: State University of New York dissertation.Google Scholar
Firestone, Homer L. 1965. Description and classification of Sirionó. London: Mouton.Google Scholar
Foley, William A., and Van Valin, Robert D. Jr. 1984. Functional syntax and universal grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
François, Alexandre. 2003. La Sémantique du Prédicat en Mwotlap (Vanuatu). Leuven: Peeters.Google Scholar
Furby, Edward S. and Furby, Christine E.. 1977. A preliminary analysis of Garawa phrases and clauses. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Galloway, Brent. 1993. A grammar of Upriver Halkomelem. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Giridhar, P. P. 1994. Mao Naga grammar. Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages.Google Scholar
Givón, Talmy. 1979. On understanding grammar. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Givón, Talmy. 2001. Syntax, vol. 1. John Benjamins: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Gregores, Emma, and Suárez, Jorge. 1967. A description of colloquial Guaraní. The Hague: Mouton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guasch, Antonio. 1956. El idioma guarani: Gramática y antología de prosa y verso. Asunción: Casa Américas.Google Scholar
Hale, Ken. 1997. Remarks on Lardil phonology and morphology. Lardil dictionary, ed. by Leman, Ngakulmungan Kangka, 12–56. Queensland: Mornington Shire Council.Google Scholar
Halpern, Aaron. 1995. On the placement and morphology of clitics. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin. 1997. From space to time: Temporal adverbiais in the world's languages. Munich: LINCOM Europa.Google Scholar
Hercus, Luise. 1982. The Bagandji language. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Hockett, Charles F. 1958. A course in modern linguistics. New York: MacMillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopper, Paul J., and Thompson, Sandra A.. 1984. The discourse basis for lexical categories in universal grammar. Language 60. 703–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joseph, Brian IT 1979. On the animate-inanimate distinction in Cree. Anthropological Linguistics 21. 351–54.Google Scholar
Klokeid, Terry. 1976. Topics in Lardil grammar. Cambridge, MA: MIT dissertation.Google Scholar
Koehn, Edward, and Koehn, Sally. 1986. Apalai. Handbook of Amazonian languages, vol. 1, ed. by Derbyshire, Desmond C. and Pullum, Geoffrey K., 33–127. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Kroeker, Menno. 2001. A descriptive grammar of Nambikuara. International Journal of American Linguistics 67. 1–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lapenda, Geraldo. 1968. Estrutura da língua latê: falada pelos índios Fulniôs em Pernambuco. Recife: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco.Google Scholar
Lecarme, Jacqueline. 1996. Tense in the nominal system. Studies in Afroasiatic grammar, ed. by Lecarme, Jacqueline, Lowenstamm, Jean, and Shlonsky, Ur, 159–78. The Hague: Holland Academic Graphics.Google Scholar
Jacqueline, Lec arme 1999. Nominal tense and tense theory. Empirical issues informal syntax and semantics 2, ed. by Corblin, Francis, Dobrovie-Sonn, Carmen, and Marandin, JeanMarie, 333–54. The Hague: Thesus.Google Scholar
Lehmann, Christian, and Moravcsik, Edith. 2000. Noun (Article 73). Morphologie/Morphology, ed. by Lehmann, Christian, Booij, Geert, and Mugdan, Joachim, 732–57. Berlin. Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Lowe, Ivan. 1999. Nambiquara. The Amazonian languages, ed. by Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. and Dixon, Robert M. W., 269–92. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lyons, John. 1968. Introduction to theoretical linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press…CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mel‘uk, Igor. 1994. Cours de Morphologie Générale, vol. 2. University of Montreal Press.: University of Montreal Press..Google Scholar
Mistry, P. J. 2001. Subjecthood of nonnominatives in Gujarati. Proceedings of the International Symposium on ‘Non-nominative subjects’, 333–59. Tokyo: ILCAAGoogle Scholar
Mohanan, Tara. 1994. Argument structure in Hindi. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar
Mous, Maarten. 1993. A grammar of Iraqw. Hamburg: Helmut Buske.Google Scholar
Musan, Renate. 1995. On the temporal interpretation of noun phrases. Cambridge, MA. MIT dissertation.Google Scholar
Nordlinger, Rachel. 1998. Constructive case: Evidence from Australian languages. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar
Nordlinger, Rachel, and Sadler, Louisa. 2000. Tense as a nominal category. Proceedings of LFG 2000, ed. by Butt, Miriam and King, Tracy Holloway, 197–214. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications. Online: http://csli-publications.stanford.edU/LFG/5/lfg00nor dlinger-sadler.pdf.Google Scholar
Nordlinger, Rachel, and Sadler, Louisa. 2004. Tense beyond the verb: Encoding clausal tense/aspect/mood on nominal dependents. Natural Language and Lingustic Theory 22. 597–641.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Herin, Brian. 1995. Case and agreement in Abaza. Santa Cruz: University of California dissertation.Google Scholar
Parker, Steve. 1999. On the behavior of definite articles in Chamicuro. Language 75. 552–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pens Alfini, Robert J. 1997. Jingulu grammar, dictionary and texts. Cambridge, MA. MIT dissertation.Google Scholar
Pensalfini, Robert J. 2002. Verbs as spatial deixis markers in Jingulu. Paper presented at the Workshop on Subordinate Clauses in Australian Languages, Victoria, Australia.Google Scholar
Plank, Frans (ed.) 1995. Double case: Agreement by Suffixaufnahme. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raíble, Wolfgang. 2001. Language universais and language typology. Language typology and language universals, vol. 1, ed. by Haspelmath, Martin, König, Ekkehard, Oesterreicher, Wulf, and Raible, Wolfgang, 1–24. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Richards, Norvin. 2001. Leerdil Yuujmen bana Yanangarr (Old and New Lardil). Forty years on: Ken Hate and Australian languages, ed. by Simpson, Jane, Nash, David, Laughren, Mary, Austin, Peter, and Alpher, Barry, 431–45. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Sabel, Joachim. 2002. Tense-agreement effects in Malagasy. Paper presented at the Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association 9, Cornell University, April 2002.Google Scholar
Sadler, Louisa. 1998. English auxiliaries as tense inflections. Essex Research Reports in Linguistics 24. 1–16.Google Scholar
Sadler, Louisa, and Nordlinger, Rachel. 2001. Nominal tense with nominal scope: A preliminary sketch. Proceedings of LFG 2001, ed. by Butt, Miriam and King, Tracy Holloway, 433–48. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications. Online: http://csli-publications.stanford.edu/LFG/6/lfgO lnordlingersadler.pdf.Google Scholar
Saeed, John. 1999. Somali. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salminen, Tapani. 1997. Tundra Nenets inflection. Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura.Google Scholar
Spencer, Andrew. 1991. Morphological theory. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Tonhauser, Judith. 2000. Dynamic semantics and the temporal interpretation of noun phrases. Stuttgart: University of Stuttgart diploma thesis.Google Scholar
Tonhauser, Judith. 2002. A dynamic semantic account of the temporal interpretation of noun phrases. Paper presented at Semantics and Linguistic Theory 12, San Diego, March 2002.Google Scholar
Tryon, Darrell T. 1968. lai grammar. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
Van Valin, Robert D. Jr., and LaPolla, Randy J.. 1997. Syntax: Structure, meaning and function. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wurm, Stephen A., and Hercus, Luise. 1976. Tense-marking in Gurnu pronouns. Papers in Australian Linguistics 10. 33–49.Google Scholar