ことがらの時間的構造認識と時制使用について

Present tense in many languages does not only denote an actual event occurring at speech time but also has some usages that cannot be explained by a mere time relationship: generic and habitual usages. We show that these will be explained in terms of mental process in speaker's brain as a result of interplay of the memory of perceptions and experiences in past and perception at present time. We further exemplify how knwolege of a generic fact is obtained from a specific happening. This mental process explains why present tense gives strong reality to a sentence using it. Next, we show that some Jananese past expressions must be considered as a result of interplay of memory and present perception, not as an expression of direct perception of a past event. This means that cognition of temporal structure in an overall flow of time plays an essential role. The same type of cognition applies to a German adverb schon, too.

公開日:2010年1月24日で登録したコンテンツは、国立情報学研究所において電子化したものです。