https://gaelicgrammar.org/~gaelic/mediawiki/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Paper_1 2026-04-07T23:44:33Z Revision history for this page on the wiki MediaWiki 1.27.1 https://gaelicgrammar.org/~gaelic/mediawiki/index.php?title=Paper_1&diff=4385&oldid=prev 2013-01-16T16:30:49Z

<p>Created page with &#039;MacAulay 1996 - Some Thoughts on time, tense and mode, and on aspect in SG These things have all been characterized as tense... which has lead to an &#039;overloading of the term&#039; a…&#039;</p> <p><b>New page</b></p><div>MacAulay 1996 - Some Thoughts on time, tense and mode, and on aspect in SG<br /> <br /> These things have all been characterized as tense...<br /> <br /> which has lead to an 'overloading of the term' and to 'widespread descriptive ambivalence.'<br /> <br /> introduce 3 basic systematic terms: tense, mode, and aspect<br /> <br /> <br /> tense and mode are expressed at word level<br /> <br /> aspect is phrasal<br /> <br /> tense and mode are adjecent and not intersecting<br /> <br /> tense is a purely temporal system (Comrie, 1985): past and non-past<br /> <br /> mode: 'expounds two basic modal reflexes of the verb'<br /> <br /> mode is definite and non-definite<br /> <br /> e.g.<br /> <br /> Tha 'be'<br /> <br /> definite past - 'bha'<br /> <br /> definite non-past - tha-<br /> <br /> non-definite 1 - bithhidh<br /> <br /> non-definite 2 - bitheadh<br /> <br /> *All other verbs lack a definite non-past form*<br /> <br /> <br /> Figure 1<br /> <br /> Figure 2<br /> <br /> Implications of system:<br /> <br /> there is no description of future and present as they are both non-past.<br /> <br /> present: point of speaking<br /> <br /> Ian aig an dorus - 'Ian is at the door'<br /> <br /> Bha Iain aig an dorus - 'Ian was at the door'<br /> <br /> <br /> Tha can also have a generic reading: 'water is wet' - Tha uisge fluich<br /> <br /> Therefore it is not in all cases time of speach<br /> <br /> So, MacAuley posits that tha has multiple function but are not different lexical items?<br /> <br /> Non-definite:<br /> <br /> 'bithidh Iain an Du'n Eideann' Ian (is) in Edinburgh<br /> <br /> this phrase ambiguous without a temporal adverb<br /> <br /> but becomes future with 'tomorrow'<br /> <br /> 'bithidh Iain an Du'n Eideann am ma'ireach'<br /> <br /> This is not possible with bha:<br /> <br /> '*bha Iain an Du'n Eideann am ma'ireach'<br /> <br /> Bithidh can also have a habitual raeding:<br /> <br /> 'bithidh Iain an Du'n Eideann a h-uile latha' Ian is in Edinburgh every day<br /> <br /> So, Bithidh is 'neutral to these distinctions'<br /> <br /> Tentative affirmation, or conjecture:<br /> <br /> bithidh Iain an Du'n Eideann a nise' Iain will be in Edinburgh by now!<br /> <br /> Tha Iain an Du'n Eideann a nise - Iain is already in Edinburgh!<br /> <br /> This is traditional SG<br /> <br /> In contemporary SG, the above description is complicated by influence from English, due to which users distinguish between past,non-past and future:<br /> <br /> Bha Iain an Du'n Eideann - Iain was in Edinburgh<br /> <br /> Tha Iain an Du'n Eideann an diugh - Iain was in Edinburgh<br /> <br /> Bithigh lain an Du'n Eideann a ma'ireach/a h-uile lath a - Iain will be in Edinburgh tommorow/everyday.<br /> <br /> remodeling distinction o definite and non-definite non-past carried by the-bithidh, with tha-bithidh now carrying the English derived distinction between non-past and future!<br /> <br /> These systems work side by side, older start, young bucks<br /> <br /> non-past-definite<br /> <br /> general truth: <br /> <br /> Eirigh a' ghrian anne a' mhadainn - the sun rises in the morning<br /> <br /> not, Eirigh a' ghrian a h-uil madainn - the sun rises every morning (habitual)<br /> <br /> Ability/potentiality modal context (usual with verbs of perception):<br /> <br /> Ch'i mi sin gun ghloinneachan - I can see that without glasses<br /> <br /> Cluinnidh e am feud a' fa(graveaccent)s - he can hear the grass growing<br /> <br /> Modals, which have no definite forms:<br /> <br /> Feumaidh e falbh - 'He must go' <br /> Faodaidh e falbh - 'He may go'</div>

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