Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Summary
My aim in writing this book has been to provide an introduction to the nature of tense in language. This has entailed two more specific objectives: first, the definition of tense (Chapter 1, especially section 1.4), and, secondly, an account of the range of variation found in tense systems across the languages of the world. Because of this second more specific aim, I have tried to make the book rich in illustrative material from a wide range of languages. However, it should always be borne in mind that this material is presented not solely as being of interest in its own right or to specialists in that particular language; rather, the language-specific material is designed to illustrate the range of variation found cross-linguistically and to suggest the limitations which a general theory of tense must place on such possibilities for variation.
It is my belief that the best pedagogical approach is to present a coherent account of some domain, rather than to attempt to describe in overview the full range of theories and pre-theoretical statements that have been made about that domain. I have not, therefore, felt myself obliged to take account of the various competing approaches to tense that abound in the general and language-specific literature. I have striven rather to present and justify the approach that I believe to be correct; in a few instances, where I am genuinely unsure as to the relative merits of competing viewpoints, I have indicated this.
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- Information
- Tense , pp. vii - xPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1985