Feb16/V1 –  A Constructed Language

Feb16/V1 Temporal Syntax

Legend: Definitions, Terms, <Text>, «apa», -Tags-, and "Glosses".

Overview

Note: The English translations of tense, mood, and aspect are not always the exact translations or the only translations.

Tense, Mood, and Aspect Usage

There are 2 aspects: perfect and non-perfect, 3 moods: realis, irrealis, and imperative, and 2 tenses: relative and absolute.

Non-perfect aspect is either stative, progressive, or aoristic, according to whether the verb stem denotes a state, process, or event, respectively.

The imperative is used for commands (2nd person), "Let's" forms (Inclusive person), and suggestions or indirect commands otherwise. The irrealis is used when the situation is not known to have occurred or be occurring as well as when it hasn't yet occurred.

When the word's particle is final or major, the absolute forms are used for present time and the relative forms for past time.

Final or Major Tense, Mood, & Aspect Usage
Symbol Name State Event Process Mood
[ Pluperfect "had seen" "had given" "had walked" Realis
' Perfect "has seen" "has given" "has walked"
\ Imperfect "saw" "gave" "was walking"
= Present "sees" - "is walking"
] Conditional Perfect "would have seen" "would have given" "would have walked" Irrealis
` Future Perfect "will have seen" "will have given" "will have walked"
/ Conditional "would see" "would give" "would be walking"
; Future "will see" "will give" "will be walking"
. Imperative - "give!" "walk!" Imperative

When the particle is minor, the absolute forms are not used.

Minor Tense, Mood, & Aspect Usage
Symbol Name State Event Process Mood
[ Perfect "having seen" "having given" "having walked" Realis
\ Present "seeing" - "walking"
] Future Perfect "going to see"? "going to give" "going to walk"? Irrealis
/ Future "going to see" - "going to walk"

When the particle is null, absolute forms are used for utterance time in a past or future context, while relative forms are used in normal cases.

Null Particle Tense, Mood, & Aspect Usage
Symbol Name State Event Process Mood
[ Perfect "having seen" "having given" "having walked" Realis
' Perfect Absolute "having now seen" "having now given" "having now walked"
\ Present "seeing" - "walking"
= Present Absolute "now seeing" - "now walking"
] Future Perfect "going to see"? "going to give" "going to walk"? Irrealis
` Future Perfect Absolute "now going to see"? "now going to give" "now going to walk"?
/ Future Absolute "going to see" - "going to walk"
; Future "now going to see" - "now going to walk"

(1.1) 3p\sng.t
"Let's all sing!"

(1.2) ]fsh/rar 2[et.f
"Don't eat that rare fish!"

Usage With Adverbials

The adverbials apply only to words with final or major particles. When a time-when or temporal distance adverbial appears, the sentence must have either past or future time.

Usage With Adverbials
Symbol Name State Event Process Time
\ Imperfect "saw" "gave" "walked" Past
[ Pluperfect "had seen" "had given" "had walked"
] Conditional Perfect "would have seen" "would have given" "would have walked"
; Future "will see" "will give" "will walk" Future
` Future Perfect "will have seen" "will have given" "will have walked"
/ Conditional "would see" "would give" "would walk"

(2.1) ;o/0 jraf/1 boy[se\t
"When did the boy see the giraffe?"

(2.2) [dy/1\a jraf/1 boy[se;t
"The boy will see the giraffe tomorrow."

(2.3) hor/3g 1p\wlk\t
"We walked for more than 3 hours."

(2.4) o/5 rabt/wht mn[se't
"The man has seen the white rabbit 5 times."

Conditional Sentences

The condition and the conclusion may differ in tense-mood-aspect. However, when the tense-mood-aspect of the condition and conclusion are the same, they are marked identically.

(3.1) mn/hvy chr/old 4]sit2;i 4/brk;t
"If the heavy man sits on the old chair, it will break."

(3.2) mn/hvy chr/old 4]sit2\i 4/brk\t
"If the heavy man sat on the old chair, it broke."

(3.3) mn/hvy chr/old 4]sit2]i 4/brk]t
"If the heavy man had sat on the old chair, it would've broken."

page started: 2022.Feb.19 Sat
current date: 2022.Feb.24 Thu
content and form originated by qiihoskeh

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