Studii de Lingvistica (Dec 2012)
Tense and aspect in Lamnsoʹ
Abstract
Yuka (1997) has identified three broad tenses in Lamnso’2. A closer look at these tenses and their specification of time reference willreveal a more complex tense structure of multiple past and future timeallusions that distinguish different degrees of remoteness to the pastand future tense categories. This paper seeks to determine the variousdegrees of remoteness to a given tense category exhibited in Lamnso’. This paper investigates the relative relationship(s) between a tense marker that denotes the time of an action and the time reference preceding or following that action within the clause. It also examines aspect, interpreted as the way of conceiving the flow of an event (Comrie, 1976). This study identifies seven tense forms for Lamnso’ (P3, P2, P1, P0, F1, F2 and F3.), which specify time distinctions from the remote past (P3) to the remote future (F3)) and three aspect forms. These ten tense and aspect forms combine with distinctive tones and time adverbials to derive a time reference structure whose cut-off points are sometimes fluid and non-rigid.
