Judith Tonhauser (The Ohio State University)
Realis reference by paradigmatic blocking
Department Colloquium
Monday, March 16, 2009
4:00 PM to 5:30 PM
Dwinelle 182
This talk explores the interplay between the temporal and modal domains of natural languages, focusing on the interpretation of temporally/modally unmarked verbs in Paraguayan Guaraní. In this language, more than half of the verb stems in natural discourse are inflected only with a person/number prefix (a- '1sg' in (1) and (2)), and no temporal, aspectual or mood/modal affixes. In matrix clauses, such {\em unmarked} verbs are compatible only with present or past time reference (1), not with future time reference (2):
(1) A-ha Caaguazú-pe.
1sg-go Caaguazu-to
'I went/am currently going to Caaguazu.'
(2) # Ko'ero a-ha Caaguazú-pe.
tomorrow 1sg-go Caaguazu-to
(Intended: Tomorrow I will go to Caaguazu.)
Similar restrictions on the temporal interpretation of tenseless verbs have been observed in e.g. St'át'imcets (Salish,Matthewson 2006) and Kalaallisut (Eskimo-Aleut, Bittner 2008a,b). In these languages, the non-future temporal reference of such verbs has been analyzed as being presupposed by a phonologically zero tense marker (Matthewson 2006) or as being asserted by e.g. indicative mood marking (Bittner 2008a,b).
In this talk, I consider the temporal interpretation of unmarked verbs in Paraguayan Guaraní in a wide variety of clause types, and show that they cannot be analyzed as presupposing or asserting a non-future temporal interpretation. I argue instead that unmarked verbs implicate realis reference, i.e. truth in the actual world, and, hence, present or past time reference. The analysis is based on an exploration of the verbal paradigm of aspectual, modal and mood affixes of the language, which shows that unmarked verbs are semantically unmarked for irrealis reference. Their realis interpretation arises by semantic blocking (Jakobson 1939): unmarked verbs are used with realis reference (in matrix clauses) since marked verbs entail irrealis reference. This analysis of temporal reference in Paraguayan Guaraní crucially relies on the interplay of temporality and modality; it furthermore points to cross-linguistic variation in how non-future temporal reference arises in tenseless languages.