A Cognitive And Pragmatic Study Of The English Tense

Tense, which has long been studied by linguists and grammarians, is traditionally defined as "a grammatical category for expressing time distinctions", but this traditional definition cannot apply to all situations, for it limits our observation and study within the scope of pure time. It also makes it more difficult to interpret and learn tense, for different situations are located on the one-dimensional time level. This thesis interprets the meanings of the English tenses by providing new definitions of them, and provides motivations for the enlargement of the meanings of the English tenses from a cognitive perspective. On the basis of this, the thesis explores the pragmatic functions of the English tenses.In this thesis, tense is tentatively defined as "a grammatical category which expresses time relations between the action state denoted by the verb and its reference time". In this definition, action states refer to the states of the action denoted by the verb in a specific time sphere. They fall into objective action states and subjective action states, the former referring to action states that actually take place or those that the speaker thinks will take place; the latter referring to action states that are imagined or hypothesized by the speaker. Reference time refers to the time point that constructs a referential relationship with the time of the action state denoted by the verb, or the time point according to which the speaker determines the time sequence of the action state and the tense form to express the time relation. Reference time includes unmarked and marked reference time. The former refers to the present moment of speaking. The latter refers to the reference time marked by verbs of speaking or by other linguistic forms. The reference time is open; it can move along the time axis according to the speaker's needs. Time relations refer to the relative time relations between the action states and their referencetime, which include priority, simultaneity and posteriority. A certain time relation, either priority or simultaneity or posteriority, definitely exists between the action state and its reference time, no matter where the reference time is on the time axis. In contemporary English, these time relations fall into objective time relations and subjective time relations. The present tense expresses time relations of connection. When used with objective action states, it expresses objective time relations, which reflect the genuine time relations of connection between the action states and their reference time. When used with subjective action states, it expresses subjective time relations, which reflect the imaginary time relations of connection between the action states and their reference time. The past tense expresses time relations of distance. When used with objective action states, it expresses objective time distance, which reflects the genuine time relations of distance between the action states and their reference time. When used with subjective action states, it expresses subjective time distance, which reflects the imaginary time relations of distance between the action states and their reference time.The enlargement of the meanings of the English tenses is a cognitive process of cross-space mapping. In such a conceptual integration network, the source domain (correspondence between the tense and the time existing in nature) constructs one input space (genuine time space Ii), and the target domain (non-correspondence between the tense and the time existing in nature) constructs one input space (imaginary time space I2). The generic space abstracts the commonalities from the input spaces (time relations of "connection" of the present tense and time relations of "distance" of the past tense) and determines the content of the cross-space mapping. Then the nature of "time relations of connection" and "time relations of distance" are mappedonto the fourth space--the blended space. Through composition,completion and elaboration, the emergent structure is developed,...