Cognitive Interpretation Of Tense

Traditional linguists and grammarians defined tense as "a grammatical category expressing time distinctions". However, this definition is always in contradiction to language facts, because lots of verb forms denoted by tense do not indicate time distinction. Hence, if we put these "abnormal uses" under the category of mood as traditional grammarians do, it would make the study and teaching of English tense even more difficult.This thesis attempts to offer a systematic explanation to the tense category from a cognitive perspective. Yi Zhongliang has defined tense as a grammatical category which expresses the time relation between the action state denoted by the verb and the moment of speaking. Since the "moment of speaking" is not always taken as the reference point, we introduce Qin Yuxiang's "reference time" to complete Yi's definition of tense. Hence, we define tense as "a grammatical category which expresses the time relation between the action state denoted by the verb and the reference time. The reference time is open and can be any point on the time axis"Different grammarians hold different viewpoints on the system of tense. Some are multi-tense holders, others are bi-tense advocators. Yi Zhongliang is one of the representatives of bi-tense view. He agrees that there is "Past tense", but he changes the term "Past tense" into "Present-remote tense", with which "Present-connective tense" are under the category of tense. On the basis of Augustine's and Bergson's views of time, this thesis proposes "Uni-tense View", which asserts that in English there is only one single tense—the present tense, which has two forms: Present-connective Tense and Present-remote Tense. The significance of Uni-tense View is that it meets our cognition of the world and by which the contradictions between tense and language fact are solved rationally.The prototypical meaning of the present-connective tense expresses an objective real time connection between the action state and its reference time. The prototypical use of he present-connective tense is to tell a pure time relation; the non-prototypical meaning of the present-connective tense suggests a subjective imaginary time connection between the action state and its reference time. People use the non-prototypical meanings of the present-connective tense to achieve truthfulness, believability and vividness. In this thesis, we think the present-remote tense is a metaphorical form of the present-connective tense. The prototypical meaning of the present-remote tense tells an objective real time counterclockwise distance between the action state and its reference time. In such case, it expresses a pure time distance; the non-prototypical meaning of the present-remote tense expresses a subjective imaginary time distance between the action state and its reference time. By using the non-prototypical meaning, the speaker tries to communicate more politely and mildly, hence the indirect warnings and hypothetical wishes fulfill their aims.