On the Compositionality of Tense: Merging Reichenbach and Prior
Henk J. Verkuyl · 2003
Tense systems as proposed by Reichenbach and Prior can be improved by changing their matrix 3 ◊ 3-design into a binary-set up. In fact, the improvement took already place in Te Winkel (1866), because the Dutch grammarian L.A. te Winkel presented a 2 ◊ 2 ◊ 2-tense system for the eight Dutch tense forms with Reichenbachian reference points. An improvement of Reichenbach's system in terms of a system of binary oppositions will also bring about an improvement of Prior's system. In fact, the binary approach implies a merger of Reichenbach's and Prior's insights into how tense operates in natural language. It leads quite naturally to a compositional treatment of tense in the sense that presence or absence of language forms determines the presence or absence of tense operators making up the system. The binary system produces eight tense forms for English and Dutch, but it also accounts for tense systems having far more indicative forms, such as French. This paper aims at showing that there is a way to improve on the description of the English tense system in Reichenbach (1947) by changing its matrix 3◊3- design into a 2◊2◊2-set up. In fact, the improvement took already place in Te Winkel (1866), because the Dutch grammarian L.A. te Winkel presented a tense system with Reichenbachian reference points in a binary set up using three binary oppositions to characterize the eight forms. The Dutch tense system is historically related to the English system, both languages belonging to the West-Germanic language family, so Te Winkel's insights carry over to English which I shall use for the explanation of his system. It will be shown that an improvement of Reichenbach's system along the lines pegged out by Te Winkel will also bring about an improvement of Prior's system. In fact, the binary approach will bring about a natural merger of Reichenbach's and Prior's insights into how tense operates in natural language. 1