Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Rolf Furuli <furuli AT online.no>]

Dear Isaac,

I have defined tense and aspect in a very specific way, as different 
relations between the parameters "deictic center," "event time," and 
"reference time." Any person who discusses tense and aspect with me 
can know exactly what i mean by using these terms.

The term "tense" is used by some in a specific way, as 
"grammaticalization of location in time," which means that the 
concept "tense" represents semantic meaning, and this is connected 
with the verb form and not with the context. Others use "tense" in a 
rather loose way, simply as a particular temporal reference, without 
taking pragmatics versus semantics into consideration. It is obvious 
that if you do not know exactly what the other person means by using 
the  term "tense," any intelligent discussion is impossible.

In connection with aspect there are at least twenty different 
definitions or explanations in the linguistic and Semitic literature. 
If I do not know exactly what the other part means by the use of the 
term "aspect," any intelligent discussion is impossible. To answer 
your question directly, I say that as long as the other part has not 
given clear and specific definitions, it is impossible to comprehend 
(understand) what he means by using the terms.


Best regards,

Rolf Furuli
University of Oslo




> I think that you, on your part, should give a clear and specific definition of
> what you mean by "understand".
>
> Isaac Fried, Boston University
>
> On Feb 1, 2010, at 3:24 AM, Rolf Furuli wrote:
>
> > a clear and specific definition of 
> >
> > what you mean by tense and aspect, it is impossible to understand