Mood, tense, and aspect 441

6.6.14 Frequency

The temporal expressions discussed above all locate (however approximately) the predicate history around a single time frame. Histories and their contextual occasions can repeat over multiple occasions. Iteration can be signaled by various means. A large stock of lexical adverbs signal iteration: byjulƒ ‘sometimes’, xƒcnj ‘often’, gjhj´q ‘off and on’, byjq hƒp ‘now and again’, j,sryjd†yyj ‘usually’, h†rlj ‘rarely’. Any noun that refers to a time unit signals repetition when it is modified by a universal quantifier; the whole expression is in the accusative without preposition: rƒ;lsq uj´l ‘every year’, rƒ;lsq l†ym ‘every day’, rƒ;le/ ytl†k/ ‘every week’, dcz´rbq hƒp ‘each time’. (Some lexical adverbs as well incorporate universal quantification: t;tvbyényj ‘minute by minute’, t;tuj´lyj ‘yearly’.) Names of days of the week or parts of days can be made distributive, hence iterative: gj chtlƒv b gΩnybwfv ‘on Wednesdays and Fridays’, gj dtxthƒv ‘in the evenings’. Frequency can be stated by combinations of hƒp with a prepositional phrase in d<\acc> and a recurring time unit: hfp ltcznm d ltym ‘ten or so times a day’, gj jlyjve hfpe d ldt bkb nhb ctreyls ‘once every two or even three seconds’, rbns hj;lf/n jlyjuj rhegyjuj ltntysif j,sxyj hfp d 2 ujlf

‘whales give birth to one massive baby usually once every two years’. Xfcƒvb ‘for hours on end’ and (w†ksvb) lyz´vb ‘for whole days at a time’, which are lexicalized instrumentals, belong here. With any of these unambiguous indications of iteration, the imperfective is required.

6.6.15 Some lexical adverbs

Some lexical items deserve attention. Lj´kuj ‘for a long time’ and lfdyj´ ‘a long time ago’ both project unfinished histories that extend over and fill intervals. With lj´kuj, the activity is presumed to stop (without definitive result, hence imperfective), and it can be placed in sequence with other events:

[231]Vs ljkuj hfccvfnhbdfkb<if> dtkbxtcndtyyst hfpdfkbys, gjnjv cbltkb yf ibhjrb[ rfvtyys[ cnegtyz[ e j,hsdf.

For a long time we looked at the magnificent ruins, then we sat on wide stone steps at the ravine.

Because the time interval is closed, lj´kuj occurs with the past tense or future, but not with an actual present.

In contrast, lfdyj´ (or lfdyßv-lfdyj´) suggests continuation rather than limitation. In [232], the mutual knowledge (or the illusion thereof) could easily continue:

[232]Vs hfpujdhfbdfkb<if> ljkuj b nfr cdj,jlyj, rfr ,elnj pyftv<if prs> lheu-lheuf lfdysv-lfdyj.

We talked long and freely, as if we had known each other for ages.

Mood, tense, and aspect 443

[237]-- E yfc, -- jndtxfk jntw. -- Yj jyf tot cgbn. F xnj?

--F djn vs tt ctqxfc hfp,elbv<pf prs> . Ult jyf?

--She’s here -- answered father. -- But she’s still asleep. Why?

--Well we will just have to wake her up now. Where is she?

or with imperfectives or anaspectual predicates in the sense of ongoing activity or states, which might, however, be expected to change:

[238]Ytrjnjhst ;bds b ctqxfc. Some are alive even now.

Thus lexical adverbs, like temporal expressions formed with prepositions, also shape and influence the history projected by the predicate.

6.6.16 Conjunctions

Subordinate clauses introduced by conjunctions provide a contextual time for one history in terms of another. Subordinating constructions, of course, are not exclusively temporal; at the same time as they signal temporal relations, they are modal (not surprisingly, since some of the prepositional expressions are highly modal) and textual -- the process of subordination ranks information as presupposed or better known as opposed to focused or less known.

6.6.17 Summary

The range of temporal expressions is summarized in Table 6.7.

The most neutral expressions merely locate a history in the general vicinity of the time, and are compatible with both bounded (perfective) and extended (imperfective) histories. Many temporal expressions have a preference for a particular kind of history, which translates into a preference for one or the other aspect. Thus yf<\acc> or c<\gen> indicates a state holding over an extended interval, which is typically expressed by the imperfective, while r<\dat> implies a history involving change, hence perfective. A temporal expression that presupposes change normally prefers a perfective verb, but allows an imperfective if the history reported by the imperfective is novel (most natural when the imperfective is understood as a new and surprising activity already in progress). A temporal expression that depicts continuity and stasis is a natural context for imperfectives, but allows a perfective if the perfective is understood to report the state resulting from an event. Any temporal expression involving change, which usually implies the perfective aspect, can nevertheless occur with an imperfective as an iterative, as a historical present substituting for a virtual past perfective, or as an imperfective with futurate sense (D ce,,jne z e[j;e r Vfit yf wtksq ltym ‘On Saturday I’ll be going to see Masha for the whole day’).