THE METAPHOR OF TIME AS SPACE

Robert N. St. Clair, University of Louisville

 

Introduction

The study of time, tense, and aspect have all been embedded in the study of linguistic symbols. The result has been projects based on linguistic form rather than on the intellectual content behind those forms. In this essay, the ideas that constitute time, tense, and aspect are investigated from the perspective of cognitive linguistics (Lakoff, 1987). What this approach brings to linguistics is the fact that human ideas are, to a large extent, grounded in sensory-motor experience. Lakoff and N??ez (2000) have documented many the foundations of mathematical thought emerged from certain grounded metaphors (object collection, object construction, segmentation, and motion along a path). The source of these metaphors can be found in the abilities that humans possess in subitizing (putting objects into groups or collections) and performing operations on those groups . Metaphorically numbers are seen as things that can be added (adding things to a collection), subtracted (taking things away from a group), and divided (splitting them up) or multiplied (repeatedly adding groups to a collection).

The role of schemas plays important roles in the study of time and space. Lakoff and N??ez (2000: 30-31) have demonstrated that every language has a system of spatial relations which can be decomposed into conceptual primitives called image schemas. A simple locative preposition in English, for example, can be shown to be a composite of three primitive image schemas. In the sentence, the book is on the table, the locative preposition relates to orientational and topological schemas.

The Above Schema (the book is above the table)
The Contact Schema (the book is in contact with the table)
The Support Schema (the book is supported by the table)

The Above Schema is orientation and specifies an orientation in a space relationship to the gravitational pull that one experiences as a human being. This human experience provides the basis for the Above Schema. The Contact Schema is topological in that they embody the experiences of being connected and contiguous to space. The Support Schema indicates direction and the nature of forces operating in human experiences, it is force-dynamic. All of these schemas constitute the simple locative preposition on in English. In other languages, they may differ (English: on the table: German: auf der Tafel). The fact that languages may differ in how they represent a concept is important because this investigation is about the ideas behind time, tense, and aspect and not about the symbolic forms of language. A similar approach can be found in the difference in mathematics between Numbers (the ideas upon which mathematical concepts are based) and Numerasl (the representation of that number is a language. Numbers are predicated on a quadratic equation with a base of ten. A numeral, on the other hand, may be represented as twenty one in English and Ein und Zwantzig in German. Numbers are about cognitive concepts; numerals are about representations.

The Source-Path-Goal Schema plays a major role in this investigation of time as space. It is a schema that is both perceptual and cognitive in nature. It provides a bridge between language and reasoning, on the one hand, and language and vision, on the other. It provides a visual schema, one that imposes visual scenes on language. Every language includes some way of expressing spatial sources (From) and goals (TO) and the path that connects them (THROUGH, ACROSS, ALONG). These ideas do not occur in isolation from one another but form a visual gestalt, a visual pattern. The image schema is concerned with motion along a path, motion from a source to a goal.

There is a trajector that moves along a path
The source is the starting point
The goal is the intended destination
The route is the path from the source to the goal
The trajectory involves motion
There is a position associated with the trajector at a given time
There is a direction associated with the trajector at a given time
There is a final location which may not be the intended one

There are extensions to this schema. These involve the manner in which something moves (linguistic aspect), obstacles to motion, but regardless of how this schema is modified, it still retains its internal spatial logic and these have their own built-in inferences. Hence, this schema is a powerful conceptual metaphor. In the Source-Path-Goal Schema, one may profile or highlight either the source or the goal.

John went to Spain (goal is profiled)
John came from Mexico (source is profiled)

What is important about the Source-Path-Goal Schema is that it a rationale for the concept of linear time, time along a spatial axis. Hence, the basic question in this investigation has to do with the question of what is the relationship between time and space. Evidently, time is a metaphorical construction based on space. This relationship can be found in language in the linguistic expression of deixis in which expressions are indexed (spatial: here, there, this, that; temporal: now, then, this time, that time); and inclusion (we, you and I) and exclusion (we, I and them) are also based on spatial metaphors.

TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL DEIXIS

Deixis refers to pointing (Greek: deik- to point) and is used to point to a referent that is relative to a time and place of speaking. Consider, for example, how spatial deixis is used in natural language.

	English	Spanish	Japanese
Near the speaker, proximal	this	este	kono (of this)
Near the person spoken to, distal	that	ese	sono (of that)
Far from both	that (yonder)	aquel	ano (of yonder)

These demonstratives are used to locate things and event in space relative to the speaker. Hence, they are spatial indicators. In some languages such as Hawaii, these demonstratives show even stronger evidence that they are spatial indices.

	Hawaii Deixis	Morphological Structure
This book	Ke puke ia Keia puke	The-book-here The-here book
That book	Ke puke la Kela puke	The book there The-there book

French, it should be noted, has a similar kind of deixis as evidenced in the following expressions :

	French Deixis	Morphological Structure
This book	Ceci livre (le livre ici)	The-here book
That book	Cela livre (ce libre la)	The-that book

 

Deictic Adverbs	Spatial	Temporal	Causal
At or near the deictic center	Here	Now	Hence
Far from the deictic center	There	Then	therefore

What makes these parallel constructions of temporal and causal adverbs interesting is the fact that they are based on spatial metaphors. It should be noted that children learn spatial adverbs before acquiring temporal ones. They learn "there" prior to "then." They learn "here" and "now" before acquiring past or future time constructs. This mapping of space as a source domain is not limited to time and causality. It can also be found in the extension of physical distance to expressions of emotional distance. Hence, in addition to Lakoff's metaphor of emotions as a container, there is another metaphor that relates emotions to physical contact.

The news hit me hard
It was struck by his kindness
She made a big impression on me
I was touched by her remarks

Under this framework, one wants to be either emotionally close or distant. The latter can be found in expressions that encourage social and emotional distance.

Keep your hands off of me.
Go away!
Don't come near me.
Get lost!
Keep your distance!

In these expressions of emotional distance, the domain of space is mapped onto emotions producing a new blend of emotional distance. 

INCLUSIVE AND EXCLUSIVE PRONOUNS OF ADDRESS

Many languages have overt markers for inclusive and exclusive pronouns. Hawaiian is such a language. It make a distinction between inclusive and exclusive we.

Hawaiian Personal Pronouns
	Dual	Plural
Inclusive We	kaua I and you (singular)	kakou I and you (plural)
Exclusive We	maua I and not you (singular)	makou I and not you (plural)

This use of inclusion and exclusion is based on the grounding metaphor of a collection or a group. One may be included in the group (inclusive we) or one may excluded from a group (exclusive we). What makes the group a spatial construct is the fact that the first person singular is the deictic center. It is his group that one is included in or excluded from. Although the use of inclusive and exclusive personal pronouns is not transparent in the morphological of English, its spatial logic can be readily inferred.

We (exclusive) are pleased to meet you.
We (inclusive) need to do this.
We (inclusive) saw him.

There are certain expressions involving the first person plural in English that appears to be an extension or a metaphorical reconstruction of this established pattern of spatial logic. Consider the following sentence:

Shall we take our pills?

The use of we does not, in this case, include the speaker. The nurse is not taking a pill along with the patient. The deictic sense of the first person plural pronoun is lost. It is not consistent with the spatial logic of inclusive and exclusive pronouns. There is no deictic centre. In the use of the genitive form, our pills, the use of this pronominal form appears to be exclusive. They are the pills that belong to the nurse and the medical establishment. There is a way in which this sentence can have its spatial meaning of inclusion. If one moves the deictic center to the patient and if one considers the nurse to be a role assigned by the doctor to the patient, then a resolution is possible. What one is really saying is the following: Shall we (the patient and the nurse assigned to the patient) cause the patient (the deictic center) to take the pills that we (the doctor and the assigned nurse) are giving to you (the patient). Even if this shift of the deictic center works, it still leaves behind a strange formation of inclusive and exclusive pronouns. Usually, one assumes that the use of the first person pronoun includes the subject as an agent. In this example, such a use is not forthcoming.

LOCATORS IN TIME AND SPACE

Prepositions are linguistic markers that locate objects in space. They are linguistic signs; they symbolize space (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980: chapter 21). Space is biologically determined. There are transducers in the human body to detect motion, the location of objects, and movement. These transducers emerge as spatial schemas, products of the embodied mind. They constitute cognitive metaphors of space. Time, on the other hand, has no clearly established transducers. This makes the internal experiences of time difficult to articulate. The veridical experience of time is restricts to simultaneity, duration, the passage of time (the past), the expectations of time (the future), and the experience of the moment (the present). Hence, the dimensions of time are in need of a spatio-physical metaphor that allows it to be articulated and expressed in language. Such a metaphor requires the blending of time and space, the metaphor of time as space. Prior to developing that conceptual blend, it is important to consider how prepositions of time and space function in the English language.

Prepositions of Space
at	He is at the library. She is at the office. They are at work. He works at the university. She is at school He is in the classroom	In these sentences, at is used to locate someone or something at a specific location. However, one finds that a different preposition is used for class: He is in class. In British English, the article is omitted: He is at hospital.
in	He is in the library. He is in the car. He is in the Art Department.	In these sentences, in is used to comment on durational space. One is not only at a place, but remains there for a while.
on	He is on the plane. He is on the train	The preposition on uses the Above Schema.
No preposition	She is downstairs. He is downtown. He is outside. He is inside.	The loss of prepositions of location in these constructions could be attributed to the fact that the lexical items are already referenced to a location

Prepositions of space have topological significance. They have to do with locations in space that are contiguous and that have Euclidean dimensions. Martin Heidegger (1962) made a distinction between people in place (die Mitwelt) and people in space (die Umwelt) in German. In English, the difference between space and place is designated by means of lexical items.

He bought a house (non-personal space)
He bought a home (personal space)
We need to make this house our home.

As noted earlier, language is about ideas and prepositions are based on ideas. In particular, they are based on the Source-Path-Goal Schema, a movement from a source, through a path, and to a place. Prepositions are used to highlight or profile either the source or the goal within this schema.

 

Prepositions of Movement in Space
to	He went to the dentist. She went to goal	The goal is profiled by the preposition to.
toward, towards	He moved toward the light. Come towards me!	These propositions express movement.
No preposition	She went upstairs. He walked downstairs. She moved downtown.	There is no proposition of movement in these sentences because the lexical item itself contains a locational marker.
from	He came from Tokyo. She is from Brazil.	The source of movement is profiled by the preposition from.

PREPOSITIONS OF TIME

There are some interesting parallels between the aforementioned prepositions of space and their uses as prepositions of time. Time is envisioned in Western cultures as a location or movement in linear space.

Prepositions of Time
at	He came home at midnight. Come over at 5:45.	The temporal preposition at is used to designate punctual events.
on	He was here on Monday. He was born on the Fourth of July.	The temporal preposition on is used to designate larger stretches of time. It is used with durational events.
in	He retired in August. He goes to the gym in the morning. She matriculated here in 1954.	The temporal preposition in is used to designate events that are not bounded. It is used for nonspecific times during a day, month, season, or year.

How has time become associated with space? The answer to this question can be found in cognitive blending theory (Fauconnier and Turner, 2002).

THE BLENDING OF TIME AND SPACE

For many years, Gilles Fauconnier (1985, 1997) worked on developing a model of mapping various uses of natural language into mental worlds. This model has been very successful in accounting for the use of counterfactuals in language. He argued that metaphors occur in a blended mental space. In this earlier model, the source of a metaphor was mapped onto a target mental space and this cross mapping resulted in a blended mental space were some of these input structures were used. What is important about the blended space is the fact that emergent structures occur there that cannot be traced back to its inputs. An example of this earlier model can be found in the metaphor of "the surgeon is a butcher." The source input of the butcher is mapped onto a target mental space of the surgeon and the result is a new construct, a surgeon who operates like a butcher. Recently, he has expanded this model (Fauconnier and Turner, 2002) with a focus on what happens in the blended cognitive space. There are many configurations involved in creating metaphorical blends. In this essay, the focus is in on creating a blend of linear time from the inputs of linear space and internal time.

A metaphoric blend is created by two or more inputs. In some blends, one of the input structures controls the output blend. In others, new structures are created. The generic space plays a role in the organization of the inputs and how they result in a target blend. All of this takes place in short term memory.

THE SOURCE-PATH-GOAL SCHEMA: One of the concepts of into the blended concept of linear time has to be the Source-path-goal-schema. In this framework, one encounters a logical space of a source, path, and goal. There are also locations on that space and movements through that space from source to goal. This creation of a segmented line is similar to the mathematical blend that provides the concepts behind mathematical theory. In this case, however, that segmented line will be divided into concepts of time: the past, the present, and the future. The concept of a segmented time line, the arrow of time, will provides this model with powerful tools that can explain punctuality (moments in time as being equivalent to points in space), duration or movements in time from one point to another which are considered to be unique events (stretches of time as being equivalent to duration in time), and movement into unknown spaces beyond the time line (this explains conditionals, subjunctives, and optatives). In order to envision how this is accomplished, one needs to use this output of linear movement with the input of internal time.

A path is part of a goal schema in which there is movement from a starting point towards a terminal point. By blending this path schema with segments, one arrives at a path that is linear and broken up into units of space.

INTERNAL TIME: The biological aspects of time revolve around various internal experiences such as being conscious, witnessing events that are causal, witnessing events that are simultaneous, memory of the past, cyclical modules of growth, awaiting new outcomes in the future, etc. This inward awareness of time is blended in Western societies as linear time. This is time that reckons movement from the past, through the present, and into the future. This movement of time is from left to right. This has become the natural scanning movement of the eyes in processing information. It forms the basis of reading, scanning items on a grocery shelf , etc. This linear movement emerges in the blend of linear time. These movements are new to the blend. They do not occur naturally in time. They have been created in the blend and constitute a cognitive metaphor in European languages. Hence, in English, it is natural to assume that one looks forward into the future and turns back to see the past. Furthermore, in English time is based on a Contact Schema. One has to move forward physically from the present and into the future. Such is not the case in all languages. In Greek, for example, the future is behind an individual and the past is in front. Furthermore, time moves from the future, enfolds in the present, and resides in the past. In Greek, it is time that moves. In English, on the other hand, it is the individual who moves towards time. The march of time is a metaphor that is common to English speaking countries.

 

Space is far easier to articulate as a human experience than time. Time lacks the definitions and segmentation found in space. For this reason, time is articulated in terms of spatial metaphors. Once space is segmented, it can be used to create the metaphor of segmented internal time.

THE METAPHOR OF LINEAR TIME

Many students of language are astounded by the fact that there are languages which lack tense. This confusion results from the fact that they do not realize that time is a semantic construct and tense is a linguistic one. All languages have ways of speaking about time, a semantic construct. Not all languages have linguistic markers of time, tense. Languages that lack tense, use time words to signal events that take place in the past, present, or future. With the passage of time, these time words become attached to verbs and the resulting conflation is known as tense. English has only two tenses: the present and the past. The future occurs as a time construct, but not as a linguistic one. In order to talk about the future in English, one must use a construction that employs the model will.

Past Tense: John walked home.(-ed)
Present Tense: John walks home. (-s)
Future Periphrastic Construction: John will walk home. (will + infinitive)

The arrow of time depicted on the left presents the future in front of the observer. Not all languages and cultures use this concept of time. In Greek, for example, one looks back into the future. The future unfolds into the present and disappears into the past before the speaker.

Tense is one of the linguistic markers of time and there are several ways of marking tense in English. One is by means of suffixation (-ed suffix marks the past) and the other is through vocalic changes within a verb base form (eat, ate, sing sang, etc.). The other means of marking time in English is through aspect. Tense designates that an even took place at some period of time. Aspect tells one how that event was enacted. This system of time modifiers is discussed below.

ASPECT MARKERS

In English, there are several ways in which one can express the modification of time. For example, one could speak of an event that happened just once. Since these expressions occur within a point of time, they are called punctual aspect markers. They are points in time that are the equivalent to points in space.

Past	Present	Future	Punctual Aspect Marker is unmarked.
John broke the mirror			An event that occurred only once. The use of punctual aspect in the preterit will be discussed later.
	John breaks the mirror
		John will break the mirror

Punctual aspect occurs in many other languages besides English. For example, it can be found in Portuguese. The only difference between English and Portuguese, however, is that English only has a two-tense system while Portuguese has a three-tense system.

Past	Present	Future	Punctual Aspect
Ele quebreu o espelho He broke the mirror			Tense locates time grammatically in the past, present or future. Aspect , on the other hand, modifies time. In this case, one is saying that the event happened one time in the past, present, or future.
	Ele quebra o espelho He breaks the mirror
		Ele quebrar? o espelho He will break the mirror

Another kind of aspect marker in English involves the duration of time. One may mark that an event began at a certain point in time and lasted to another point in time. These are the temporal equivalents to stretches or extended units of space

Past	Present	Future	Commentary
An event that began, lasted, and ended in the past	An event that began in the past, endures, and ends in the present	An event that begins in the future, lasts in the future, and will end in the future	The Durative Aspect Marker is the pattern Have + Verb + en Another name for this marker is the Continuative.
He had eaten			The durative aspect marker designates an action that begins, lasts, and finishes during a specific period of time.
	He has eaten
		He will have eaten

 

Verb comments on the Beginning of a Durative Event (Inceptive Aspect)	The verb comments on the Ending of a Durative Event (Terminative Aspect)	Commentary
He began to write He begins to write He will begin to write   He started to sing He commenced to sing	He finished writing He finishes writing He will finish writing   He ended the event He completed the form	Begin, start, commence, finish, end, and complete are all aspectual verbs in English The middle of an event or action may be either be marked by durative or continuative aspect markers.

It is not surprising to find that Portuguese has a similar use of durative markers, represented by the verb ter and followed by the past participle of the verb.

 

Past	Present	Future	The Durative Aspect HAVE + V +EN
Ele tinha comido He had eaten			The action began in the past, lasted in the past and was completed in the past
	Ele tem comido He has eaten		The action began in the past, lasted until the present and will is completed in the present
		Ee terá comido He will have eaten	The action begins in the present, lasts into the future, and will be completed in the near future
		Ele teria comido He would have eaten	The action will begin in the near future, lasts in the future, and will end in the distant future

In English, one may speak of how time is modified (aspect) in three ways. One may refer to time as a one time event (Punctuality), time as a duration (Durative), and time as a continuing event (Continuative). It is now time to consider how the continuative aspect of time is formed in English. This aspect is used in expressions to represent repetitive events.

 

Past	Present	Future	The Continuative Aspect BE+V+ING. Another name for the progressive aspect is the iterative.
John was eating			An action occurs and continues to occur repeatedly until it is completed.
	John is eating
		John will be eating

This kind of aspect can also be found in Portuguese where it is referred to as the imperfect. This terminology comes out of Latin grammar. In that language, events were either completed (perfected) or not completed (not perfected).

 

Past	Present	Future	The Continuative Aspect
Ele estava comindo He was eating			The action began in the past, repeated itself in the past, and ends in the past
	Está comindo He is eating		The action began in the past, repeats itself into the present, and ends in the present
		Estará comindo He will be eating	The action begin in the present, repeats itself into the near future and ends in the near future
		Estaria comindo He would be eating	The action begins in the near future, repeats itself in the distant future and ends in the distant future.

WHY ARE THE IMPERFECT AND PERFECT ASPECTS A PROBLEM?

There is nothing very surprising about this discussion of aspect. Events can occur once (punctual aspect), last in time (duration), or repeat themselves in time (progressive). So what is the problem? Why do English speakers have difficulty with the perfect and imperfect forms in Portuguese? The answer can be found in the terminology being used by English grammarians. The Perfect and imperfect are terms normally associated with Latin grammar. An event or an action in time is either completed (perfectum) or not completed (imperfectum). However, this distinction makes no sense for speakers of English because they do not think in terms of whether some action is completed or still ongoing. They think in terms of whether an action is in duration (durative aspect) or in progression (iterative aspect). The grammatical terms, imperfect and perfect, were brought into English language textbooks at a time when Latin was an international language. As a consequence, European grammarians attempted to model their use of language after Latin. These prescriptivists used Latin terminology in their grammatical descriptions of other languages. The problem that modern students of language have is in the use of the older terminology, perfect and imperfect, in contexts where these forms are no longer relevant. Hence, to avoid these problems of terminology imposed by Latin grammars, it would be better to use the modern aspectual terms (punctual, durative, and iterative) that make sense for English speaking students.

Unfortunately, even with the correct use of linguistic terminology, English speakers fail to differentiate between different aspects when speaking about the past.

Eles falavam (imperfect past) "They spoke"
Eles falaram (perfect past) "They spoke"

They conflate these aspects when discussing events or actions in the past. They are able to differentiate these expressions in English, but are not consistent is their uses of aspect in the past.

Eles falavam (imperfect past) "They were speaking"
Eles falaram (preterit, perfect past) "They had spoken"

 

EXTENDING THE TOPOLOGY OF TIME AS SPACE

With the concept of the time line, one was able to explain several kinds of temporal actions. One can, for example, explain how events are located in the past, present, or future. One can also explain how events are modified within these semantic domains. These modifications or aspect explains how one time events are the equivalent to point in space. The model also explains how stretches of time known as duration are the equivalent of stretches or extensions of space, have+en. They can also explain how events repeat themselves as evidenced in the progressive or iterative aspect in English, be+ing. What this model cannot explain, however, is how the preterit and the imperfect interact. In order to do this, one needs to modify the linear arrow of time into a Cartesian plane in which the line is complemented by additional horizontal space. Why would this extension of the line into a Cartesian graph be necessary? Before answering that question, consider the following examples of how the imperfect and the perfect aspects are used in English and Portuguese:

Parallel Actions: Imperfect + Imperfect

John was reading while Mary was speaking on the telephone.
John was leaving while Agnes was entering the store.

Since the model of time is based on a spatial configuration, these conjoined sentences can only function if one assumes that there are two persons (A, B) who are traversing the time line in parallel formation.. In the first sentence, John was reading while Mary was speaking on the telephone, both John (A) and Mary (B) are sharing the same time line. Both are continuing actions and since this aspect is continuative, the source of the action and the goal of the action are left unspecified. In the case of the second sentence, there is two continuing actions (John was leaving while Agnes was entering the store). In terms of the input space from a Cartesian graph, these actions are portrayed as moving in opposite directions. However, in the blend of time as space, they are moving along the same time line and move in the same direction, from past to future.

 

The more common use of the imperfect occurs when it is interrupted by another ongoing event or action. These interaction actions may occur in the past, the present, or future time. Consider the following examples:

Interacting Actions
He enters when I am reading
He entered when I was reading
He will enter when I will be reading

In these examples, the actions are no longer parallel. One person is continuing an action (the imperfect), while another enters upon the scene and interacts in some way with the ongoing scene. This interaction is a one time event; it is punctual. However, it is not called a one time event, but is called the preterit or the perfect. In the first sentence, (He enters the room when I am reading), the person who is reading (Person A) is involved in an ongoing action. This is the in the present continuative aspect. The person who enters the room, on the other hand, is involved in a once time event. He only enters the room once. His actions are in the present punctual aspect. In the second sentence, the whole scene shifts into the past tense. Person A was in the continuative process of reading when Person B entered the room. How concepts marked linguistically? The continuative action in the past is called the imperfect tense. It is not a tense but a continuative aspect that happens to occur in the past. Person B performs a one time event. It is a punctual action that takes place in the past. Is it called the punctual past? No, it is called the preterit or the perfect tense. This whole scene is profiled from the perspective of Person A, the one who is involved in a continuative action. Person B is incidental to that scene. He is not profiled. Some question whether or not the following changes in word order are, in fact, ways of profiling Person B.

John entered the room when I was reading.
I was reading when John entered the room.

Perhaps such is the case. In the first sentence, person A (John) is profiled or highlighted. If this is the case, then in the second sentence, person B (John) is not profiled. This is a matter for further investigation. What is important is that in both sentence, Person A provides the deictic center of the scene. Finally, in the third sentence, both events are shifted into the future. The same relationship of events will occur. Person A is in the process of a continuative action while Person B interrupts that action.

There are other ways of having punctual events. In English, for example, there are many verbs that are punctual in nature.

He started to enter the room when I was reading
He finished washing the dishes while I was watching television.
He began to sing, when I was working in the kitchen.

THE USE OF ADVERBS AS ASPECT MARKERS

There are many ways of creating aspect markers in English and Portuguese. One of these involves the use of adverbs. One of these can be found in the use of adverbs.

Basic Verb Form

Ele fala (She speaks)

Basic Verb + Adverb

Ele fala lentemente (She speaks slowly)
Ele fala r?pido (She speaks rapidly
Ele fala de pressa (She speaks quickly)
Não fala (She does not speak)
Ele fala Português normalmente. (He usually speaks Portuguese

In Portuguese, the form "-mente" is used as an adverbial marker. Originally, this word was a noun in Latin. "Mente" meant "mind." Hence, "claramente" came from the expression "clara mente" or with a clear mind. Today, it merely means "clearly." What happened historically is that the Adjective + Noun patterns was modified with the passage of time and emerged in Modern Portuguese as an Adjective + Adverbial pattern. This process of creating new grammatical forms from old patterns is known as "grammaticalization" (Hopper and Traugott, 1993). It is a common process in natural language systems. The English adverbials, for example, came from a different semantic process. "Goodly," for example, came from a different source. The pattern was Adjective + Noun, but the noun was not "mind" but "body." "good + lic" meant with a clear body. Eventually, this combination re-emerged in Modern Enlgish as an Adjective + Adverb pattern.

English Source: Good body (goodly), wise body (wisely) …
Portuguese Source: good mind (goodly, wise mind (wisely) …

Before leaving the process of grammaticalization, it is important to point out that the future form in Portuguese also developed from a noun form.

Latin Vulgar: Ego cantar habeo (I have to sing)
Portuguese: Eu cantar-ei (I will sing) > cantarei.

Not only are adverbs used as aspect markers, so are adverbial phrases. There are many kinds of adverbial phrases as noted below, however, the adverbs of time are of special interest to students of aspect.

Advérbios de lugar (Adverbs of Place)	aqui, cá, ai, ali, dentro, fora perto, longe, além, abaixo, acima, adiante, defront detrás, onde, aonde, donde ...
Advérbos de tempo (Adverbs of Time)	Anteontem, ontem, hoje, amanhã?, antes, depois, ainda, então, entretanto, quando, nunca, ...
Advérbios do modo (Manner Adverbs)	Bem, mal, depressa, devagar, assim, como, barbaramente ...
Advérbios de afirmação (Adverbs of Affirmation)	Sim, certamente Yes, certainly ..
Advérbios de negação (Adverbs of Negation)	Não, nem nunca, jamais, tampouco (tão-pouco) No, never, neither ..
Advérbios de dúvida (Adverbs of Doubt)	Talvez, porventura, acaso, naturalmente
Advérbios de exclusão (Adverbs of Exclusion)	Senão, sô, sómente, apenas, excluvisamente, unicamente . If not, only, only, hardly, exclusively, uniquely …
Advérbios de inclusão (Adverbs of Inclusion)	Até, mesmo, também, ainda, inclusivemente... Until, same, also, still, inclusively …
Advérbios de quantidade (Adverbs of Quantity)	Muito, mais, menos, bastante, tão, tanto, quanto, quase ... Much, more, less, enough, as much, when, as if..
Advérbios interrogativos (Interrogative Adverbs)	Onde (lugar), quando (tempo), como (modo), porque (causa), quanto (quantidade). Where, when, how, why, how much ..

The reason why temporal adverbial phrases are important for the study of aspect is because they function as aspectual markers. What are called the habitual present and the historical present are not tenses, but aspects markers in which the context of an aspect is provided by temporal adverbial phrases.

HISTORICAL PRESENT ASPECT MARKERS

The use of the present tense in describing historical events has been labeled the historical present tense. Upon closer examination of these constructions, it becomes evident that they are not a special tense form, but a special use of aspect. The secret to understanding the historical present is to be found in how events are temporally marked by temporal adverbial phrases.

Japan bombs Pearl Harbor. It is December 7, 1941.
We engage the enemy at Normandy during WW II.

One cites a historical event by means of an adverbial phrase in order to introduce the historical present aspect into a discourse. These adverbial phrases may be marked either spatially or temporally. Noted historical events may easily be addressed with regards to where an event took place. The time of the event is also a significant marker of the historical present aspect. What is important about this use of aspect is that it is not limited to grammatical markers (have+en or be+ing). It can occur in the form of a temporal or spatial adverbial phrase. In other words, the introduction of certain temporal events are invoked grammatically as aspect markers of the historical present.

There is another distinguishing factor about this use of aspectual markers that merits comment. Whereas aspect markers define time within the context of a sentence, adverbial phrase markers have a larger scope. They may define time with regards to a paragraph within a book, a chapter of a book, or an entire book. This different use of aspect raises some very interesting questions about how is conveyed either as an aspect or as a tense. First, the historical aspect marker is used when referring to an author in a text that one is examining. Although the text was written in the past, it is being read in the present.

In Kant's Critique of Reason, he states that …
In his writing, Garcia Lorca notes that …

Second, the use of the historical aspect marker also occurs in what some call the literary present. The actions and the thoughts of the characters in a text is still in present and it continue to be present each time that it is read, hence it is expressed in historical or literary present aspect.

Shakespeare reminds his readers that "all the world is a stage" and …
Hamlet tells Ophelia that he never loved her (literary dialogue)
Paulo Coelho writes about the mysterious world of the alchemist.
James Joyce draws on church doctrine in his novels.
Odysseus is an archetypal epic hero.

Third, the use of the historical aspect in the present can be found in situations where one wants to state a recurring truth, something that is true in the present and will remain true in the future .

The constitution states that …
The laws of the land are …
Newton's law of physics states …
The gram is a unit of mass (scientific principle)

Finally, in languages in which there are no tense markers such as Amoy Chinese, time words function as markers of time.

Gwa cha peng yesterday (equivalent of the past tense)
Gwa cha peng now (equivalent of the present tense)
Gwa cha peng tomorrow (equivalent of the future tense

It turns out that temporal adverbial phrases are, in essence, time phrases. They provide a modification of time. Since aspect is the modification of time, these time phrases are also aspect markers.

John watches television
John watches television every day
John watches television every day at three.

THE HABITUAL PRESENT TENSE

When events occur regularly, they are reported in the present tense. For this reason, some grammarians refer to this phenomenon as the habitual present tense.

He usually sings while taking a shower.
He normally sings while taking a shower.
He cuts the grass every other week
He pays his bills on time
The plane arrives on time
Mary goes to class every Wednesday.

Once again, there is no habitual present tense. There are only habitual aspect markers. Once may use an adverb of time or a temporal adverbial phrase to designate the regularity of an event. As in the case of the historical aspect marker, these habitual aspects can be found in the time phrases that accompany the present tense form of the verb. This account of habitual aspect differs from that of Comrie (1976). He envisions the imperfective as being subdivided into the habitual and continuous aspects. Given the fact that the habitual aspect differs in significant ways from the continuative, one should question why the imperfect (a continuative aspect) should encompass the habitual aspect. They perform different functions. There are certain adverbs of permanency that mark the habitual aspect from the continuative: customarily, usually, always, everyday, all the time, most of the time, sometimes, half of the time, often, frequently, occasionally, rarely, seldom, hardly ever, never, and expressions of a general truth.

He habitually smokes
He usually smokes
He normally smokes
He always smokes
He often smokes
He frequently smokes
He occasionally smokes
He rarely smokes
He seldom smokes
He hardly smokes
He never smokes

 

ASPECTUAL VERBS

Not only are adverbs and adverbial phrases used to mark aspect, so are verbs. There are numerous verbs that specifically address how a function is performed (Parsons, 1990). Since these verbs deal with the modification of an action in time, they can be rightfully called aspectual verbs.

Motion Verbs
Base Form: ir (to go)

Modification of the Base Form
Caminhar (to walk, to go on foot)
Correr (to go quickly on foot)
Voar (to go by airplane, to fly)
Dirigir (to go by car, to drive)

Many other verbs can also be semantically combined into a group of related forms. Since these verbs modify an action in time, they may be called aspectual verbs. Consider the case of breaking verbs:

Breaking Verbs

Base form: quebrar (to break something)

Modification of the Base Form:

Rasgar (to tear, to break a paper)
Escangalhar (to break up, to break into parts)
Estalar (to break apart, to snap)
Divorciar (to break a marriage apart)

Aspectual Verbs:

to wait, to begin, to start, to end, to complete, to finish, to
endure, to last, the be in the process, got, turned, became, etc.

There are about 400 breaking verbs in English. Modern languages are full of aspectual verbs because new lexical items are needed in these cultures to explain the nuances of the different aspects of an action in time. As a matter of fact, one may learn much about a culture by looking at its aspectual verbs. When verbal aspects of an action become distinct, they become culturally salient and emerge as aspectual verbs.

THE INCHOATIVE ASPECT

Previously, the concept of the inceptive was introduced. When an action was created, it was marked by the inceptive aspectual verbs "begin," "start," or "commence."

He started to sing. He began to sing. He commenced the project.

In inceptive aspect marker is used to designate the beginning of an action. The inchoative aspect marker, on the other hand, is used to designate the beginning of a new state. Examples of these inchoative verbs are cited below.

He turned blue.
He got sick.
He became amused.
He whitened his teeth. (He caused it to become white)
He darkened the room (He caused it to become dark)

Adjectives refer to states. When one says that "John is happy," one is really saying that "John is in a state of happiness." In English, one has the ability to choose whether or not to speak of the action of a verb or its state.

Action of the Verb: John fears Mary.
State of the Verb: John is afraid of Mary.

If one wanted to represent these sentences by aspect markers that initiate a new event, one would use the inceptive aspect marker for the creation of a new action and the inchoative aspect marker for the change of state.

Inceptive Aspect: John began to fear Mary
Inchoative Aspect: John became afraid of Mary
John got afraid of Mary.

THE SUBJUNCTIVE: ENGLISH AND PORTUGUESE

What is the subjunctive and how does it fit into the metaphor of time as space? Before answering this question, it is necessary to investigate some related concepts in grammatical theory. For example, the subjunctive is not a tense even though it can express events and actions in the present, past and future tenses. The subjunctive is not a grammatical voice even though it can be expressed in several voices, active, passive, and middle. The subjunctive is a modal verb. So, what is a modal verb? Modal verbs are mood verbs. They introduce imaginary worlds (mental spaces) in which new and different thoughts are possible. Hence, there are three moods: the indicative where facts are stated, the imperative where orders are given, and the subjunctive where new worlds and ideas are envisioned.

 

The Verbal Moods
The Moods	Meaning	Exemples
Indicative	O modo para exprimir um fato certo. O modo para exprimir um fato positivo This mood is used to express a certain fact. It is used to state a positive fact	Hoje, sa?ram cedo. Agora, est? chuvendo Today, they left early. It is raining now.
Subjunctive	O modo para enunciar um fato poss?vel Enuncia um fato duvidoso Enuncia um fato hipotético This is the mood that is used to state a positive fact. It expresses doubtful events. It is used to state a hypothetical state of affairs	É possibel que chova Se você trabalhasse, n?o passaria fome. I may rain. If you worked, you wouldn't be hungry.
Imperative	O modo para exprimir um ordem Exprime proibição Exprime conselho Exprime pedido Give orders Expresses prohibition Give advice Make requests	Volte logo Não fiquem aqui Sejam prudentes Cuide-se Come back soon Don't stay here Be prudent Be careful

THE STRUCTURE OF MOOD VERBS

The grammatical constructions used to express mood verbs consist of two parts. The first part is the matrix sentence which introduces an imaginary of potential mental space and the second part is the sentence which expresses that mental space through mood verbs, viz. the subjunctive. In the matrix sentence, for example, one finds such expressions as: I wish that, I hope that, If it were possible that, he may, he might, he could, he should, etc. The embedded sentence containing the subjunctive form is introduced in English by a sentence marker, that. In Portuguese, this marker is que.

The matrix sentence is used to introduce a mood verb. The verb of the matrix sentence, however, is in the indicative mood. It is the mood in which one speaks of facts and certainties. It is in this matrix sentence that one introduces the mental space of imaginary or hypothetical worlds. These mental spaces are to be found in the embedded sentence and are expressed in the subjunctive mood.

The sentence marker "that (que)" introduces the subordinate sentence, the embedded sentence. Hence, the sentence marker functions as a linguistic sign. It is a grammatical function world. In essence, it can introduce two kinds of subordinate sentences: the indicative mood or the subjunctive mood. One has to look at the matrix sentence for evidence that the embedded sentence is to be expressed in the subjunctive. This evidence can be found in the form of Mental Space Builders, phrases that introduce mental spaces involving imaginary worlds, hypothetical words, or possible worlds.

One should realize that the matrix sentence may be either tacit or overt. Normally, the matrix sentence is clearly stated. However, in imperative, it is implied.

Wash the dishes! Implies "I want you to wash the dishes."
Be quiet! implies "I order you to be quiet."
God bless! you! implies "May God bless you."
Be careful! implies "I want you to be careful."

 

MENTAL SPACE BUILDERS THAT INTRODUCE THE SUBJUNCTIVE

In the matrix sentence, one uses a phrase or clause that is used to construct a potential or imaginary world that will be introduced in the embedded sentence. These words or phrases are called Mental Space Builders (Fauconnier, 1994). What are these subjunctive markers and how do they work in Portuguese?

 

Mental Space Builders	Marker in the Matriz Sentence	The Subordinate Sentence	Translations
Assim que	Avise-me	assim que você chegar	Let me know as soon as you arrive.
Se	Eu iria ao Brasil	se tivesse dinheiro I	would go to Brazil if I had money.
Antes	Vou falar com o Paulo	antes que ele vá embora	I am going to talk to Paul before he leaves.
Para que	Venho para a aula	para que possa aprender	I came to class so that I can learn.
Contanto que	Eu poderia ir ao Brasil	contanto que você pagasse a passagem	I would be able to going to Brazil provided that you pay the fare
Sem que	Eu saí da aula	sem que o professor visse	I left the room without the professor seeing me
Embora que	Ele vai se formar	embora n?o assista as aulas	He is graduating even though he does not attend class
Ainda que	Ela está contente	ainda que seja pobre.	She is happy even though she is poor.
Mesmo que	Eu vou embora	mesmo que você n?o queria	I am leaving even though you may not want to.
Nem que	Faça o favor de ler o livro	nem que que você leve todo o inverno.	Please read the book even though it may take all winter.
Para que	Ele continua aargumentar	para que possa ganhar o debate	He continue to argue so that he can win the debate
A fim de que	Eu vou perguntar-lheo	a fim de que você fique contente	I will ask it so that you may be satisfied
Quando	Nós saimos	quando nos desejarmos	We are leaving when we want to
A não ser que	Nós não trabalharemos	a não ser que ele paqgue-nos antes	We will not work unless he pays us first
Depois de	Ela vai trabalhar	depois que se formar	She will go to work after she graduates.
Onde	Você sabe	onde vamos	You know where we are going
como	Você sabe	como dirijir o carro?	You know how to drive a car?
Logo que	Ele responderá	logo que compreenda a pergunta.	He answers as soon as he understands the question.
Enquanto	Ela lerá o livro	enquanto assista a televisão	He will read the book while watching television
Conforme que	Você aprenderá	conforme que estudes	The letter will be interesting depending on what they write.
Assim que	Eu saio	assim que seja possível	I am leaving as soon as possible
Sempre que	Nós faremos o Cooper	sempre que pudermos	We will go for a run whenever we can.
Até que	Eu compro-os	até que n?o tenha maisdinheiro	I am buying things until I have no more money
No caso de	Eu perguntarei isso	No caso de que ele tenha senso de leitura	I will ask it in case I know meaning of the lecture

There are many grammatical constructions which use the subjunctive mood in the subordinate sentence even though they are not introduced by a mental space builder phrase in the matrix sentence. How is this possible? The answer is evident from the examples provided below. In addition to having special phrases that introduce the subjunctive, matrix sentences can also have special verbs that function as mental space builders. These are verbs of hope, desire, want, need, advice, opinion, etc. They are, in essence, mental space builder verbs.

 

The matrix sentence which introduce mental space builders in the form of verbs of hope, opinion, desire, advice, and need.	Subordinate sentence which contains the subjunctive mood.	Translation
Quero	que todos aprendam portugês	I want everybody to learn Portuguese.
É aconselhável	que você procure um médico	It is advisable that you see a doctor
O professor queria	que todos os alunos viessem às aulas	The teacher wanted all the students to come to class
Ele quis	que todos fossem ao teatro come ele	He wanted everybody to go to the theater with him
Espero	que ele não quebre a sua perna	I hope that he does break his leg
Desejo	que ela tenha cuidado	I hope that she is safe
É uma pena	que nós tenhamos outro engarrafamento na estrada	What a shame that we have another traffic jam on the highway
Duvido	que ele morra	I doubt that he is dying
Lamento	que ele não saiba dirigir o carro	I regret that he does not know how to drive the car
Talvez	ele regrese a casa	Perhaps he will come home
Tomara	que ele possa ler os sinais do trânsito.	If he could only read the traffic signs

THE USE OF SUBJUNCTIVE SENTENCES AS MODIFIERS

A sentence in the subjunctive is able to modify a noun when this noun is not a part of the experience of the speaker or when it does not exist.

Uma frase no subjuntivo pode modificar um nome ou substantivo quando este nome n?o é uma parte da experiência do falante e este nome n?o exista. Quando o nome existe, usa-se o indivicativo em vez do subjunctivo.However, when the noun referred to exists, one uses the indicative mood rather than the subjunctive.

 

Sentence containing a noun that is modified by a subordinate sentence	The sentence modifying the noun	Translation
Vou ver o filme	que você recomendou	I am going to see the film that you recommend
Vou ver ao filme	que você recomendar	I am going to see a film that you will recommended
Quero um carro	que seja barato	I want a car that is cheap
Eu assisteria qualquer filme	que você recomendasse	I will see any the film that you recommend
Eu queria um carro	que fosse barato	I want a cheap car
Você sabe de alguém	que queira alugar uma casa?	Do you know someone who wants to rent a house?
O diretor queria alguém	que soubesse falar português	The director wanted somebody who could speak Portuguese

THE SEQUENCE OF VERBAL TENSES

If the verb in the matrix sentence is in the present tense, the verb in the subordinate sentence may be in either the present subjunctive or in the imperfect subjunctive.

Sequence of Verb Tenses
Sinto muito	que não venha	I am sorry that he is not coming
Sinto muito	que não viesse	I am sorry that he did not come
Eu lhe digo	que fale portugês	I am telling him to speak Portuguese
Eu lhe disse	que falasse portugês	I told him to speak Portuguese
Procuro uma pessoa	que saiba a gramática	I am looking for a person who knows grammar
Procurei uma pessoa	que soubesse a gramática	I was looking for a person who knew grammar
Ela tem medo	de que eu não venha	She is afraid that I will not come
Ela teve medo	de que eu não vinhesse	She was afraid that I would not come
Vou ficar aqui	ainda que você não quisesse	I remain here even though you do not want me to
Eu fiquei acqui	ainda que você não quiesse	I remained here even though you did not want me to
Vamos	sair sem que ele dê licença?	Are we leaving without him giving us permission?
Vaimos	sem que ele desse licença?	Did we leave without him giving us permission?

HOW TO TRANSLATE THE SUBJUNCTIVE IN ENGLISH

There was a time when the subjunctive played a dominant role in English. Unfortunately, this occurred in Old English. With the passage of time, these subjunctive forms were lost or replaced by different ways of talking about hypothetical, imaginary, or unreal world. Nevertheless, there are still vestiges of the old system as evidenced by the modern forms of Old and Middle English expressions.

Gif ic waere trewwwyrhta .. Se eu seja carpinteiro (If I were a carpenter)
Ic wysce ?ae he wisra waere…. . Eu quero que ele seja…(I want him to be...)

Modern Remnants of the Subjunctive in Old English.
Be that as it may Blessed be the children Far be it for me to… If it please the court If need be May God bless you	I wish it were true Come what may Heaven forbid! Perish the thought God save the queen Perish the thought Suffice it to say Lord help us
If only it were true If I were a rich man … They recommend he remain It is urgent that we talk She requested that I stay here He demanded that it be transferred If the driver were knowledgeable He decreed that the temple be here It is important that he tell the truth I demand that he release him now It is essential that you experience this The directive that all be clean shaven… If this be madness… If she were my child	I'll be damned It is imperative that he play He wishes he were here If you were a scientist I suggest that he keep it I insist that he call the police We require that you keep the seat belt on It is imperative that we eat soon I suggest we sit down If I were a fascist… Prudence demands we deploy the ships As if I were crazy If we had one … I suggest that he be banned from …

What does it mean to say that these forms are vestiges of the subjunctive? Does it mean that Modern English does not have a subjunctive? Many speakers of English do not realize that Modern English has a subjunctive. It exists in the form of modal verbs. These are mental space builder verbs that introduce imaginary, potential, or unreal world states into the subordinated sentences. This is the modern form of the subjunctive. It is currently replacing the older form of the subjunctive in English.

English Modal Verbs (Mood Verbs)
Present Tense	Past Tense	Translation
can	could	poder
shall	should	dever
may	might	poder
will	would	desejar, querer
must	had to	dever

What is interesting about these verbal forms is that they came from German. Both English and German use modals to express the subjunctive mood in subordinate sentences. Verbs of request, ability, obligation, possibility, and obligation are mental space builders in both languages. They are used to introduce the subjunctive mood in the embedded sentence.

Subjunctive	Translation
Ich würde gehen Ich ginge	Eu vá (that I may go) I would go (that I would go)

In German, there is another pattern of representing the subjunctive- würde + infinitive.

 

Infinitivo	O perfeito	O conjuntivo II	Tradução
essen	Ich habe gegessen	Ich hätte gegessen	I would have eaten Eu comeria
rennen	Ich bin gerannt	Ich w?re gerrant	I would have run Eu correria

It is best to translate the subjunctive from other languages into English by means of modal verbs. Consider the use of the subjunctive in German where the paradigm is still fully operative with their equivalent translations as modal forms in English

 

Johann hätte die Tasche nicht vergessen sollen	John should not have forgotten the bag. Que Jãao esquecesse a sua bolsa.
Dann hätte Lola nicht rennen müssen.	Then Lola would not have had to run Ent?o Lola no corresse
Ich h hätte meine Huasaufgaben pünktlich gemacht	I would have handed my homework in later. Eu entregasse a tarea atrasado.
Wenn ich reich wãre, würde ich einen BMG kaufen	If I were rich, I would buy a BMG. Se eu seja rico, eu compre um BMG.
Wenn du es bauen würdest, würden sie kommen	If you build it, they will come Se construíres, eles virão.
Ich esse Fleisch jeden Tag   Ich würde essen jeden Tag Fleisch essen	I each meat every day Como carne cada dia. I would (should) eat meat every day Eu coma carne cada dia.

There is another grammatical paradigm that English speakers have borrowed from German and this can be found in the use of the subjunctive as a marker of courtesy. The subjunctive is used as a marker of polite language in both languages.

 

Less Courteous - the Indicative	More Courteous - the Subjunctive
Bringen sie mir bitte ein Cola	Würden Sie mir bitte eine Cola bringen?
Bring me a coke.	Would you bring me a coke?

This use of the subjunctive as a marker of courtesy can also be found in the Romance languages.

It is now the time to ask how does the subjunctive fit into the metaphor of time as space? If one has a time line that originates in the past, moves to the present and ends in the future, where is the subjunctive along this temporal axis? The answer to this question can be found in the use of use of modals in English. Modals are emerging as the new subjunctive system in English. What is interesting about these modals is that they occur in the present and past tenses.

 

Modal Meanings	Present Future	Past Future
Permission Request Possibility	may	might
Ability Request Possibility	can	could
Formal Future Polite Question Advice Expectation	shall	should
Intention Promise Conditional Preference	will	would
Obligation Prohibition Inference	must -	had to

The terms Present Future and Past Future refer to events that are farther into the future . They are events that cannot be seen clearly, cannot be documents, or exist in a mental space that has yet to unfold. The world of the subjunctive is that distant mental space. In terms of a physical model of space, it would be a line of sight that is obscured, unclear, or unknown. Hence, the world of the subjunctive is a mental world that exists farthest in the future. It is the mental space that exists at the vanishing point of projection into the distant future. It is the world of wishes, hopes, desire, fears, doubts, and counterfactuals. It exists beyond the time line of the future.

Past	Present	Future	World of the Subjunctive
John had eaten			John would have eaten John may have eaten John might have eaten John should have eaten John shall have eaten John could have eaten John must have eaten
	John has eaten
		John will have eaten

There is one more item that should be addressed within this metaphor of time as space. English has a middle voice, a passive, and an active voice. The arrow of time discussed so far only reflects the active voice. It turns out that this model can also adequately account for the middle voice and the passive in English.

GRAMMATICAL VOICE IN THE GROUNDING OF EVENTS AND ACTIONS

When individuals talk with each other face-to-face, each has a unique perspective. Each person sees what is behind the other. In order for them to share their world views, they must foreground what is unknown to the other and place it in front view where both participants can view the same scene and share the same perspective. This function of foregrounding events and actions in the eyes of others is known in grammatical terms as "voice." Consider the following sentences:

The man opened the door with a key
The door was opened by the man
The door was opened
The key opened the door
The door was opened by the key
The door opened
The door got opened

In each of these sentences, some aspect of background knowledge is placed into the foreground for discussion. In the active voice, the agent (the man) is placed into the foreground. In the passive voice, the agent is placed into the background and the door is placed into the foreground. If one wanted to demote the agent even further, he could delete this information from the sentence (the door was opened). If one wanted to focus on the instrument that was used to open the door, one could easily do so by foregrounding the instrument (the key) and making it the subject of the sentence. If one wanted to focus on the object that was opened and not focus on either the instrument or the agent involved in the process, one may use the middle voice (the door opened, the door got opened). The focus of this paper involves an investigation of this process. It brings into focus the rules of topicalization and the nature of the active, passive voice, and middle voice.

TOPICALIZATION

What is this process of highlighting information or foregrounding events and actions? It is called topicalization. According to Charles Fillmore (1968), topicalization is one of the first grammatical rules that a child learns. When a child learns his native language, he begins by using only verb. Later, he adds nouns to this emerging grammar or pivot grammar. This nascent grammar is called a pivot grammar because the nouns that are later added to solitary verb pivot on either side of them, namely V, VN, NV, and NVN.. The rule that moves the nouns in a pivot grammar is called topicalization. Later in life, topicalization continues to provide a foregrounding function in language.

In most languages, the concept of topicalization is clearly marked. Japanese, for example, has morphological markers for topics (WA), subjects (GA), objects (WO), datives (NI), and locatives (DE).

John wa Mary wo mimashita.
[John TM Mary OM saw]
John saw Mary.

Kyoo wa umi ga taihen kirei desu
[today TM sea SM very beautiful is ]
As for today, the sea is very beautiful.

German also has clear distinctions between subjects and topics. Consider the underlying form for the several related sentences in German:

Johann nach Deutschland gegangen ist.

The first rule in German syntax is to move the helping verb (V2) to the beginning of the sentence.

Ist Johann nach Deutschland gegangen
Is John going to Germany?

If one leaves the construction in this state, the result is an interrogative sentence. However, one now has two options for the topicalization of this sentence. One may move the subject (Johann) to the beginning of the sentence as a topic or one may move the destination (nach Deutschland) to the beginning of the sentence as a topic.

Johann ist nach Deutschland gegangen
As for John, he is going to Germany.

Nach Deutschland ist Johann gegangen.
As for Germany, that is where John is going

.
In English, the beginning of a sentence marks the position for the topic marker and it is also the same position as the subject marker.

John saw Mary.

This sentence could mean two things: "John saw Mary" or "As for John, he saw Mary." English just happens to be one of those languages in which subject and topic distinctions are not clearly articulated. In order to highlight that some part of a sentence is functioning as a topic, one must utilize as a range of special constructions.

AS FOR CONSTRUCTIONS

As for John, he saw Mary
As for the sun, it shines

PSEUDO CLEFT CONSTRUCTIONS

What John likes is music.
That girl, he likes.

CLEFT SENTENCES

It was John who likes music
It was music that John likes

Although these constructions provide alternatives to how a subject is expressed in English, they do different things with language. The subject first construction and the topic first construction both convey old information, while the remainder of the predicate provides new information. In the sentence, John saw Mary, the old information is "John" while the new information is constituted by the predicate (saw Mary). Both cleft and pseudo cleft constructions, on the other hand, provide predicates that trigger presuppositions. The presupposition in "It was music that John likes" is "John likes music." For this reason, many linguists do not associate cleft and pseudo cleft constructions in English with topicalization.

The traditional grammatical terminology of old and new information do not really capture what is happening with topicalization. These terms fail to capture the fact that events and actions are selected to be in the foreground where they may be commented upon. The terminology fails to convey the fact that what they call old information is really foregrounded information and what they refer to as new information is something that is predicated about the scene before them. Consider the following examples derived from a situation where the man opened the door with a key:

Sentence	Commentary
The man opened the door with a key	The agent (the man) is foregrounded as a subject. His actions are commented upon: he opened the door, and he used a key
As for the man, he opened the door with a key	The agent (the man) is foregrounded as a topic. He is not only in the foreground, but he is highlighted as an agent involved in the actions to be commented upon: he opened the door, and he used a key.
The key opened the door	The instrument (the key) is selected to be in the foreground of the conversation as a topic. How that instrument was used or what it accomplished is stated by the rest of the sentence, it opened the door.
As for the key, it opened the door	The instrument (the key) has been placed in the foreground as a topic. It is in the foreground of the conversation.
The door opened	The object (the door) is now foregrounded as the subject of the sentence. What happened to the door can be found in the predicate of the sentence.
As for the door, it opened.	The object (the door) is not only foregrounded in this scene, but it is also the topic of the sentence.

It appears that the vagueness between topics and subjects in English can be readily disambiguated by means of a special topicalization construction (As for X, y happened). Subjects, on the other hand, follow the normative SUBJECT-VERB-OBJECT (SVO) pattern. What is important about topics and subjects in English is not one of old versus new information. This kind of knowledge can be inferred, but it is not what motivates subject and topic constructions in English.

When something or someone in a scene is placed in the foreground, it may be further highlighted. The person, event or action in the foreground may be given greater emphasis, a linguistic focus. The SUBJECT FIRST CONSTRUCTIONS merely place aspects of the scene into the foreground. This construction does not draw any further attention to what has been placed into the foreground. Something or someone was placed into foreground merely to be commented upon. With the TOPIC FIRST CONSTRUCTIONS, on the other hand, what has been placed into the foreground is highlighted. This same kind of distinction occurs in spoken English.

SUBJECT FIRST CONSTRUCTION

John saw Mary

TOPIC FIRST CONSTRUCTION

JOHN saw Mary
As for John, he saw Mary

The heavy stress on the agent in the TOPIC FIRST CONSTRUCTION provides an extra focus on what has been placed into the foreground.

THE CONCEPT OF GRAMMATICAL VOICE

English speakers have little or no difficulty with the concepts of active and passive voice. They understand that the agent is promoted or foregrounded in active sentences and that the agent is demoted or placed in the background in passive sentences. What English speakers find complex and mysterious is the middle voice. They cannot readily understand why the following sentences appear in the middle voice in Portuguese..

John washed his hands
Jo?o se lavava os m?os.

One speaks Portuguese
Fala-se português.

Jewelry for sale
Vendem-se as jôias.

Why does this present such a mystery for native speakers of English? A possible explanation can be found in the fact that native speakers of English are more egocentric. They exhibit a predilection for sentences that express human agency and individualism in their view of the world. By way of contrast, a language such as Japanese is more allocentric. They focus on the social self and community bonding. How does this explain the inability of native speakers of English to relate intuitively to the concept of the middle voice? What one finds in the middle voice that there is no human agent. Events and actions just present themselves. They are foregrounded without the forces of human agency. Human beings do not play a grammatical role in the middle voice. Hence, expressions in the middle voice use stative rather than dynamic verbs.

 

A disligação (de-transitivization) do agente como o tópico de uma frase.
Frase de voz activa	Verbo dínámico	João quebrou a janela
Frase de voz passiva	Verbo dínámico	A janela foi quebrada.o por João
Frase de media voz	Verbo estativo	A janela foi quebrada.

Consequently, what one finds in the middle voice are resultative verb, verb of completed states. In English, there are many ways of de-transitizing verb.

 

The Be-Passive	John was shot John was attacked John was hit Mary was sad Tom was fired	The be-passive focusses on the result of the action
Get Passive	John got shot John got hit John got tired John got sad Tom got fired	Get-passives also highlight the resultative state.
Get-Locative	He got into the house He got into college He got into the files He got into the data bank	Get locatives focus on the resulting location
Get-Reflexive	He got himself rescued	Get reflexives focus on the resulting process.
Get-Intransitive	He got ready He got drunk He got sick	Get intransitives focus on resultative states
Adjectival-Lexical Passive	The glass was broken	Resultative state
Middle Voice Intransitive	The glass broke	The middle voice is a one-place predicate that focusses on the action of the verb

There are many similar examples of the middle voice in Portuguese (Cunha, 1985).

A mensagem foi enviada [N?o menciona o agente, s? a aç?o]
The message was sent

Eu fui convidado [N?o menciona o agente, s? o paciente]
I was invited

Falam-se duas l?nguas neste pais. [Duas l?nguas s?o faladas]
There are two languages spoken in this country

Procura-se empregada [Empregadas s?o procuradas]
Maid wanted

Come-se bem aqui. [Estos alimentos s?o comidas bem aqui]
Good eating place

Devem-se esclarecer os fatos. [Os fatos devem ser esclarecidos]
One needs to clarify the facts

Podem-se montar as peças. [As peças podem ser montados]
One ought to show the strong points

Tentou-se interrogar os presos.
The prisoners should be interrogated

Procurou-se demonstrar as razóes desses fatos.
You need to show the reasons behind these facts

Vendem-se as j?ias. [As jóias não pratica a ação de vender]
Jewelry sold here.

It is obvious that the middle voice is marked by means of reflexive constructions in Portuguese. If one tries to translate them literally into English, they make no sense. However, if one considers the grammatical devices available to English speakers to foreground events and actions over human agency, then there are many such constructions in English. These are mentioned above as various forms of the passive: be passive, get passive, get locative, get reflexive, get intransitive, adjectival-lexical passive and the middle voice intransitive. There are many ways of accomplishing the task of foregrounding things, events, and actions that are devoid of human agency. Most language teachers focus on the use of reflexive constructions as markers of the middle voice in Portuguese and so it is time to turn to those constructions and to the use of adjectives as expressions of the middle voice.

REFLEXIVE SENTENCES

In the reflexive voice, the subject is demoted. What matters in these sentences is not the agent, but the actions that are taking place. The reflexive sentence in Portuguese has two pronominal forms: one for the subject and one for the object.

 

Pronomes do subjeito Subject Pronouns	Pronomes reflexivos Object Pronouns
Eu	me
Ele, Ela	se
Eles, Elas	se
Nós,	nos

Eu me queixa sempre.
Ele se quieixa sempre.

English and Portuguese differ in how they represent cognitive concepts through the reflexive construction. In Portuguese, for example, one uses the reflexive to represent intrinsic relations such as an inalienable possession between the subject and the object. The possessive pronoun is not needed in this context. In English, on the other hand, the possessive pronoun is always used.

Eu me corta o dedo. [Corta a si próprio]
[I to me cut the finger] I cut my finger.

Eu corta o seu dedo.
[he cut the his finger] I cut his finger.

O bandido escondeu-se o dinhero. [Escondeu a si próprio]
[The bandit escaped-himself the money] The bandit escaped with his own money

O bandido escondeu o dinheiro.
[the bandit escaped the money] The bandit escaped with the money.

Eu me lavo os mãos.
[I to me wash the hands] I wash my hands

Eu lavo os seus mãos.
[I wash the your hands] I wash your hands

Eu me penteo o pelo.
[I to me comb the hair] I comb my hair

Eu penteo o seu pelo
[I comb the your hair] I comb your hair

 

VERBS OF STATE

What is an adjective? Why are there languages in with no adjectival forms? The answer to this question can be better answered once one knows that verbs refer to actions and adjective refer to the state of an action .

Verb: John fears Mary
Adjective: John is afraid of Mary

In the second sentence, John is in a state of fear. Hence, when one uses adjectives, these refer to a state of being.

John is happy (John is in a state of happiness)
John is sad (John is in a state of sadness)

Some languages distinguish between permanent and temporary states and they do this by means of to different kinds of verbs of being.

Portuguese:
Verb Ser: J?ão é contente (John is happy, permanent attribute)
Verb Estar: Jãao est? cansado. (John is tired, temporary attribute)

This state can be one that is continuative (used with progressive participles) or complete (Used with resultative verbal nouns, past participles).

 

Verbo	Adjectivo	Gerúndio (verbal nouns)
falar (sem tempo)	falado, falada falando (em tempo continúo)	falado (o resultado do ação, compleito)
Tomar (sem tempo)	Tomada, tomado Tomando (em continúo)	Tomada (resultado ou compleito)
Ler	Lido, lida	Lendo Lido
Perder	Perdido, perdida	Perdendo perdido

A spoken language (a language that is in the state of being spoken)
A content man (a man who is in the state of contentment)

In Portuguese, one is able to make a distinction between permanent and non-permanent qualities through the use of two verbs of being: SER (permanent being) and ESTAR (temporary existence.

João esta doente [ele est? no estado de ser doente. Não é um estado permanente]
John is feeling ill

João é doente. [Ele tem uma condiçional permanente ou crónica]
John is chronically ill

Does this contrast occur in English? Yes. Stative verbs in English do not cannot accept the progressive form.

John knows Mary (verbo de estado)

*John is knowing Mary. (N?o acepta esta frase em inglês).

However, there is a new construction in English that can be used in the progressive with stative verbs. These forms are found only in those cases where a person wants to convey that what is happening is only temporary.

Stative	(Durative or permanent) Stative (Temporary )	Commentary
John knows Mary	John is knowing her	John is beginning to know Mary. He is in the transitional state of knowing her. This state is temporary.
	John is getting to know her	One may use the get-passive as a middle voice but also to focus on the state and not on the process. The progressive form denotes that the action is temporary.
John feels happy	John is feeling happy	John is in a happy state. The state is temporary.
	John is getting happy John is getting to feel happy	John is entering a happy state. The transition is temporary.

There is a range of linguistic uses that begin with the active voice in which the agent dominates the visual scene to a use of language that totally demotes the agent and focuses only on the actions involved in that scene.

 

Voz	Frases	Comentário
Voz activa Active voice	John saw Mary	O agente sofre a ação do verbo The agent is profiled
Voz activa com agente escondido The agent is expressed by an abstract proform.	Someone saw Mary One saw Mary	O agente tem menos énface There is less of an emphasis on the agent
Voz passiva Passive voice	Mary was seen by John Mary was seen	O agente tem menor énface There is less emphasis on the subject as the agent
Voz media Middle voice	Mary got seen John seemed to be seen	O enface est? no estado de ver. O agente n?o tem importância nestas frases. The emphasis is on the act of seeing and the agent has been demoted.
Estado (verbo estativo) Verbs of state Stative verbs	Seeing John at the store, I accosted him. Having seen John at the store, I knew that he did it.	O que é mais importante é a ação do evento e não o agente da frase What is most important is the action occurring within an event and not the agent involved in that event.

In English, there are grammatical parallels for the passive voice in Portuguese. These grammatical constructions are: Get-passive, adjectives, be passives, etc.. Translating these expressions of the middle voice from one language to another tends to be difficult.

CONCLUSION

In this essay, the concept of time as a metaphor of space was investigated. The concept of space used in time constructs reflects the Source-Path-Goal Schema which has its own internal space logic involving movement from an origin to a destination. In temporal constructions such as tense, time, and aspect, these are readily accounted for by the arrow of time, the temporal mental construct of linear space. This metaphor of time as space also accounts for movement in time in English. This movement occurs with the past behind and the future in the front of an individual. Other cultures may have time moving and the individual remaining in space waiting for its arrival. The cultural implications of these different representations of time as space is discussed elsewhere (St. Clair, 2003).

The linear time model is not able to account for how continuative and punctual aspects are used in English or Portuguese and for this reason the space model was expanded into a Cartesian graph. This move allows more than one person to share the time line from the past, through the present, and into the future. It was argued that one of the actors on the Cartesian stage was profiled and that the other interfered or interacted with that person and his passage through time.

The use of the subjunctive presented another problem to the time as space metaphor The issue in this case had to do with the housing of the subjunctive world of mental space in time. It was argued that if one adjusted the Cartesian graph to map a one person or two person point of view perspectives, the subjunctive could be readily housed in the distant future. It is to be found at the convergence of several projections into a vanishing point in the future.

Finally, the concept of voice was investigated within this model and it was argued that voice is merely a matter of perspective. When the agent presents his actions through his own perspective, one encounters the active voice, the indicative. When the agent is demoted from the scene and another perspective in time is allowed to be profiled, the change encountered is called the middle voice. The middle voice can also undergo nominalization and this results in stative verbs and adjectival forms in which the state of an event rather than its action is highlighted.

This discussion of time as space is based on the temporal systems of most European languages. Some languages use modules of circular time to express time. In this case, the spatial model is the circle. Some cultures demand that the circle move clockwise and others prefer clockwise movement. Also, there are languages in which linear time is vertical rather than horizontal (cf. Chinese). This kind of construct locates the self in three-dimensional space. In the realm of cultural space, however, a segmented model of time in space provides a greater explanatory power of how culture is deposited in layers of space over time. In such a model time is embedded in cultural space and the mechanisms of incorporating the present into the past involves a reconfiguration of past events so that they are concomitant with the current configurations of the present strata of cultural space (St. Clair, 2007:52-90).

REFERENCES

Cunha, Celso; Comtra. Çomdeçeu; [1985]. Breve gramática do português contemporâneo. Lisboa: Edições João sà da Costa.

Dahene. S. [1987]. The Number Sense: How the Mind Creates Mathematics. NY: Oxford University Press.

Fauconnier, Gilles. [1985]. Mental Spaces: Aspects of Meaning Construction in Natural Language. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Fauconnier, Gilles. [1997]. Mappings in Thought and Language. NY: Cambridge University Press.

Fauconnier, Gilles and Mark Turner. [2002]. How we Think: Conceptual Blending and the Mind's Hidden Complexities. New York: Basic Books.

Ferrari, Lilian Vieira. [2002]. A Sociocognitive Approach to Modality and Conditional constructions in Brazilian Portuguese. Journal of Languages and Linguistics, 1 Fillmore, Charles. [1968]. The case for case. In E. Bach and R. T. Harms (Eds.) Universals in Linguistic Theory. New York? Holt, Rinehart ¨Winston. (number 3), 1-14.

Givón, Talmy. [1993A]English Grammar: A Function-Based Introduction, Vol I. John BenjaminsPublishing Company, Philadelphia.

Givón, Talmy. [1993B] English Grammar: A Function-Based Introduction, Vol II. John BenjaminsPublishing Company, Philadelphia.

Goffman, Erving. [1974]. Frame Analysis. NY: Harper and Row.

Heidegger, Martin. [1962]. Sein und Zeit. Frankfurt am Main: Klosterman Verlag. Being and Time. San Francisco, California: Harper and Row Publishers.

Hopper, Paul J. and Elizabeth Closs Traugott. [1993]. Grammaticalization. Cambridge University Press.

Lakoff, George. [1987]. Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal about the Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Lakoff, George and Mark Johnon. [1980]. Metaphors we Live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Lakoff, George and Mark Johnson. [1999]. Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and its Challenge to Western Thought. NY: Basic Books.

Lakoff, George and Rafael E. N??ez. [2000] Where Mathematics comes From: How the Embodied Mind brings Mathematics into Being. New York: Basic Books.

St. Clair, Rober N. [2007]. The Sedimentation Theory of Cultural Time and Space: The Present is Embedded in the Past. CÍRCULO de Lingüística Aplicada a la Comunicación (clac) 31, 52-90. Universidad Complutense de Madrid. ISSN 1576-4737. http://www.ucm.es/info/circulo/

St. Clair, Robert N. [2003]. The Phenomenology of Self. San Antonio, Texas: Special Issue of Intercultural Communication Studies.

Sweetser, E. [1996]. Mental Spaces and the Grammar of Conditional Constructions. In Sweetser and Gauconnier, eds. Spaces, Worlds and Grammar. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press. Páginas 318-333.

Talmy, Leonard. [1988]. Force dynamics in language and cognition. Cognitive Sciences 1. 49-100.