re: Fundamentally flawed

From: Richard Lindeman (
Date: Mon Mar 23 1998 - 17:39:56 EST

So then... having placed Aktionsart in the contextual stream of things now
we can go back to Tense and Aspect. Here is what I have already said about

I said:
>Tense also flows from the context of *thought* as does every element of
>grammar. But tense is not quite as closely related to *thought* as
>Aktionsart is. Tense is added *after* the verb of Aktionsart has already
>been thoughtfully chosen. *Thought* is still taking place when tense is
>added, but now it may or may not be exactly the same thought as existed
>when the verb of Aktionsart was first chosen. Our thoughts change that
>quickly. Just as my car enables me to change my travel route to school as
>am in transit... so also we find that Tense offers the author an
>opportunity to adapt or change the original thought which began with
>Aktionsart. How does it do this? Tense reacts to two other contexts which
>Aktionsart does not. Tense reacts primarily to contexts which we call
>*time* and *aspect*.

OK... I think I got it partly right anyway. The three universal contexts
are *Time*, *Activity*, and *Substance*. *Activity* flows from *Time*
and *Substance* flows from *Activity*. What I said above is that Tense is
primarily a reaction to the contexts of *Time* and *Aspect*. But let me
re-evaluate that thought. Of course we already know what *Time* is. It is
one of the big three universal contexts at work in the created world.

But what is Aspect and why did I call it context? Probably because we are
presently defining Aspect with objective terminology. If indeed we can
objectively define *Activity* as "being punctiliar, ongoing, or completed
*Activity*", then it would probably make sense to say that Aspect is a
type of context which is simply a subset - a substream of *Activity*. But
on the other hand, Rolf Furuli could be correct when he says that we might
be better off defining Aspect in subjective terms rather than in objective
terms. However, if we re-define Aspect as being subjective rather than
objective, then Aspect is no longer context. Then aspect no longer
commands. It is then just another reaction to context as all other
grammatical concepts are. I will hold judgement on this and for the moment
define *Aspect* as context. And as context it is in command rather than in

Tense is primarily a reaction to the context *Aspect*. And because the
context of *Aspect* flows from the context of *Activity* and because the
context of *Activity* flows directly from the context of *Time*... tense is
therefore also secondarily a reaction to the context of *Time*.


Rich Lindeman
