Semi-imperfectives and imperfectives: A case study of aspect and tense in Arabic participal clauses

Abstract

This paper views Arabic participial clauses as a simultaneous relative tense (Comrie 1985). This simultaneous tense is imperfective in aspect, mainly stative, and marginally iterative or progressive. In addition, participial structures may refer to states or activities which are bounded by a dynamic event at their beginning (retrospective) or end (prospective). For these I propose the term semi-imperfectives, i.e. imperfective states/activities bounded at one edge by the actualization of a dynamic event. Retrospective semi-imperfectives cover the English present perfect. Prospective semi-imperfectives correspond to the English 'futurate progressive' or be going to. Thus, semi-imperfectives incorporate 'extended now' (McCoard 1978), and 'current relevance' (Sperber and Wilson 1986, as applied by Haegeman 1989) under the well-known parameters of tense and aspect (event time). Participial clauses in Arabic illustrate how one grammatical form may express both the retrospective and prospective 'now'. © 1992.