модальности (18)

[hgr]

спатиотемпоральные -- те, в которых время и пространство вместе. АПДЕЙТ важное добавление в последних абзацах.

1           Spatiotemporal functional heads

The total number of functional heads related to spatiotemporal (or, at least, temporal) modalities is twelve. They form several groups which need to be treated separately. However, all of them can be analysed without the explicit connection to other modalities. Thus, we are allowed to consider the spatiotemporal relations within a spatiotemporal universe where the spatiotemporal relations are the only relations possible. It is important in view to simplify the modal operators.

 

The spatiotemporal heads are the following (again I have to admit that I exclude any consideration of the Voice functional head...):

T(Past)

T(Future)

ASPhapitiual

Asprepetitive(I)

ASPfrequentative(I)

Aspceleratlve(I)

T(Anterior)

AsPperfect

ASPretrospective

ASPproximative

Aspdurative

ASPprospective

 

2           Spatiotemporal modalities

Looking at Cinque’s table, one can wonder why it is so rich by the temporal functional heads but has absolutely no spatial head. Given that the modalities of time reasoning are structurally the same as those of spatial reasoning, we have to suppose that the spatial dimensions of, at least, some grammatical categories are overlooked. I think, that it is the case of the three “aspects”: habitual, repetitive, and frequentative. Cinque considers only the temporal side of the corresponding categories, despite the fact that all of them are spatial categories, too.

 

Indeed, “habitual” could presuppose not only “generally,” “normally,” “always” in time but also in space (“everywhere” etc.). In the same manner, “repetitive” could mean not only repetition from time to time, but also from place to place. And, finally, “frequentative” could mean not only “frequently in time” but also “in many places.” All the three aspects, habitual, repetitive, and frequentative, are not “time-specific”: they correspond to the spatiotemporal modality in a broader sense.

 

The nature of the modal operators corresponding to “habitual” and “repetitive” is almost self-evident:

·         “habitual” corresponds to the spatial all, that is, topological inclusion,

·         “repetitive” corresponds to the spatial some, that is, topological closure,

·         the spatial none corresponds to “nowhere/never” (external negation of “habitual”).

It is not so evident for the nature of the “frequentative” operator. The meaning of “frequentative” is somewhere between “repetitive” and “habitual,” with no sense of comparison, however.

·         It is a topological operator, too, and not the distance one. Thus, it is the topological not all, that is, the internal negation of the topological some (“repetitive”).

It is interesting to note that Cinque’s table includes the whole square of the spatiotemporal topological operator.

This operator must be considered, within the spatiotemporal universe, as that of ‹1› type: it quantifies over the whole universe, which does not contain any specific subset. The corresponding distance operator (spatiotemporal more than, that is, “closer than” in space and time) would be of ‹1, 1› type: it quantifies over a pair of elements of the universe. In Cinque’s table, there is only one functional head meeting this requirement: “celerative aspect.” The corresponding grammatical categories exist in some languages to express that an act is performed speedily, that is, in a short period of time. I think that this “celerative” operator is nothing but a particular case of the spatiotemporal “short” (spatial “near to,” “close to,” etc.). This evaluation of some spatiotemporal section as “short” implies that there is a reference section that is “long”. Thus, the spatiotemporal “short” is the expression of a binary opposition of spatiotemporal preferences designed by its marked term. The place of the celerative aspect just after the three topological spatiotemporal aspects can be interpreted as an additional justification of our understanding.