Universal #1275
Legacy number: 1275
| Number | 1271 |
| Original | Categories which can be used as a ‘perfect of result’ (i.e. to say that something has happened that has a result at the moment of speech) tend to be nondistinct from hodiernal pasts. |
| Standardized | IF categories can be used as a ‘perfect of result’ (i.e. to say that something has happened that has a result at the moment of speech), THEN they tend to be nondistinct from hodiernal pasts. |
| Keywords | tense, aspect, past |
| Domain | inflection |
| Type | no genuine implication; rather: provided that |
| Status | achronic |
| Quality | statistical |
| Basis | sample of 75 languages in Dahl 1984, sample of 64 languages in Dahl 1985 |
| Source | Dahl 1984: 113, Dahl 1985: 136 |
Discussion
Counterexamples
Kikuyu, LoNkundo, and apparently Kamba (all Bantu, Niger-Congo) which have separate categories for perfect and hodiernal past - Dahl 1984: 114, 1985: 136
Notes
1. See so-called “hodiernal vs. non-hodiernal distinction” in # 1274.2. This is perhaps often formulated in another way. Cf. Comrie 1976: 60: “In many languages, the perfect may be used where the present relevance of past situation referred to is simply temporal closeness, i.e. the past situation is very recent.”
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2. This is perhaps often formulated in another way. Cf. Comrie 1976: 60: "In many languages, the perfect may be used where the present relevance of past situation referred to is simply temporal closeness, i.e. the past situation is very recent."