Universal #1277

Legacy number: 1277

 Number  1273
 Original  If narrative and non-narrative contexts differ with respect to the marking of temporal distance, it will be the non-narrative contexts that exhibit the largest number of distinctions.
 Standardized  IF narrative and non-narrative contexts differ with respect to the marking of temporal distance, THEN it will be the non-narrative contexts that exhibit the largest number of distinctions.
 Keywords  tense, aspect, context, narrative, temporal distance
 Domain  inflection
 Type  no genuine implication; rather: provided that
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  sample of 75 languages in Dahl 1984, sample of 64 languages in Dahl 1985
 Source  Dahl 1984: 116, Dahl 1985: 127

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Discussion
Notes
Dahl defines a narrative discourse as one where the speaker relates a series of real or fictive events in the order they took place. According to Dahl, a sentence occurs in a narrative context if the temporal point of reference (in Reichenbach’s sense) is determined by the point in time at which the last event related in the preceding context took place.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Dahl defines a narrative discourse as one where the speaker relates a series of real or fictive events in the order they took place. According to Dahl, a sentence occurs in a narrative context if the temporal point of reference (in Reichenbach's sense) is determined by the point in time at which the last event related in the preceding context took place.