A Study On The Decategorization Of English Verb Tenses

Based on the Dialectical Materialism of Marxism and heritages of previous theories and descriptive methods in the study of verb tenses, the current research adopts an integrated theory-model of various major linguistic theories to investigate systematically the decategorization of English verb tenses. The research has formulated a dynamic viewpoint of tense study, creating a uniform descriptive system of English verb tenses and establishing a stable evaluative framework for the given issue.First of all, a dynamic viewpoint of study is formulated in the current research. Actually, like other forms of the language, the verb tense has undergone the process of grammaticalization. The evolution of the tense system is the result of the multi-dimensional transformation of the temporal and spatial qualities of language. The tense is forever a dynamic existence and has been undergoing both absolute and relative changes as language develops.The second aspect of the current study is the systematic illustration of the correlation between the form and meaning of English verb tenses. All forms of language are meaningful, and the relationship between the form and meaning of verb tense is objective and is none but in the form of network correlation, with correspondence from various angles. The meaning of the verb tense is not only the sum of those of the separate components of the tense category, but the result of the interrelation of the meanings of the tense markers with various other factors, which may lead to the irregularity in tense construction. These irregular tense constructions are still legitimate, though.The third aspect of the current research is the creation of a uniform descriptive system for verb tense study, beginning with the defining of typological and non-typological categories of English verb tenses, with equal emphasis put on the absolute and relative features of the decategorization of English verb tenses. The absolute attribute of the decategorization of English verb tenses manifests itself in the grammaticalization of the tense markers from the perspective of diachronic description. And the relative attribute is manifest in the grounding of tenses in discourse by the discourse schemata in terms of synchronic description.The description of the decategorization of English verb tenses covers all layers of language from nonfinite clause, finite clause, clause complex, dynamic discourse, to long narrative discourse, including narrative poems and dramas. The current research involves not only written discourses but also spoken discourses, concerning both the systematic analysis of the semantic motivation of the decategorized verb tenses and the dynamic research in the implicaturs of the decategorized verb tenses in terms of conversational principle. And the study on the conversational implicatures of verb tenses in terms of conversational principle, and the illustration of the temporal schemata of discourse claim frontier theoretical values and high practical significance.The fourth aspect of the current study is the establishment of a stable evaluation system. The previous theories and descriptive methodology are haphazard in describing the decategorization of English verb tenses, without any uniform terminology and universal evaluation system. For example, terminology varies exceedingly in describing irregular tense constructions, taking terms such as special uses, non-agreement of tenses, abnormal uses of tenses, etc. Accordingly, standards differ greatly from each other in the definition of tense, and distinction has not been clearly drawn among the differing concepts of basic meaning, conventional inferences and conversational implicatures of verb tenses, as a result of which, inconvenience arises in the research and learning of verb tenses.The current study bases itself in the natural temporal and spatial qualities of language, and draws a clear division between typological and non-typological categories of the English verb tenses, from the perspective of the multiple correlations between form and meaning of English verb tenses. The clear definition of basic meaning, conventional inferences and conversational implicatures can help to distinguish the typological and non-typological categories of English verb tenses. And the division between typological and non-typological categories of dynamic discourses establishes a uniform standard for the study of the temporal schemata of narrative discourse.The fifth contribution of the current dissertation lies in the hypothesis of interaction between verb tenses. The decategorization of situation type is also the result of grounding, which takes place in the interrelation between situation time and time adverbials, between the temporal attributes of finite and nonfinite clauses, and between the temporal qualities of clauses, between situation time and context, and between the situation time and arguments.The sixth aspect of the current study is the perfection of the perspective shift hypothesis. The integrating function of grounding, which may lead to the decategorization of verb tenses, also lies in the shift of perspective. As a matter of fact, the use of language in communication is a process of experiential construal, which may possibly expand across the temporal and spatial boundaries, and language users may constantly shift the temporal perspective and temporal focus according to their communicative intention. The shift of temporal perspective is basically in the shift and hypothetical re-establishment of time domain. The shift of perspective can help to express even more subjective and modal meanings.The hypothesis of perspective shift is used throughout the whole dissertation, covering all levels of clause, clause complex, dynamic discourse, and log narrative discourse. And furthermore the dissertation carries out a classification of perspective shifts in discourse schemata and does a systematical analysis in the cognitive motivation, conversational implicatures, and discourse functions of perspective shift as well. The study is among the most comprehensive of the like.The seventh aspect of the current research is the systematic explanation of ever puzzling problems of verb grammar, such as the controversy in the future tense in English, the present perfect, the vagueness of time adverbials which may cause difficulties in tense choice, the default tense in many settled constructions, the imperfectiveness of the progressive aspect, the controversy in subjunctive mood and the remoteness of tenses. The analysis is based on a uniform method and a universal standard of high feasibility.In addition, a dynamic model is established to describe the decategorization of English verb tenses.The theoretical system of the current dissertation claims great innovation and pedagogical significance. The theory is of great explanatory power in the sense that it makes it possible to analyze a great number of ever puzzling problems. The theory is also quite inclusive, covering all the deviations of verb tenses and meanings. The theory is adaptable to various major linguistic theories. And the theory is tortuous enough to offer theoretical analysis to various verb tense problems.The dissertation is directly depending on the following theories and hypotheses:Semantics of Verbs, Grammaticalization, Categorization and Decategorization of Language, Constructional Grammar, Grounding Hypothesis, Pragmatics, Functional and Systemic Grammar, and Narratology.