The Tense System in English Relative Clauses (Topics in English Linguistics)

The central hypothesis of this book is that the differences to be observed between future time restrictive and future time non-restric-tive relative clauses cannot be generalized to include just any issue relating to tense in relative clauses. I will illustrate the similarities between restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses and show that the differences between them occur primarily in (a) future time contexts and (b) "world-posterior indirectly bound" contexts.

The distribution of the differences and similarities will raise the issue of the relative importance of the various findings, and it is on this hierarchy of relatively less/more important factors that the conclusion whether or not restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses differ in the use of tense, will have to be based. My detailed investigation of relative clauses will allow me to reveal some of the underlying principles useful for explaining the use of tense in English in general and to comment on the differences in effect produced by "mutually substitutable" forms.

My analysis also provides a means of putting Declerck's model to the test: if it contains any inaccuracies or shortcomings, they are likely to emerge in the course of the discussion. It will be shown that (apart from a few minor inaccuracies) the predictions the model makes about the way in which temporal relations are expressed in English are borne out by the facts and that therefore, it constitutes a theory that is descriptively and explanatorily adequate.

I will proceed in the following way: in chapter 1,1 give a definition of the concepts (un)boundedness and (a)telicity, as these will prove extremely important for the discussion which follows. Chapter 2 gives an outline of the theoretical framework of this book, i.e. the descriptive theory of tense as developed in Declerck (1991a) and shows how it can be applied to relative clauses; a survey is given of the different options which the system allows.

The first two chapters, then, provide the necessary tools to embark upon the analysis of the use of tense in relative clauses. In the next three chapters, some of the possibilities illustrated in chapter 2 are considered in detail. In chapter 3,1 examine how anteriority and posteriority are expressed in past sector relative clauses, some observations relating to the expression of simultaneity in the past sector also being included. Chapter 4 deals with anteriority in pre-present sector relative clauses. Chapter 5 offers an analysis of anteriority and simultaneity in post-present sector relative clauses. This approach will result in a comparison between the three sectors and the two types of relative clauses.

Having explained the constraints on, and possibilities of, expressing temporal relations by means of tense, I discuss the differences in effect between mutually substitutable forms in more detail (chapter 6). Chapter 7 is focussed on how relative clauses are temporally interpreted when neither tense, adverbs nor pragmatic or contextual knowledge provide information about the temporal location of the situations. In the last chapter, I examine whether non-restrictive relative clauses differ from restrictive relative clauses as far as the choice of binding time of orientation and (in)direct binding are concerned.


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