Periodic tense

Periodic tense is a subtype of the grammatical category of tense, which encodes that the event expressed by the verb occurs within a particular period of the day (such as ‘at night’, ‘in the morning’ etc.) or of the year (‘in winter’, ‘in summer’ etc.).^[1] Its does not encode a relation to a particular point of reference, unlike deictic tense, the grammatical expression of time reference (usually past, present or future) relative either to the moment of speaking (absolute tense) or to another point of reference (relative tense).

Periodic tense is geographically restricted to Northern America, the Western Amazon region, the Sepik region, Arnhem land and it is almost entirely absent from languages of Africa and Eurasia, which the exception of Chukotkan languages.^[1]^: 12–14

Periodic tense in Nez Perce

Periodic tense can be illustrated with data from Nez Perce, which has one of the richest paradigms, comprising matutinal, diurnal, vesperal, nocturnal and hivernal, as illustrated in the following examples^[2]

méy-tip-se

MAT-eat.meal-PRS:SG

‘I am having breakfast.’

halx̣pa-típ-sa

DIU-eat.meal-PRS:SG

‘I am eating lunch.’

kulewí·-tip-se

VESP-eat.meal-PRS:SG

‘I am eating supper.’

te·w-c͗íq-ce

NOCT-talk-PRS:SG

‘I am talking at night.

ʔelíw-tin̉k-ce

HIB-die-PRS:SG

‘I am starving in winter.’

Reconstructibility

Periodic tense systems are at least partially reconstructible in some language families. In proto-Sahaptian for instance, nocturnal *têw- and matutinal *mêy-, from which Nez Perce nocturnal te·w- and matutinal méy- above originate, have been reconstructed by Aoki (1962).

In Tacanan languages, four periodic tense markers are reconstructible,^[1]^: 16 whose reflexes in Cavineña or the following: diurnal -chinepe, nocturnal -sisa, auroral -wekaka and vesperal -apuna (Guillaume 2008:126).

Attested subtypes

16 subtypes of periodic tense markers have been identified in Jacques (2023:7, Table 2), with a latinate terminology for each specific time period.

Terminology for periodic tense markers across the world's languages^[1]^: 7
Period	Term	Example	Reference
at dawn	AURORAL	Cavineña -wekaka	Guillaume (2008:126)
in the morning	MATUTINAL	Nez Perce mey-	Aoki (1994)
at noon	MERIDIAL	Berik	Westrum (1988:154)
in the afternoon	POSTMERIDIAL	May River Iwam -tep	Foley (2018:286)
in the evening	VESPERAL	Nez Perce kulewi-	Aoki (1994)
in the night	NOCTURNAL	Nez Perce te·w-	Aoki (1994)
during the day	DIURNAL	May River Iwam -harok	Foley (2018:286)
all day	PANEMERIAL	Chácobo =baina	Tallman (2018: 876–878)
all night	PANNUCHIAL	Jarawara =haba	Dixon (2004:136)
until dawn	ADAURORAL	Awtuw =alw	Feldman (1986:119)
until noon	ADMERIDIAL	Omaha -míthumoⁿshi	Marsault (2021:309)
until afternoon	?	Alamblak -krif	Bruce (1979:275)
until nightfall	ADNOCTURNAL	Omaha -hoⁿ	Marsault (2021:309)
during winter	HIBERNAL	Arapaho cecin-	Cowell and Moss (2006:217-218)
during the spring	VERNAL	Arapaho benii’ow-	Cowell and Moss (2006:217-218)
during the summer	ESTIVAL	Arapaho biicen-	Cowell and Moss (2006:217-218)
during the fall	AUTUMNAL	Arapaho toyoun-	Cowell and Moss (2006:217-218)

References

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Jacques (2023).
^ Data from Aoki (1994: 751–2), interlinear glosses from Jacques (2023:2-3).

Bibliography

Aoki, Haruo. 1962. Nez Perce and Northern Sahaptin: A binary comparison. International Journal of American Linguistics 28(3). 172–182.
Aoki, Haruo. 1994. Nez Perce dictionary. University of California publications in linguistics (Vol. 112). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-09763-7.
Bruce, Leslie P. 1979. A grammar of Alamblak (Papua New Guinea). Canberra: Australian National University dissertation.
Cowell, Andrew & Alonzo Sr. Moss. 2006. The Arapaho language. Boulder: University Press of Colorado.
Dixon, R. M. W. (2004). The Jarawara language of Southern Amazonia. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-927067-8.
Foley, William A. (2018). "The languages of the Sepik-Ramu basin and environ". In Bill Palmer (ed.). The languages and linguistics of the New Guinea area. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 197–432.
Feldman, Harry. 1986. A grammar of Awtuw. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
Guillaume, Antoine. 2008. A grammar of Cavineña. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Jacques, Guillaume (2023). "Periodic tense markers in the world's languages and their sources". Folia Linguistica. 57 (3): 539–562. doi:10.1515/flin-2023-2013.
Marsault, Julie. 2021. Valency-changing operations in Umóⁿhoⁿ: Affixation, incorporation and syntactic constructions. Paris: Université Paris III dissertation.
Tallman, Adam J. 2018. A grammar of Chácobo (Pano), a southern Pano language of the northern Bolivian Amazon. Austin: University of Texas at Austin dissertation.
Westrum, Peter. 1988. Berik grammar sketch. Irian 16. 133–181.

[Jacques2023-1] Jacques (2023).

[2] Data from Aoki (1994: 751–2), interlinear glosses from Jacques (2023:2-3).

[1]

[2]