Introducing English Linguistics

Temporal deixis
Historically in English and other languages, spatial prepositions, such as
in and  on in the two previous examples, developed temporal meanings
over time, a reflection of the general trend for notions of space to develop
into notions of time. Thus, prepositions such as in, on, at, and by in the
phrases in the morning, on time, at noon, and by the evening can now be mark-
ers of temporal, or time, deixis: the use of language to anchor the speaker/
writer in time.
Temporal deixis in English is marked linguistically by both temporal
adverbials (e.g. yesterday, tomorrow, in the morning) and tense markers (pres-
ent and past) on verbs. Although aspect markers on verbs are not strictly
speaking deictic (a point that will be clarified later in this section), the past
tense, for instance, can be used in place of certain perfective verb forms,
and tense works with aspect to delineate certain temporal sequences.
When considering the particular time frames that temporal deictics mark,
it is important to realize that “The principal reference point for temporal
deixis is the present, the contextual time at which the utterance occurs”
(Frawley 1992: 282). Thus, if someone says I walked to school yesterday, he or she
is speaking in the present about an event that happened in the past.
As was noted earlier in this chapter, English has two tenses that are
morphologically marked on verbs: the present and past. However, English
has no future tense – that is, an inflection that is placed on a verb to mark
an event taking place in the future. Instead, English uses the modal verbs
shall or will –
I shall speak to him on his return 
(ICE-GB W16-01B-098)
English words: Structure and meaning
187

---

The woman will be employed by a charity or public body and will be resi-
dent with the people being cared for. 
(BNC G2N 373)
the phrasal modal be going to:
People are going to start getting anxious now aren’t they.
(CIC)
I am going to leave this job. 
(BNC A6V 1397)
or a verb in the present tense occurring with a temporal adverbial indi-
cating future time:
Meanwhile I go to pick up my results tomorrow.
(ICE-GB W1B-007–069)
I return to town next week – for the 18th.
(CIC)
The modal shall tends to be used mainly in British English with first-
person subjects; American English prefers will. With present tense verbs, a
temporal adverbial marking future time is necessary for the sentence to
have a future time interpretation. However, temporal adverbials can also
be used with will, shall, or be going to as a redundant marker of future time:
Good well I’ll see you tomorrow morning then alright
(MICASE ADV700JU023)
The markers of future time in several of the sentences above are plotted
on Figure 6.5 at points (a)–(c), points in time beyond the present at which
the event taking place will happen.
188
INTRODUCING ENGLISH LINGUISTICS
Present 
(d) finished breakfast   
 
(a) shall speak 
 
(e) spoke in detail
(f) presentation was 
(b) are going to start 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(c) return next week 
 
 
 
Past Future 
   (g) there goes that bloody dog 
   (h) here’s  your check 
FIGURE
6.5
Tense in English.
The past tense points to an event that occurred at a specific time in the
past. In the examples below, the verbs finished, spoke, and was point to
times in the past when the events they describe occurred, events that have
been completed:

---

We finished our breakfast.
(BNC A0F 2871)
The fourth issue which we spoke in detail about during our last presen-
tation was how can generations determine the needs and assets of the
children
(MICASE STP560JG118)
The events described by these verbs are located at points (d)–(f) in Figure 6.5.
The present tense is more complicated. As Quirk et al. (1985: 180)
observe, one use of the present tense is to mark a period of time that ends
immediately after a statement is uttered, a tense they term “the instanta-
neous present.” In both of the examples below, the events are over once
each sentence is spoken:
There goes that bloody dog.
(BNC KE6 8942)
And here’s [here is] your check.
(CIC)
The events that these verbs mark would be located at points (g) and (h) on
Figure 6.5.
However, Quirk et al. (1985: 179) also note that the present tense can
mark (1) statements that are in effect timeless, “the state present”:
Well she also speaks English
(ICE-GB S1A-069-116)
Although she lives in Brazil, Ms Bueno remains active in tennis through
regular personal appearances in several countries.
(BNC AOV 939)
or (2) events that occur on a regular basis, “the habitual present”:
She stays up till about half past five gets up at nine every day.
(CIC)
What’s interesting though about the epidemiology of diaries is that they
appear
regularly among different ethnic minorities
(MICASE COL605MX039)
That the present tense marker in English can mark time frames other
than the immediate present has led many grammarians, including Quirk
et al. (1985), to argue that semantically English does not have a present
tense per se but rather a past tense and a non-past tense. Moreover, the
present tense verb marker in a sentence such as The man works every day is
more an indicator of aspect than tense; that is, it does not mark a point in
time but a habitual action. As was noted in the last chapter, the notion of
aspect relates to the “temporal flow” of an event. For this reason, aspect is
not deictic. Unlike tense, it does not point to a specific point in time but
rather views time as, for instance, continuous or habitual. However, the
distinction between tense and aspect in English has become blurred in
many instances: the past tense can sometimes substitute for the past