FutureInFutureTense FutureInPastTense FuturePerfectTense FutureTense HesternalPastTense HodiernalFutureTense HodiernalPastTense ImmediateFutureTense ImmediatePastTense NonFutureTense NonPastTense PastInPastTense PastPerfectTense PastTense PerfectTense PostHodiernalFutureTense PreHodiernalPastTense PresentPerfectTense PresentTense RecentPastTense RelativeFutureTense RelativePastTense RelativePresentTense RemoteFutureTense RemotePastTense SimpleFutureTense SimplePastTense SimplePresentTense StillTense CloseFutureTense NearFutureTense
Following [Comrie 1985: vii], we take tense to be the grammaticalisation of location in time. Tense Property is assigned to clauses on the basis of semantics: a tense value is selected for the clause from the range of tense values available in the given language. Tense Property is typically realised on the verb, but it may be found expressed multiply on different elements in the same clause. For example, tense may be found on more than one element of the verbal complex (e.g. in Kayardild [Evans 2003] or Paamese [Crowley 2002: 68], or on verbs as well as on certain spatial and temporal adverbs and certain prepositions in the same clause (e.g. in Malagasy [Randriamasimanana 1981: 355-367], [Keenan and Polinsky 1998: 566-567].
In the given language, the values of the Tense Property are assigned to the designated elements as a consequence of semantic choice, and all the available options of particular tense values expressing particular tense meanings can be described with a Tense Assignment System for that language. Since no languages have been found for which tense values are assigned by a Tense Distribution System (i.e. contextually, through agreement or government), Tense Property is not a Morphosyntactic Property. Instead, it is a Morphosemantic Property only.
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