Beyond Morphology: A Multi-Layered Model of Tense and Aspect in Arabic
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37375/aj.v18i2.4311Keywords:
Arabic, Grammatical Tense, Morphological Tense, Lexical Aspect, Phasal AspectAbstract
This paper examines the analysis of tense and aspect in Arabic through the integration of contemporary linguistic theory with the Arabic grammatical tradition. It argues that the long-standing debate over whether Arabic is fundamentally a tense-based or an aspect-based language stems largely from differences in the analytical level at which temporal meaning is examined. Building on Tammām Ḥassān's distinction between morphological tense and grammatical tense, the study demonstrates that temporal interpretation in Arabic cannot be reduced to verbal morphology alone but emerges through the interaction of morphology, syntax, particles, auxiliaries, adverbials, and discourse context. The paper further reinterprets Arabic aspect within contemporary aspect theory by distinguishing lexical aspect, viewpoint aspect, and phasal aspect, and shows that many constructions traditionally grouped together under a single notion of aspect belong to different aspectual domains. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Reichenbach, Comrie, Vendler, and Ḥassān, the study proposes a unified multi-layered model of temporal meaning in Arabic consisting of four interacting dimensions: the expression of temporal meaning, temporal anchoring, lexical aspect, and grammatical aspect. This framework reconciles insights from classical Arabic grammar and modern linguistic theory by demonstrating that their apparent disagreements reflect different analytical perspectives rather than incompatible accounts of the language. More broadly, the proposed model offers a comprehensive framework for analyzing temporal meaning in Arabic and contributes to cross-linguistic theories of tense and aspect by distinguishing the expression of temporal meaning from its semantic and aspectual interpretation.
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