Tsilia and Zhao (2026): Tense and Perspective: A Solution to the ⌈then⌉-Present Puzzle #
This file formalizes the solution of [TZ26] to the ⌈then⌉-present puzzle, (12):
the temporal adverb ⌈then⌉ cannot restrict a present-tensed verb phrase, whether the present
is shifted or not. In Greek, Hebrew, Russian and Japanese a present under a past attitude
verb shifts to the attitude's time, (8), yet ⌈then⌉ is still excluded, (9)–(11), although it
restricts an embedded past with the same simultaneous reference, (38)–(39), and a deleted,
sequence-of-tense past, (48)–(49). Tenses and ⌈then⌉ are temporal pronouns with
presuppositions relative to a perspective parameter π, (69)–(71): PRES overlap, PAST
precedence, ⌈then⌉ disjointness, the substrate's Tense.Perspective.Presup at the cells
present, past and presentᶜ. Tense shift is the rebinding of π, by the propositional
operator OP_π of (73), to an evaluation index that an attitude verb or WOLL binds, so a
clausemate PRES and ⌈then⌉ shift together and read the same π; since ⌈then⌉ restricts the
reference of the tense it modifies, (76), their presuppositions clash whatever π is,
not_restricted_present, the derivations (77), (79), (81) and (82), and so for each adverb of
the sample, not_restricted_present_of_mem. A pronominal anchor would let the two anchor
separately, (36), which is coherent, exists_split_anchor, hence the parameter. ⌈then⌉
restricts a PAST to its own reference, restricted_past_self, and a deleted tense, carrying no
presupposition, (86)–(87), is compatible with ⌈then⌉ when no operator shifts the perspective
onto its reference, (89), restricted_top_of_not_overlaps and not_restricted_top_of_le.
Japanese tooji is past-oriented and so, unlike then, excluded of a future time, (32),
presup_then_not_tooji_of_precedes. Russian sejčas 'now' has the presupposition of PRES,
(115), and restricts a present, restricted_present_sejchas.
Implementation notes #
Times are closed intervals of a linear order, and clause meanings are their presuppositions
as functions of the perspective; the assertion, the assignment and the evaluation index are
suppressed, so OP_π is instantiation of the perspective, and the intensional binding that
licenses a shift, absent in relative clauses under past except in Japanese, is described by
the rows. The typology of Tables 1 and 2 is the rows: under past the present shifts in
attitude reports in Greek, Hebrew, Russian and Japanese, in relative clauses only in
Japanese, and never in English, whose present under past indicates the utterance time; under
future it shifts everywhere, WOLL binding the index, and only English admits ⌈then⌉ there,
its present being deleted under WOLL's PRES rather than shifted, a difference among
sequence-of-tense languages the paper leaves open, (94)–(97). The perspective is not the
context's time, since Greek shifts the present but never tora 'now', (99). The examples are
the rows of Data.Examples.TsiliaZhao2026.
TODO #
The paper derives the exclusion of sejčas from a simultaneous embedded past, (112), from the
presuppositions (114) and (115) "just like the ⌈then⌉-present puzzle". Containment and the two
presuppositions are jointly satisfiable, exists_restricted_past_present, because precedence,
unlike overlap, does not pass to a containing time; the exclusion follows once the reference of
sejčas lies within the perspective, not_restricted_past_of_le, an assumption the paper does
not state.
References #
The clash and the shift-together effect (section 5) #
(76)–(77): the presuppositions of a clause whose tense, with cell tense and reference r,
is modified by an adverb with cell adv and reference th, as a function of the perspective.
The silent during places the reference of the tense within that of the adverb.
Equations
- TsiliaZhao2026.Restricted tense adv r th π = (Tense.Perspective.Presup tense π r ∧ r ≤ th ∧ Tense.Perspective.Presup adv π th)
Instances For
OP_π rebinds the perspective of PRES and the adverb at once, so a present-tensed clause modified by a distal adverb is contradictory whatever the perspective: the root case (75), the shifted case (78) and the future cases (81)–(82) alike.
The ⌈then⌉ adverbs of the paper's sample.
Equations
Instances For
(12), the ⌈then⌉-present puzzle: every adverb of the sample is distal, Japanese tooji because a past reference is in particular a disjoint one, so none restricts a present tense.
The clash is the adverb's doing: Russian sejčas 'now', with the presupposition of PRES, (115), restricts a present tense.
(36): with pronominal anchors, PRES and ⌈then⌉ could be anchored to different times and the clause would be coherent, which is why the anchor is a parameter.
Past and deleted tense (sections 3 and 6) #
(38), (39), (44): a PAST admits at its own reference any adverb whose cell admits precedence, ⌈then⌉ and tooji alike.
(32): tooji is used only of past times, so unlike English then it cannot refer to a time after the perspective.
(86)–(87): a deleted tense carries no presupposition, so only the adverb's remains.
(89a): with no OP_π the perspective stays the utterance time, from which the reported meeting is disjoint, and ⌈then⌉ restricts the deleted past.
(89b): with OP_π shifting the perspective onto the time of the reported speech, within which the meeting time lies, a distal adverb can no longer restrict it.
Perspective-sensitive now (section 7) #
(112), (114)–(115): a past reference cannot be restricted by a sejčas whose reference lies within the perspective.
The presuppositions (114) and (115) alone do not exclude a past under sejčas: a time that precedes the perspective can lie within one that overlaps it.