PREDICATE REFERENTIALITY AND NON-REFERENTIALITY IN ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

Žana Gavrilović

Abstract


This paper examines the predicate referentiality and non-referentiality in English linguistics, and the research is focused entirely on the literary corpora. While previous studies often used constructed or conversational examples, this paper demonstrates how referential and non-referential temporal meanings of finite verb forms operate in canonical English literature. Eighteen examples are excerpted from the literary works of some of the most prominent writers of contemporary literature and analysed in terms of their temporal meaning within wider sentential context. The results of the research confirm that the non-referential use of the tenses is less common in the examined literature, and that it represents a stylistic means of colouring the context so as to make it more vivid, temporally extended and more expressive. The results primarily confirm that the interplay between grammatical tense and discourse context is central to temporal interpretation.

 

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Keywords


predicate, referentiality, non-referentiality, meaning

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejmts.v5i1.658

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