英语过去时态多义性的认知与语用研究-豆柴文库

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英语过去时态多义性的认知与语用研究
Introduction
ThepasttenseisanessentialaspectoftheEnglishlanguage.Itisusedtorefertoactionsoreventsthatoccurredinthepast.However,thepasttenseinEnglishexhibitsacertaindegreeofambiguity.Itcan,attimes,bechallengingtodeciphertheintendedmeaningofasentencebasedontheinterpretationofthepasttenseusedinthatsentence.ThispaperaimstoexplorethecognitiveandpragmaticaspectsofthedifferentmeaningsofthepasttenseinEnglish.
CognitiveAspectofthePastTense
Thecognitiveaspectofthepasttensereferstothementalprocessesinvolvedintheinterpretationofthepasttense.Oneoftheprimaryreasonswhythepasttensecanbeambiguousisitsrelationshipwithotherverbforms.Forexample,thepastparticipleformofaverbcansometimeslooklikethepasttenseformbuthaveadifferentmeaning.Forinstance,considerthefollowingsentence:
Thecakewasbakedfortwohours.
Thepastparticipleformof'bake'is'baked,'whichisalsothepasttenseform.However,inthesentenceabove,'baked'isnotusedtoindicateapastactionbutinsteadtoindicateastateofbeing.Thisdemonstratestheimportanceofcontextandtheneedtointerprettheintendedmeaningofthesentencebasedonthecontextinwhichitisused.
Anotherfactorthatcancontributetotheambiguityofthepasttenseisitsrelationshipwithadverbsandtimeexpressions.Pasttensecanbeusedtoindicateatemporalrelationshipwithothereventsinthepast.Forexample,considerthefollowingsentences:
IfinishedmyworkbeforeIwenttobed.
IfinishedmyworkafterIwenttobed.
Bothsentencesusethepasttense,buttheyconveydifferenttemporalrelationshipsbetweentheeventsoffinishingworkandgoingtobed.Thefirstsentenceimpliesthattheworkwascompletedbeforegoingtobed,whilethesecondsentenceimpliesthattheworkwascompletedaftergoingtobed.Theuseoftheadverb'before'and'after'clarifiesthetemporalrelationshipbetweentheeventsandhelpsdisambiguatethepasttense.
PragmaticAspectofthePastTense
Thepragmaticaspectofthepasttensereferstohowthepasttenseisusedincommunicationtoconveyspecificmeanings.InEnglish,thepasttensecanhavedifferentpragmaticimplicationsdependingonthecontextinwhichitisused.Forexample,considerthef