Abstract
The non-typical uses of the simple past tense are rather popular and reflect people’s cognitive thinking. These usages are largely embodied in the counterfactual past, the indirect speech and the pragmatic softening. This research attempts to interpret these non-typical usages of the simple past tense employing the mental space theory. A cognitive interpretation of English simple past tense can better understand the cognitive mechanisms of counterfactual events.
Highlights
It is generally accepted that the simple past tense mainly represents the state or action of the past event
What’s motivation for the simple past tense expressing non-past events or non-temporal meanings? What is the cognitive mechanism behind this phenomenon? This research attempts to employ the mental space theory to explore several kinds of non-past usages of the simple past tense
It is very delighted that there have been part of researchers addressing to the simple past tense from the conceptual blending theory or mental space theory, but for its non-past uses, there are few research from the perspective of mental space theory
Summary
It is generally accepted that the simple past tense mainly represents the state or action of the past event. Besides the expression of the past event, the simple past tense can convey non-past time or non-temporal meanings. It can refer to the events of habitual past and counterfactual past. It is widely used in indirect speech and pragmatic softener. What’s motivation for the simple past tense expressing non-past events or non-temporal meanings? This research attempts to employ the mental space theory to explore several kinds of non-past usages of the simple past tense. Recent research demonstrates that numerous scholars look upon this phenomenon as the metaphorical means of language and the prototypical usage. (2016) A Cognitive Interpretation for Non-Past Uses of the Simple Past Tense.
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