The Pragmatics of the Non-Temporal Uses of the Past Tense in Arabic

Abstract

This paper explores some of the non-temporal uses of the past tense in Arabic in an attempt to decipher the subtle pragmatic effects that such uses accomplish in discourse. It also examines the extent to which these uses will support the generalization proposed by Wallace (1982) to explain the non-temporal uses of the past tense in English and in the other group of languages he considered. The study analyzed contextualized instances of the past tense that were culled from different Arabic sources, including short stories and social and religious texts. Findings of the study show that the non-temporal uses of the past tense in Arabic are of two types: uses that support Wallace’s generalization and others which do not. The paper discusses the pragmatic effects that both types of uses convey in discourse..