The Notion of Time in the Present Tense, From Traditional Arabic Grammar to Melcuk’s "Meaning-Text" Theory

Abstract

Classical Arabic grammar addressed the idea of tense via its analysis of the verb, which was fundamentally related to time reference. Tense was seen as the distinguishing property that differentiated verbs from other components of speech. This intimate link prompted grammarians to conclude that the variety in verb forms was meant to represent variances in tenses. Accordingly, each form was given a fixed tense value when assessed individually. However, this technique shows problematic when these forms are deployed in whole sentences, since their temporal reference does not behave consistently across contexts. Instead, it varies according on the syntactic constructs in which the forms appear. This diversity typically demands interpretative effort, and grammarians have ascribed some of it to the effect of verbal particles or to rhetorical interpretations mandated by context. To address the clear discrepancy in the grammatical analysis of tense in Arabic, this paper analyses the issu hrough the framework of the Meaning-Text Theory, created by Igor Melcuk The tirst part addresses the ideas of verb and tense, along with associated concerns. The second part analyses the present tense and its temporal significance in diverse situations and syntactic constructs. The research indicates that, based on the principles of the Meaning-Text Theory, context is the decisive element in recognising and controlling the tense value of verbs. It relates the fundamental difficulty in Arabic grammatical handling of tense to the inclination to draw tense meanings from isolated verb forms, rather than from their actual usage in syntactic structure.