Distinguishing already from Perfect Aspect: A Case Study of Javanese wis

Abstract

English already and the perfect aspect are both acceptable in many of the same environments. For example, both can express the recent past, an experiential reading, or a result. In investigating the semantics of a marker with these properties in an understudied language, it is easy to categorize such a marker as either notion. The auxiliary wis in Javanese (Western Malayo-Polynesian) is a case in point: different grammars, typological studies, dissertations, and journal articles on Javanese have glossed wis as expressing already , a (present) perfect, a past tense, or a perfective. However, the semantics of Javanese wis has not been formally studied. In this paper, we first identify several cross-linguistic properties that distinguish already from the perfect aspect. Using these diagnostics, we then propose that Javanese wis cannot be analyzed as a perfect aspect. Instead, wis is a focus operator that presupposes that the focus is a maximal element among a set of ordered alternatives, following Krifka’s recent analysis of English already .

The phasal polarity marker -(a)kona in Manda and its history

“…Similarly to what has been pointed out by Vander Klok & Matthewson (2015; see also Schadeberg 1990;Heine et al 1991), the auxiliary -mal-in Manda may also carry a reading of counter-expectation, in which case it indicates that the situation has held earlier than expected. 7 Example ( 6) is uttered in a context where the speaker is commenting on a passing police officer; the construction with -mal-is used in this instance to express astonishment based on the fact that it is a) only noon and b) the referent is still on duty.…”

Jespersen in the Reef Islands: Single versus Bipartite Negation in Äiwoo

“…Given these parallels, it should not be surprising that the behavior of =to with negation shows clear parallels to that of already: the reading where already scopes over negation is truth-conditionally equivalent to 'not anymore', as described by, for example, Löbner (1989Löbner ( , 1999, Krifka (2000), and Vander Klok and Matthewson (2015). It is thus to be expected that this reading would arise in contexts where an element with "already-like" semantics shows scope over a negative element.…”

“…woman DEM:DIST DIST IPFV-stand-still=DIST 'Is that woman still standing there?' (Staged Events 17) The reason no scope effects arise with ngä is mostly likely that 'still not' and 'not yet' are truth-conditionally equivalent (e.g., Krifka 2000, Vander Klok andMatthewson 2015). That is, whether ngä has scope over the negation or the other way round, the resulting meaning is simply that the situation Φ does not hold at time t. In all our negated examples, the underlying presupposition seems to be that Φ was not true before t, that is, the equivalent of English not yet (Krifka 2000:402), but this seems to be an effect of the semantics of ngä rather than of scope differences as such.…”

Sebuah Reviu terhadap Kajian Partikel Pragmatik dalam Beberapa Bahasa Daerah di Indonesia

“…Unlike in example 7, the meaning of mareh in example 8 shows that activity of sleeping has been completed. We argue that this meaning is comparable to Javanese wis which is often translated as "already" or mark past/perfective (Klok & Matthewson, 2015). For that rationale, we can assume that, at the time of speaking, Andi may awake 'sleeping' has completed.…”