THE MEANING OF ASPECT

The basic contrast in the secondary tense system is that between the continuous and perfect forms.

e.g. He is eating.
        He has eaten.

Both of these structures have in their initial positions a finite element which expresses primary tense. They thus have both past and present forms.

e.g. He was eating.
        He had eaten.

Although the secondary tenses thus include an element which signifies primary tense, they in fact express a different type of temporal reference which is known as ASPECT. Primary tenses may also have aspectual meaning, but they principally have as their basic point of reference the moment of utterance, and serve to relate an event to a certain moment in time as may be specified in the text.

Aspects, however, typically relate an event not to any specific moment of occurrence, but in relation to some other event which is referred to. This can be seen most obviously in the past forms of the continuous and perfect tenses.

e.g. He had eaten before he went out.
       She was sleeping when I telephoned.

Aspects are thus concerned more with the sequence and ordering of events, and with their temporal distribution and range rather than with any specific moment of occurrence or with the moment of utterance. This applies not only to the use of the past forms, but equally to the present perfect and continuous tenses. Consider the following examples which contrast the same event reported in the present perfect and past tenses:-

e.g. (i) She has returned the book.
        (ii) She returned the book.

The event which is referred to in both (i) and (ii) has already occurred - that is, it is a past event. The difference in meaning between these two possible statements is that where (ii) relates the event to a specific moment in past time, (i) does not do this. Note that we cannot say:-

The initial primary tense is present, and there is thus something inherent in the meaning of the present perfect which relates the prior event to the speaker present. In using the present perfect the speaker places the event in a period of time that extends up to and includes the moment of utterance. This is the function of the primary present tense which forms the initial element of the present perfect structure. In selecting the present perfect we indicate that it is the relevance of the event up to and including the present which is significant, not the moment of occurrence. Hence the incompatibility between the present perfect and time specific adverbs such as "yesterday".

Thus we see that secondary tenses are subject to the same principle of compatibility with time adjuncts which we saw was the case with primary tenses. The present perfect is thus compatible with aspect adverbs of temporal duration which extend from the past up to and including the present, such as THIS YEAR, RECENTLY etc, and incompatible with adverbs of specific past such as LAST YEAR, TWO WEEKS AGO and so on.

e.g.   She has returned the book this week.
      * She has returned the book last week.
         I've eaten breakfast this morning.
     * I've eaten breakfast two hours ago.

The reasons that speakers may have for choosing to emphasise the perfect aspect of an event, as opposed to its specific temporality, depend on the precise circumstances and viewpoint of the speaker at the moment of utterance. Perfect aspect is often described as concerning the experience or the effect of an event, which is felt as still retaining significance at the moment of utterance, although the actual occurrence of the event is past.

 
Thus the essential semantic function of the present perfect aspect is to express the significance and relevance of the event to the present situation as perceived by the speaker.