Perfect Aspect or Anterior Tense? Rethinking of Aspect in Persian

Present- and past perfect paradigms are commonly thought of as having the perfect aspect. Examining the concept of tense and aspect along with their definitions, the present study argues that what is often referred to as the perfect aspect in Persian is essentially a temporal concept. Taking into consideration the reference-, event-, and speech points, the study shows that the reference point comes necessarily after the event point in the case of the present- and the past perfect as well as their variants. In other words, this indicates the continuing relevance of a previous situation. Since this concept does not entail the completeness of the event, referring to it as “perfect” would be inaccurate. For this reason, the present study proposes the term the anterior tense as a substitute for the perfect aspect. The authors emphasize the significance of the reference situation in determination of grammatical tenses by referring to the function of temporal adverbs and participles. Participles, as independent words, are present in the structures of deverbal adjectives, perfect verbs, passive verbs, complex predicates, and attributive expressions. In all these functions, the morpheme of “-te/-de” represents the anterior tense. Reexamining the previous approaches, the present study reveals that tense, in addition to representing the reference and speech situations in the form of the trichotomy of present/past/future, represents the reference and event situations as well. In other words, tense of a verb encompasses both the trichotomy of past/present/future and the dichotomy of anterior/non-anterior.