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This paper introduces the framework for a new project on the categories of tense, aspect and Aktionsart in Latin. In the first section, the relevant concepts are defined in terms of general linguistics. The second section provides an overview of the existing theories regarding the verb system and the categories of tense and aspect in Latin. Their shortcomings are listed while the strong points serve as the basis for the development of the current framework. In the third section, Bache's [2008. English Tense and Aspect in Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar: A Critical Appraisal and an Alternative. Discussions in Functional Approaches to Language. London: Equinox.] SFL-inspired account of English tense and aspect is applied to the Latin verb system, conceptualizing tense and aspect in terms of three metafunctions or dimensions of meaning: ideational (representation of reality), textual (presentation of the text) and interpersonal (interaction with the audience). In the fourth section, the framework is illustrated with texts from Caesar, Livy and Sallust, showing that "perspective" (focalization) is essential to the linguistic analysis of narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper defends the existence of aspect in Latin by proposing a three-dimensional (SFL-inspired) interpretation of both aspect and tense. The traditional usage labels of the tenses can all be framed within the framework proposed in this paper. Moreover, the interpersonal meaning of perspective, similar to focalization, adds an important interpretation of many tenses and their textual surroundings. The ultimate tense choice in narratives usually depends on the most important dimension of meaning, along a certain metafunctional hierarchy. Such a multidimensional interpretation of the tenses may inspire an authentic reading experience and boost the development of pupils' cognitive and linguistic capacities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper approaches Ancient Greek aspect from a modern systemic functional framework. Its primary claim is that three metafunctions or dimensions (ideational, textual, and interpersonal) are necessary but also sufficient to account for all of the individual main clause verbs in historical narrative. The basic semantic value of the present and aorist aspects in Ancient Greek is the ideational meaning of unboundedness vs. boundedness. This opposition has led to opposite values on two other levels of meaning: (a) a textual meaning of background vs. foreground, discourse cohesion, and anticipation; and (b) an interpersonal meaning of internal vs. external perspective. This paper aims to apply this three-dimensional approach to a semantic analysis of a number of excerpts from Thucydides’ Histories III, to find out what the default metafunction is in narrative, and to demonstrate the balanced interplay between all three levels of meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]