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In this paper, Livy's use of the Latin narrative tenses is examined from a functionalist point of view. Assuming that three levels of meaning (referential, textual and interpersonal) potentially underlie paradigmatic choices in grammatical systems, "tense" and "aspect" are conceived of as three-dimensional categories related to the communicative intentions involved in the narrative tenses. Close-readings of episodes with that conception in mind reveal the significant role played by grammatical aspect in the Latin tense system. In addition, the interpersonal meaning of "perspective" (e.g. authorial vs. eyewitness report) is shown to be often involved in Livy's use of the tenses. Most importantly, the 3D-framework adopted in this study allows for a systematic categorization of all uses of the narrative tenses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

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]