A Suggestion about Teaching So-called Past Tense Form '-TA' in Noun Modifier Clause '...TOKI'

The present study makes a suggestion of an effective and comprehensive way of teaching so-called tense marker alternation in subordinate clauses modifying the noun TOKI (time) based on observation of language use and the discussion presented in the author's paper in the previous issue (Vol.8) of this journal. Following the analysis given in preceding studies, "-TA" in the subordinate clause has been taught as the marker indicating that the subordinate clause action is completed at the time of the main clause action. However this analysis is contradictory in that the interpretation of the modifying part of sentence has to be dependent upon the interpretation of the modified part and allows so many exceptions that teachers or learners can not tell under what condition the principle is really valid. This paper presents 2 points of view that seem to be useful for the observation and analysis of the phenomena; 1) The word "TOKI" may refer vaguely to an occasion or precisely to an appointed time and the referent of the word is decided according to the context. And 2) the noun phrase "... TOKI" is used to convey the necessary and sufficient information for communication participants to identify a moment out of the continuum of time and the use and non-use of "-TA" is part of such information. And it is stated that the noun phrase "... TOKI" must be interpreted in relation to the reference point that the communication participants have set on the time axis, not dependent on the meaning of the main clause. Finally, it is suggested that at elementary level the 2 types of usage of "TOKI" referring to an occasion and to a specific moment of an event should be taught separately, and that at intermediate and advanced levels the usage should be practiced as part of text analysis and composition.