GRAMMATICAL TENSE AND ASPECT SYSTEMS OF MAJOR PAKISTANI LANGUAGES

Abstract

This study involves finding the tense and aspect systems of major Pakistani languages. The goal of the study is to find out tense and aspect oppositions in the above said languages. This goal has been achieved by analyzing the world languages and their tense and aspect systems. A questionnaire is made on the basis of those oppositions found in the world languages (Dahl, 1985) and after, the constructions present in major languages of Pakistan has been analyzed according to the earlier identified oppositions to find out the tense and aspect systems. This study is conducted in Quaid i Azam University where questionnaires have been filled by the native speakers of the subject languages and the received data has been verified by and compared with material already published on those languages. As the topic is little bit complex so the participants have been provided all the information about the tense and aspect systems and how these systems work, by semi-constructed interviews and informal discussions. Due to the very same reason of complexity, all the participants having linguistics background have been selected. On the basis of the results of this research which is based upon the examination of both primary and secondary data, the given oppositions of tense and aspect have been listed and presented in the study. There is no good work on the same topic, so by this study, a comprehensive data on tense and aspect has been compiled which would paid the way for further research in this field. KEYWORDS: Linguistics, Grammar, Tense, Aspect, Perfective, Imperfective, Progressive, Pakistani languages