108. Tense, Aspect, Mood, and Modality: Overview

Tenselessness and the periphrastic architecture 4 claims ·16 sentences

What grammatical categories does the finite verb express, and are they obligatory or optional?

1. Grammatical tense does not exist as a grammatical category in Ainu, which lacks morphological markers for past, present, or future tense.
   アイヌ語には文法的な時制（テンス）範疇が存在せず、動詞形態の変化によって過去・現在・未来を表す標識をもたない。
   absence ainu universal
   asserts nakagawa2024, refsing1986, shibatani1990, bugaeva2008
   • nakagawa2024:434 asserts checked
   • refsing1986:191 asserts checked
   • shibatani1990:18 asserts checked
   • bugaeva2008 asserts checked
2. Ainu possesses auxiliary verb collocations formed by attaching a conjunctive particle to a verb followed by an auxiliary verb such as 'an or kara to express aspectual meanings like continuation or completion.
   アイヌ語には、動詞に接続助詞がついてさらに 'an や kara などの補助動詞を添え、動作の継続や完了などのアスペクト的意味を表す助動詞連語がある。
   existence sakhalin generic 'ankara
   asserts murasaki2025
   • murasaki2025:33 asserts checked
3. Auxiliary verbs and auxiliary verb collocations integrate with a verb without changing its function as a verb clause, functioning to add subjective meanings such as aspect and mood (potentiality, conjecture, desire, assertion, degree, completion).
   助動詞および助動詞連語は動詞と統合して動詞節としての機能は変えないが、動詞の意味に可能、推量、願望、断定、程度、完了などのアスペクトやムードといった主観的意味を添える働きをする。
   analysis sakhalin generic
   asserts murasaki2025
   • murasaki2025:36 asserts checked
4. Aspect and evidentiality are not obligatory grammatical categories in Ainu.
   アイヌ語においてアスペクトと証拠性は義務的な文法範疇ではない。
   absence ainu
   asserts takahashi2022
   • takahashi2022:18.1 asserts checked

Time reference without tense 1 claims ·5 sentences· 1 examples

What resources, apart from tense, does the language use to locate events in time?

1. The plain verbal form of an action or process verb is typically translated as a simple past tense expression.
   行為や過程を表す動詞の基本形は、単純過去時制の表現として訳すのが最も適切である。
   form-function ainu generic
   asserts shibatani1990
   • shibatani1990:18 asserts checked

Lexical aspect and the existential-aspect core 6 claims ·16 sentences· 2 examples

How does lexical aspect condition the aspectual frames a verb enters, and what Aktionsart suffixes exist?

1. Ainu possesses well-developed aspectual expressions, marking how an action unfolds in time rather than its relative temporal location with respect to the speech time.
   アイヌ語は、発話時点との相対的な時間関係ではなく行為が時間的にどのように展開されているかを表すアスペクトを発達させている言語である。
   analysis ainu generic
   asserts nakagawa2024
   • nakagawa2024:437 asserts checked
2. The imperfective aspect describes a process coextensive with or exceeding the speaker's temporal frame, continuing before and beyond that temporal area.
   非完了相（imperfective aspect）は、話者の時間的枠組みと同時に広がるかそれを超える過程、すなわち話者が設定する時間領域の前後にわたって継続する動作・出来事・状態を記述する。
   form-function hokkaido/southwest/shizunai all
   asserts refsing1986
   • refsing1986:192 asserts checked
3. The uncompleted aspect indicates simultaneity between a process and the temporal frame maintained by the speaker.
   未完相（uncompleted aspect）は、過程と話者が維持する時間的枠組みとの同時性を示す。
   form-function hokkaido/southwest/shizunai generic
   asserts refsing1986
   • refsing1986:195 asserts checked
4. In Ainu, aspect is basically expressed by complex predicates made up of combinations of the conjunctive particles kor and wa and the existential verb an/oka(y).
   アイヌ語では、アスペクトは基本的に接続助詞 kor および wa と存在動詞 an/oka(y) の組み合わせからなる複合述語によって表される。
   form-function ainu generic korwaanokaokay
   asserts takahashi2022
   • takahashi2022:18.2 asserts checked
5. In most dialects of Ainu, there is a contrast between progressive aspect and resultative aspect.
   アイヌ語の大部分の方言において、進行相と結果相の対立が存在する。
   existence ainu usually
   asserts takahashi2022
   • takahashi2022:18.2 asserts checked
6. In Ainu, the opposition between perfective and imperfective aspects is unclear.
   アイヌ語において、完了相と未完了相の対立は明確ではない。
   analysis ainu generic
   asserts yoshikawa2022
   • yoshikawa2022:19.5 asserts checked

Completion, anteriority, and the admirative 4 claims ·9 sentences· 2 examples

How is completion or anteriority expressed, and what functions does the auxiliary derived from 'sit' carry?

1. The auxiliary aan (plural rokoka) indicates that at a certain point, the speaker realized what had occurred prior to that point ('it turned out that...').
   助動詞 aan（複数形 rokoka）は、ある時点でそれ以前に起こったことがどういうことだったかわかったということを示す。
   form-function hokkaido/southwest/saru generic aanrokoka
   asserts nakagawa2024
   • nakagawa2024:307 asserts checked
2. The auxiliary aan varies across dialects, appearing as anan in Chitose, awan in Horobetsu and Tokachi, and hawan in Tokachi; the plural rokoka appears as rokokay in Horobetsu and Chitose, as well as before pe in Saru.
   助動詞 aan には方言差があり、千歳では anan、幌別・十勝では awan、十勝では hawan が用いられ、複数形 rokoka は幌別・千歳で rokokay となり、沙流方言でも pe の前では rokokay となる。
   variation hokkaido/chitosehokkaido/southwest/horobetsuhokkaido/central/tokachihokkaido/southwest/saru generic aanananawanhawanrokokarokokay
   asserts nakagawa2024
   • nakagawa2024:307 asserts checked
3. In dialects such as Chitose, anan and its plural form rokoka(y) can be combined together as rokoka anan without any difference in meaning from anan alone.
   千歳方言などでは、anan とその複数形である rokoka(y) が rokoka anan のように重ねて使われることがあり、意味は anan 単独の場合と変わりない。
   distribution hokkaido/chitose generic rokoka ananananrokokarokokay
   asserts nakagawa2024
   • nakagawa2024:307 asserts checked
4. The auxiliary nisa indicates in Tamura (1960) that an action was completed in the immediate past, but this morpheme or any corresponding form does not appear to exist in the Shizunai dialect.
   田村 (1960) では補助動詞 nisa は動作が直近の過去に完了したことを表すとされるが、静内方言にはこの形態素やそれに対応する形式は存在しないようである。
   absence hokkaido/southwest/shizunai none nisa
   asserts refsing1986
   • refsing1986:192 asserts checked

The modal field 2 claims ·8 sentences· 4 examples

How are epistemic, deontic, and ability modal meanings distributed across different clause positions?

1. The auxiliary construction ~ hV ne'an expresses that something is properly or securely done ('is properly doing').
   助動詞構文 〜 hV ne'an は《ちゃんと〜している》を表す。
   form-function sakhalin generic hV ne'an
   asserts murasaki2025
   • murasaki2025:94 asserts checked
2. The auxiliary construction ka 'esinka expresses difficulty in doing something ('hard to ~').
   助動詞構文 ka 'esinka は《〜しにくい》を表す。
   form-function sakhalin generic ka 'esinka
   asserts murasaki2025
   • murasaki2025:94 asserts checked

Directive and hortative mood 8 sentences· 3 examples

How are commands and requests formed for singular versus plural or polite addressees?

Boundaries with evidentiality, negation, and clause linkage 1 claims ·10 sentences

How do aspect forms interact with evidentiality, negation, and clause linkage?

1. The grammatical dependency relation in Ainu negative subordinate clauses can be analyzed as aspect being dependent on negation.
   アイヌ語の否定従属節における文法範疇の依存関係は、「アスペクトが否定に依存している」と捉えることができる。
   analysis ainu
   proposes takahashi2022
   • takahashi2022:18.5 proposes anchored