La rappresentazione del tempo nel linguaggio

In our perception of the surrounding world, temporal notions play a fundamental role. For instance, they allow us to perceive a particular event as something that has already happened, that is happening now or that is going to happen. It is therefore natural to ask oneself how the different dimensions of time are represented in language: this question has been in the focus of studies that have been conducted in diverse disciplines from philosophy to linguistics, from logics to psychology, to mention only the most prominent ones, often recurred to during the exposition.

The analysis conducted in these pages is semantic, in the sense that it seeks to identify the meaning of the linguistic constructions through which we express our ability to grasp the temporal order of the events represented. The formal structure adopted allows us to rigorously analyse the set of problems that have characterized the reflection on the nature of temporal expressions and the corresponding questions, such as those that concern the duration of the present or the representation of states of affairs that have ceased to be, or that are yet to happen.

On the other hand, to make the analysis more accessible to the reader who is not familiar with the tools adopted in this study, every single formula is accompanied by its translation into a more intuitive language.

The final chapter is dedicated to the problem of the temporal structure of narration in the case of novels, short stories and in general contexts that seem to presuppose an alternative order of things to that of the reality that surrounds us.