What is still tense?

Definition
	Still tense is an absolute tense carrying the presupposition that an event or state held before the moment of utterance.
	In positive declarative clauses, still tense asserts that the event or state holds at the moment of utterance.

Example (Luganda)
	The affix -kya expresses still tense, as in the utterance mu-kya-tudde ‘you still sit’.

Generic
	Still tense is a kind of
	What is absolute tense?

Source
	Comrie 1985b 53–55

Context for this page:

Concept module: still tense
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): S
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

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