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eg.
I walked for a couple more minutes and then suddenly I see a fox
running in my direction.
In this example the present form “see” substitutes the past form “saw”.
Present is used in the position of transposition of the opposition “present vs. past”.
The stylistic purpose of this phenomenon known as “the historic present” is to
create a vivid picture of the event reflected in the utterance. The peculiarity of this
case of transposition is that the weak member stands in the
position of the strong
member, which is not typical of transposition.
Category of aspect
There are several typical cases of oppositional reduction of the category of
aspect. One is related to the division of verbs into limitive and unlimitive.
e.g.
The sun shone brightly.
The example presents a case of neutralization of the opposition “continuous
vs. non-continuous” (a process is implied). Neutralization is optional since the
paradigmatically required form “was shining” can still be used. The neutralizer is
the lexical meaning of the verb.
As for transposition, continuous forms can be used transpositionally to
denote habitual, recurrent actions in emphatic collocations. (e.g.
He is always
borrowing my pen
).
Category of temporal correlation
As we have already mentioned, the category of temporal
correlation is based
on the privative-equipollent opposition of “perfect vs. non-perfect”, which is not
easily neutralized in the present but can be neutralized in the past with ease.
e.g.
The court issued an arrest warrant after the police detained a suspect.
The non-perfect form “detained” substitutes the paradigmatically required
form “had detained”. The use of the weak member of the
opposition in the position
of the strong member is possible because the meaning of “a prior action” is
expressed by the temporal conjunction “after” and by the other action.