Abstract

Tenses constitute a complex system of oppositions based on time, aspect, and temporal distance. Taking these oppositions as basic, this article deals with the stylistic properties that verbal tenses acquire in discourse. In addition, it presents an analysis of some stylistically marked uses of the imperfect, the future, the conditional, and the past perfect. In all these cases, the verbal tenses keep some of their basic properties but introduce temporal or aspectual changes that lead to pragmatic and stylistic changes closely related to certain narrative effects.

Abstract

This paper comments and reflects upon the inherent nature of time during any linguistic realization, and therefore during variation. This happens aside from the abstractions made by a sincronicity due to the descriptive methodology used or due to the theoretical premises that propose a sincronicity.