Cognitive semantics of the tense-aspect form Present Simple

DOI 10.51955/2312-1327_2025_1_

Tatyana L. Verkhoturova

Svetlana V. Shubina

Abstract. Despite tireless attention of linguists-theorists and teachers-grammarians to the semantics and functioning of tense-aspect forms in English, theories about the grammar meaning and information in grammar references or textbooks leave much to be desired due to their contradictoriness and weak explanatory clarity. This state of affairs motivates researchers to seek for new, cognitive approaches to studying the semantics of tense-aspect forms. Therefore, the article, on the one hand, provides an overview of traditional interpretations of the Present Simple form available in the research field, and, on the other hand, introduces the reader to a cognitive analysis of the grammar form in question.

Key words: tense-aspect form, grammatical polysemy, prototypical categorization, the Observer, fact.

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