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Grammatical tense
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==Tenseless language== In linguistics, a '''tenseless language''' is a language that does not have a grammatical category of tense. Tenseless languages can and do refer to [[time]], but they do so using lexical items such as adverbs or verbs, or by using combinations of [[grammatical aspect|aspect]], [[mood (linguistics)|mood]], and words that establish time reference.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bittner |first=Maria |title=Temporality: Universals and Variation |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4051-9040-4}}</ref> Examples of tenseless languages are [[Burmese language|Burmese]], [[Dyirbal language|Dyirbal]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Comrie|first=Bernard|authorlink=Bernard Comrie|year=1985|title=Tense|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-28138-5}}</ref>{{rp|50–53}} most [[Varieties of Chinese|varieties]] of [[Chinese language|Chinese]], [[Malay language|Malay]] (including [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]]), [[Thai language|Thai]], Maya (linguistic nomenclature: "Yukatek Maya"), [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] and in some analyses [[Greenlandic language|Greenlandic]]<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bittner|first=Maria|year=2005|title=Future discourse in a tenseless language|journal=Journal of Semantics |volume=12|pages=339–388|doi=10.1093/jos/ffh029|issue=4}}</ref> (Kalaallisut) and [[Guaraní language|Guaraní]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=[[Judith Tonhauser|Tonhauser]]|first=Judith|year=2011|title=Temporal reference in Paraguayan Guaraní, a tenseless language|journal=Linguistics and Philosophy|volume=34|issue=3|pages=257–303|doi=10.1007/s10988-011-9097-2|s2cid=62125736}}</ref>
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