Language and timeline

• The use of present tense/past tense seems to represent the way we perceive the timeline.

• For example, when referring to events in a story that the reader has read:

  • If it is within the story, we use the present tense:

    • Harry Potter is learning at Hogwarts.

  • If it is in the past of the story world, we use the past tense:

    • Harry Potter lost his parents.

  • It’s strange because even though the reader experienced the story world in the past, we talk about it in the present tense.

• Another curious case is with folktales:

  • Are folktales told in the past tense?
  • “The old woman went to the river to do laundry.”

• But when readers refer to it, do they use the present tense?

  • So, is it the same?

• Relationship between Reader’s Time and Story World’s Time:

  • The timeline of the story world is perceived as a separate axis from real time.
  • It is unknown at which point the different timelines align with each reader’s timeline.
  • Therefore, it is expressed in the present tense?
  • Continued: /villagepump/時制と時間軸
    • This is a good way to use the Village Pump.

• I wonder if there are other languages that express the perception of time in a similar way.