VOL. 63, BOOK 1, PART A, 2025, pp. 263 – 273 Full text (Bg)
Author: Svetla Dzhermanovich
Affiliation: Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv
Abstract
The category of time should be regarded as a fundamental philosophical and linguistic structure, the understanding of which is essential for any research on verbal tenses in the South Slavic languages. The present article outlines the historical trajectory of ideas about time, from ancient thought (Homer, Hesiod, Aristotle, and Plato), through the Christian introspective interpretation of Augustine, the concepts of absolute and relative time (Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz), the transcendental framework of Immanuel Kant, and the German idealism of G. W. F. Hegel. Emphasis is placed on the space–time relationship and on Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of the chronotope as a key analytical tool. From a linguistic perspective, the analysis draws on major theoretical paradigms proposed by Ferdinand de Saussure, Hans Reichenbach, Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf, Noam Chomsky, George Lakoff, Mark Johnson, and Leonard Talmy.
Key words: category of time, space–time, chronotope, absolute time, relative time, reference
