Tense, Aspect and mood

In this paper we have undertaken a detailed comparison, from a diachronic perspective, of the Basque TAM system with that of the Romance languages with which it is in contact. We have pointed out that, whereas a number of relatively recent developments in Basque, including the development of a subjunctive mood and several periphrases, show convergence between Basque and its Romance neighbors, not every important development has been convergent. In particular, in Basque the diachronic tendency may have been towards strengthening the choice between transitive and intransitive auxiliary, depending on the semantics of the verb, while in Spanish an original 'be'/ 'have' alternation in auxiliaries was later lost. Some apparent morphosyntactic similarities, such as the presence of preverbal particles in Basque and Gascon, and the morphological structure of the future tense, turn out to be less obvious when examined in some detail.