摘要：The verbal inflectional system in German makes crucial use of two distinct elements: -a and jf,
-t. In various grammatical descriptions it is assumed that -a is a mood marker for the
subjunctive, while -t is a marker for the past tense. Against these characterizations it can be j r&
observed that both elements are manifested not only in these contexts, but bave other !
functional distributions as well. j i'l
In this paper we show that -a and -t have other, more abstract properties which in each \ tf
case are invariant in all paradigmatic environments. The specific differences are derived by *} jd
a parametrization with respect to th& person, time and modality dimensions of the deictic j tfj
system. Under these assumptions the marker -t refers to theproperty of being far from the;} ^
origo, while the gnarker -9 encodes the e/ewenf-0/relation of one of the deictic dimensions j
in the origo position. These inflectional properties are related to the system of vert
moods which determine relevant aspects of senteace mood constitution in German.
