1 CHRONOS 11, Scuola normale superiore, Pisa, 16–18 June 2014 Dmitry Gerasimov*, Peter Arkadiev** *Institute of Linguistic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint-Petersburg, dm.gerasimov@gmail.com **Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences / Russian State University for the Humanities / Sholokhov Moscow State University for the Humanities, Moscow, peterarkadiev@yandex.ru PECULIARITIES OF PAST TIME REFERENCE IN CIRCASSIAN 1. Circassian languages Circassian < North-West Caucasian (Abkhaz-Adyghe) < North-Caucasian phylum Two languages (groups of dialects): Adyghe (West Circassian) and Kabardian (East Circassian). Our fieldwork data come from two Circassian varieties spoken in the Republic of Adygea (Russian Federation): Ü Temirgoy dialect of Adyghe, villages Haqwerinehabl and Pšyčo (very close to Standard Adyghe); Ü Ulyap variety of Kabardian, village Ulyap (previously and possibly erroneously as- signed to the Besleney dialect; very different from Standard Kabardian); Ü For Adyghe, we also use examples from various literary texts. Adyghe Kabardian Ulyap Haqwerinehabl and Pšyčo Important typological features: Ü very little distinction between nouns, adjectives and verbs (Lander & Testelets 2006); Ü polysynthesis: pronominal affixes expressing all arguments of the verb (S, A, P as well as various indirect objects such as recipient, benefactive, and even location, cf. e.g. Smeets 1992) and a rich system of affixes marking aspectual, temporal and modal meanings (Smeets 1984; Korotkova & Lander 2010; Lander & Letuchiy 2010; Arkadiev & Letuchiy 2011)