Abstract
This article discusses the perfect-tense form si: uki in Ryukyu-Tarama dialect. It describes the grammatical meanings of si: uki, and considers the 'core temporal meaning' of this form through comparison of si: uki with si: buL. The form si: uki expresses three perfect-tense meanings: ・completion of action or completion of state change and duration of its effect. ・completion of movement and its traces. ・a record or historical process. The continuative-aspect form si: buL, also expresses these perfect-tense meanings, but in addition to these, it has also another kind of use which expresses: ・commencement of action and its ongoing process. This difference between si: uki and si: buL shows that each form has a different 'core temporal meaning'. Even when si: buL is used to express a perfect-tense meaning, it is mainly used to express "a continuative stage", while si: uki is used in this case to express a stage of completion of an action before the reference time. Therefore, this article concludes that the 'core temporal meaning' of the form si: uki is to express both the "perfect" and "previous".
