The Syntax and Semantics of the Perfect Structure: A Comparative Approach (original) (raw)
Related papers
On the Raison D'être of the Present Perfect, with Special Reference to the English Grammeme
Athens Journal of Philology, 2020
The present perfect is a mystery and most linguists agree that its definitions are inadequate. The paper deals with two major issues: (i) what is its second meaning, beside the temporal one; (ii) what is its raison d'être? Is it the expression of notions such as current relevance or resultativeness? The analysis is based on recent findings that the present perfect performs a grammaticalizing function with certain sentences belonging to a semantico-syntactic schema in two languages, Bulgarian and Montenegrin. It shows that, as regards (i), the present perfect is a form that can be termed non-witnessed in itself in Bulgarian and English. However, while in English and Montenegrin it is not grammatically marked as non-witnessed (in Bulgarian it is), in English and Bulgarian it signals this value-but not by default. Conversely, the indefinite past in English, to which the present perfect is invariably contrasted, is a witnessed form by default, hence its witnessed value can be canceled in a sentence/context. In other words, the English indefinite past is not grammatically marked as witnessed and does not signify this value-but signals it by default. As regards (ii), the raison d'être of the English present perfect is argued to be the signaling (not by default) of the value non-witnessed to counterbalance the default value witnessed in the indefinite past. Bottom line: the raison d'être of the present perfect across languages appears to be found not in its "meaning" but in certain functions related to language structure that it performs.
The perfective aspect in english and portuguese: a constrative study on semantic basis
Alfa Revista De Linguistica, 1980
An exam of the occurrences of the PRESENT PERFECT in English was made in such a way as to establish the prevailing semantic features of this verbal form. It was verified up to what an extent the meaning of the PERFECTIVE thus characterized is expressed in the corresponding Portuguese sentences in the PRETÉRITO PERFEITO. It was found that in Portuguese the verbal inflexion itself characterizes in a much smaller degree the PER-FECTIVE ASPECT.
The perfective aspect in English and Portuguese. A contrastive study on semantic basis
1980
An exam of the occurrences of the PRESENT PERFECT in English was made in such a way as to establish the prevailing semantic features of this verbal form. It was verified up to what an extent the meaning of the PERFECTIVE thus characterized is expressed in the corresponding Portuguese sentences in the PRETÉRITO PERFEITO. It was found that in Portuguese the verbal inflexion itself characterizes in a much smaller degree the PER-FECTIVE ASPECT.
Selected Papers of ISTAL 24 (2022), 384-400, 2023
The paper argues that the raison d"être of the present perfect (PP) across languages is not in its meaning but in certain functional dependencies. The existence of grammatical entities in a language is conjectured to be neither accidental/haphazard, nor the result of some magic (God-given). Grammatical entities in a language emerge and exist in order to offset the impact of other grammatical entities; they either hang together or exist to make up for the absence of other grammatical entities. PP signals the value non-witnessed intrinsically, not by default, counterbalancing the witnessedby-default value of the preterit, and the two grammemes hang together.
Revisiting the Semantics of the Portuguese Present Perfect
This study reexamines the semantics of the Portuguese Present Perfect and proposes an analysis of this periphrastic past that does not appeal to type-shifting coercion mechanisms. Aspectual coercion was claimed to explain purported mismatches between selection restrictions of the Portuguese Present tense and the aspectual properties of the Perfect (Schmitt 2001). The present study proposes a truth-conditional compositional analysis of sentences with the Portuguese Present Perfect in which the lexical meaning of the auxiliary ter 'have' combined with the meaning of the Present Indicative tense (ter+PresInd) contribute a universal quantifier whose domain is the topic time interval.
Aspect and pragmatics. The passé composé in Old French and the Old Spanish perfecto compuesto.
Eksell, Kerstin & Thora Vinther (eds.): Change in Verbal Systems. Issues on Explanation. Frankfurt am Main etc.: Lang, 47-72., 2006
This paper analyzes the use of the periphrastic perfect in Old French and Old Spanish. It is argued that in both language, the construction has a resultative value and that it is used for certain argumentative purposes. Based on these observations, an explanation is given to the question of how and why temporal meaning develops out of aspectual meaning.
A Comparative Study of the English Present Perfect and the German Perfekt
ENGLISH LINGUISTICS, 2002
Few previous studies have systematically examined the fact that the English present perfect and the German Perfekt behave differently with respect to co-occurrence with adverbials referring to a definite time position (DTP adverbials) in the past such as yesterday/gestern and ten years ago/vor 10 Jahren. This paper aims to explain this fact systematically on the basis of the revised P(osition)-Definiteness Constraint, which is originally proposed to account for the incompatibility of the English present perfect and the DTP adverbials. It is demonstrated that the reason why the German Perfekt, unlike its English morphological counterpart, can occur with the DTP adverbials is due to the interaction between the revised P-Definiteness Constraint and certain characteristics of the German Perfekt. It is also shown that the proposed account provides an explanatory basis for the following two issues: (i) why the German Perfekt can go with DTP adverbials referring to future time, whereas the English present perfect cannot, and (ii) why the German Perfekt has a wider semantic range than the English present perfect.* Keywords: English present perfect, German Perfekt, adverbials referring to a definite time position (DTP adverbials), revised P-Definiteness Constraint, figure/ground able comments and suggestions, and Wolfgang Klein for answering my questions about his tense theory. All remaining inadequacies are my own.
The Oxford Handbook of Tense and Aspect
2012
when discussing theories of the perfect. In section 3, we investigate in more detail theories of the perfect focusing on semantic characteristics, bearing in mind that most of the discussions have revolved around perfects in European languages (Germanic and Romance). In section 4, we discuss accounts of how pragmatic factors and discourse relations aff ect the use of the perfect, and in section 5, we conclude by examining the place of a perfect in a tense/aspect system more generally, considering how it relates to categories such as the resultative and the simple past, and also to the habitual and the prospective.