Present perfects compete

Abstract

International audienceThis paper proposes a new look at the so-called ‘present-perfect puzzle'. I suggest that it is in fact part of a bigger problem, which also involves simple past tenses. I argue that present perfects compete with simple past tenses, and that the distribution of these tenses shows signs of the impact of this competition. The outcome of the competition is argued to be heavily dependent on which of the two tense-forms is the default. A pragmatic theory is proposed which accounts for the reduced distribution of the present perfect in languages like English and (American) Spanish, and the reduced distribution of the simple past tense in languages like French and German

Mapping the Perfect via Translation Mining

“…that English requires a PAST with a locating time adverbial, whereas German, Dutch and French tolerate a PERFECT in this configuration. Spanish patterns with English (see Schaden (2009) Another interesting outlier is the RECENT PAST, available for French and Spanish. This periphrastic tense signals recency and is expressed in German, English and Dutch through the use of a PERFECT combined with an additional time adverbial: gerade, just, kortgeleden respectively, see (4) below.…”

“…de Swart (2007), Schaden (2009)), but also to draw new conclusions on the tense/aspect role of the PERFECT across languages. Our methodology can be applied to a wide range of grammatical phenomena.…”

Participles: Form, use and meaning

“…There is a lot of parametric variation between languages with respect to the compatibility of the past-oriented and/or punctual temporal adverbials with the present perfect: while in English and the majority of Scandinavian languages the restriction is very strict, it is completely absent in German, Dutch, French or Italian and somewhat restricted in Catalan and Spanish, which allow for the presence of punctual adverbials in the perfect (i.e., at 10 o'clock) but not for the past adverbial modifiers like last year (cf. Curell 1990;Klein 1992;Kamp & Reyle 1993;Giorgi & Pianesi 1997;Musan 2002;Rothstein 2008;Schaden 2009; Xiqués Garcia 2015).…”

Preterit Expansion and Perfect Demise in Porteño Spanish and Beyond

“…Viewed synchronically, several accounts within not typologically oriented frameworks do emphasize the competing relationship between perfects and Preterits. Schaden (2009) proposes a formal/pragmatic model to account precisely for the expansion of the Preterit in varieties of English and of Latin American Spanish, while Dickey (2001) suggests that the semantics of the Preterit do indeed include experiential readings. Such matters are discussed in more detail in Chapter 7.…”