Lotfi Abouda (JE TLN-LC) - Françoise Boch (Lidilem)

Université Stendhal - Grenoble 3

De la polyphonie à la Polychronie – Un modèle de traitement de la polysémie temporelle

– Application au futur 

La polysémie temporelle constitue l’une des difficultés majeures auxquelles sont confrontés la

plupart des modèles temporels. Pour y remédier, différentes stratégies de traitement sont

mises en place. Si l’on fait abstraction des approches strictement descriptives, qui se

contentent d’énumérer les différentes « valeurs » d’un temps, sans chercher à les relier, les

traitements habituellement proposés à ce phénomène général posent notamment les problèmes

suivants, d’ordre à la fois théorique et méthodologique :

1) ils s’apparentent très souvent à des solutions particulières et généralement ad hoc ;

2) ils ne permettent pas de maintenir l’unité du signifié linguistique ;

3) ils font appel à des procédés stylistiques de dérivation (métaphores temporelles,

ellipses) à partir d’une valeur qu’on considère comme première.

Notre ambition serait de fournir un cadre général de traitement de la polysémie temporelle, en

proposant pour chacun des temps une structure descriptive unique, qui vise à intégrer tous ses

emplois, y compris ceux que l’on a tendance à considérer, plus ou moins explicitement,

comme « déviants ».

Concrètement, la démarche consiste à importer la théorie polyphonique d’O. Ducrot (1984)

dans le domaine de la temporalité : à chacun des trois êtres distingués dans le cadre de cette

théorie (la Personne extra-linguistique, le locuteur et l’énonciateur), on fait correspondre une

temporalité propre, qui sera identifiée par un repère référentiel spécifique (respectivement IP

– intervalle référentiel de la Personne, IL – intervalle référentiel du Locuteur-, et IE –

intervalle référentiel de l’Enonciateur).

Les distorsions temporelles seront ainsi traitées comme des phénomènes affectant non plus les

formes temporelles elles-mêmes, mais les repères référentiels.

Ce modèle a déjà été appliqué au Passé-Simple et au Présent (cf. Abouda 1997 et

Communication Chronos III). Après une première partie consacrée à la présentation générale

du modèle, nous nous proposons de le confronter à la forme temporelle du Futur, en nous

appuyant sur un corpus d’énoncés empruntés à la fois à l’écrit et à l’oral.

Mood and sentence interpretation in Spanish: “double selection” verbs

Aoife AHERNU.N.E.D.

According to Quer (1999), the contrast between indicative and subjunctive argument clauses contributes to the interpretation of sentences a change in the model of interpretation on which the truth value of the proposition is based. However, the issues involved can be analysed in a different light if we consider the empirical data shown by verbs that take clausal complements in both indicative and subjunctive, such as:

(1a) Se resolvió que era necesario cumplir con el calendario establecido. (Impersonal) resolved that it was (indicative) necessary to comply with the established calendar.

It was resolved that it was necessary to abide by the calender.(1b) El gobierno ha resuelto que se proceda con extrema urgencia. The government has resolved that (impersonal) proceed (3 rd pers. Subjunctive) with extreme urgency.

The government has decided to proceed with extreme urgency.

(2a) La NASA sugiere que hay un océano de agua salada bajo una luna de Júpiter. NASA suggests that there is (indicative) and ocean of salt water under a moon of Jupiter.

(2b) El documento sugiere que la autoridad conjunta esté integrada por miembros del

Parlamento y de una nueva Asamblea.

The document suggests that the joint authority be (3rd pers. Subjunctive) integrated by

members of the Parliament and of a new Assembly.

In such cases, among the interpretive contrasts introduced by the use of one mood or another we find an evidential (inferential, in 1a, and quotative, in 2a) meaning when the indicative is used, whereas the sentences with clauses in subjunctive obtain readings typically associated with the imperative.

Instead of analysing mood as a mere reflection of the presence of other semantic factors (i.e., as in Quer (1999), a reflection of lexically/syntactically introduced shifts in models of interpretation), I propose that the indicative and subjunctive encode a basic semantic content which gives rise to a series of interpretive effects by way of its combination with factors introduced by lexical semantics and syntactic scope relationships. This proposal is based on Relevance theoretical assumptions on the role of pragmatics and semantics in utterance interpretation and the notion of functional categories as expressions of procedural meaning.

Early Insertion of Roots, Aspectual Interpretation, and V-to-T movement in BasqueAsier Alcazar

The morphosyntax of verbal inflection in Basque is still a relatively poorly understood area. Of particular importance here is the fact that Basque syntax severely bans synthetic forms, requiring most verbs, with the exception of a few old verbs, to appear as participles inflected for aspect, with tense expressed on an auxiliary. The class of old verbs (see ex. 0 for a list) exhibit exceptional properties, compared to conventional verbs, as summarized below.

OLD VERBS CONVENTIONAL VERBSANALYTICALAL Require aspectual inflection

V+tzen habitual (ex.2)Require aspectual inflectionV+tzen habitual or progressive (ex. 1)

SYNTHETIC (i) undergo V-to-T movement (Laka 1990)(ii) are incompatible with aspectual inflection(iii) are interpreted as progressive

---

The above range of properties of various verbs - conventional or old - and the syntactic structures in which they appear, as participles inflected for aspect or as tensed verbs not inflected for aspect, is not trivial to account for. I propose to analyze these data in the framework of Distributed Morphology (Halle and Marantz 1993). Old verbs in Basque present a case similar to deponent verbs in Latin (Embick 2000), which require the association of an arbitrary feature [f] with certain roots prior to syntax. This provides further empirical support for Early Insertion of Roots, as argued in Embick (2000), and unlike Marantz (1995).

To account for the differences in aspectual interpretation, I define the set of aspectual morphemes in Basque as follows: Ø is specified for the feature [progressive] in the context of Root[f] (i.e., for roots marked with the arbitrary feature [f]), -tu is specified for [perfective], and –tzen is underspecified for aspect. I further assume with Arregi (2000) that in Basque, verbs cannot be bare Roots. Because of this, when a particular aspectual inflection is Ø (as is the spell-out of the feature [progressive] on a root marked with [f]), the only converging derivation can be the one involving V-to-T movement, and the subsequent spell-out of the root with the overt tense inflection. Note that absence of aspectual marking (ii) correlates with V-to-T movement (i) in Basque, unlike the situation in well-known language families like Romance, where aspectual morphology does not block movement of V to T (e.g. the imperfect tense in Italian).

The various aspectual interpretations for old verbs in the synthetic and analyticalal form, and for conventional verbs that are always analyticalal, are derived in the following way. If the numeration contains the feature [progressive] or [habitual] and a conventional Root, -tzen wins out. The result is an analyticalanalyticalal form (1) ambiguous between a progressive and a habitual reading, each originating from a distinct numeration. On the other hand, old verbs (roots marked with [f]) can be spelled out as analytical (2) or synthetic (3). If the feature is [progressive] and the Root is marked with [f], the Ø morpheme wins out, and unless V moves to T, the derivation crashes at PF, as the surface form fails to satisfy the requirement that verbs be inflected (3). A derivation with V-to-T movement, on the other hand, converges, as the verb at PF is inflected (for tense). If the numeration has the feature [habitual] and the Root is marked with [f], underspecified –tzen wins out. The result is an unambiguous analytical form (2) where the aspectual morpheme satisfies the inflection requirement, as in conventional verbs.

Early Insertion of Roots and an independently motivated morphological constraint on bare verb Roots suffice to account for the range of aspectual interpretations and the syntactic properties of the two classes of verbs in Basque.

(0) Go, walk, come, see, hear, be (individual level), be (stage level) have, do, attach, say, bring, carry, give, seem, (1) Miren-ek borobil-ak marraz-ten d-it-u

Miren-E circle-A/p draw-IMP 3.AGR(A)-p(A)-have/3.s.AGR(E)‘Mary draws circles’ ‘Mary is drawing circles’

(2) Ni unibertsitate-ra joa-ten n-a-izI-A university-to go-IMP 1.s.AGR(A)-PRS-be‘I go to the university’ *‘I am going to the university’

(3) Ni unibertsitate-ra n-oaI-A university-to 1.s.AGR(A)-go/PRS

‘I am going to the university’

L'aspect et le trait de personne en arabe syrien'

Nisirne AL-ZAHRE & Nora BONEH

:Qu'est ce qui permet l'apparition d'une forme participiale dépourvue de laflexion personnelle dans une phrase finie indépendante en arbe syrien?Qu'est ce qui distingue cette même forme des deux autres formes verbalesconnues en arabe, à savoir le perfectif et l'imperfectif? Nous essayeronsde montrer que la légitimation d'un verbe sans flexion personnelle(participe) est due à des raisons d'ordre discursif (Le temps del'énonciation) , ce qui est présenté structurallement, par la catégorie(C): (la périphérique gauche de la squellette clausale). Nous essayons demontrer que cette forme participiale est liée au temps de l'énonciation(Speech time). Une autre observation résulte de notre travail, c'est quele trait de personne est fortement impliquée dans la notion del'aspectualité.

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Dany Amiot, Walter De Mulder et Nelly FlauxUniversité d’Artois / GRAMMATICA

 Nous sommes dimanche

L’analyse de cette construction, d’une banalité extrême, soulève plusieurs problèmes. Le premier est l’emploi du verbe être, que rien ne semble prédisposer à exprimer un repérage dans le temps. Hormis le recours à la métaphore de la spatialisation du temps, rien ne paraît relier le verbe être employé dans ce type de construction (nous sommes le 15 mars ; nous sommes au printemps) à ses autres emplois standard (copule : nous sommes contentes  ; localisateur : nous sommes à Lille ; identificationnel : nous sommes les collègues de Walter ; possessif : ce livre est à nous). Nous essaierons de voir si l’histoire de la langue fournit là-dessus quelques données pertinentes. Il ne semble pas, en tout cas, qu’en latin esse ait été employé en ce sens. En allemand, c’est le verbe avoir qui est requis (wir haben Sonntag). La seconde particularité, plus aisée à expliquer celle-là, est qu’une contrainte très forte pèse sur le sujet. Dans la construction être + dimanche, seul peut apparaître comme sujet nous ou on. Mais non pas, comme on pourrait s’y attendre, le pronom impersonnel il (*il est dimanche / il est minuit). Les autres pronoms, sauf cas très particuliers, sont exclus. Est exclu également tout groupe nominal, quel qu’il soit. Cette contrainte est naturellement en lien avec celle qui pèse sur le choix du temps : le verbe être ne peut apparaître qu’avec un nombre très limité de « tiroirs verbaux » (nous étions dimanche / nous serons dimanche vs *nous avons été dimanche / *nous fûmes dimanche / *nous avions été dimanche). La tournure nous sommes dimanche est fondamentalement déictique. La construction absolue du nom temporel dimanche n’est pas surprenante, surtout si l’on considère que ces noms fonctionnent comme des noms propres. Et l’on sait que les compléments de temps se construisent souvent sans préposition. Sauf qu’ici, cependant, le complément de temps n’est sûrement pas un « circonstanciel ». La construction absolue n’est d’ailleurs pas la seule possible (nous sommes le dimanche 17 mars). Mais des contraintes sévères pèsent sur les combinaisons autorisées, qu’il conviendra de mettre au jour et, si possible, d’expliquer.

Le passé composé du français: une forme verbale à valeur temporelle ?

Maria Antoniou, adonioum@otenet.gr

La présente communication examine la forme verbale du passé composé du français dans le cadre de la théorie des opérations énonciatives du professeur Antoine Culioli.

S’agit-il d’une forme verbale qui sert à exprimer « une procès qui s’est déroulé dans le passé et dont les conséquences touchent le moment de l’énonciation? » Si tel est le cas, le passé composé est l’équivalent du present perfect de l’anglais. Mais, l’est-il vraiment ? Car, si le passé composé est l’équivalent du present perfect de l’anglais, pourquoi est-il impossible de traduire « Je l’ai vu hier » par « *I have seen him yesterday » ? Et les emplois du type « j’ai bientôt fini », «Alors, tu viens ? – Oui, oui, ça y est. Je suis parti », « Quand Paul a lu, il sort » ? S’agit-il des emplois métaphoriques, des transpositions de la valeur temporelle primaire ?

Le passé composé a beau commencer par être une forme verbale à valeur temporelle, actuellement il exprime l’aspect accompli, non dans le sens de « déroulé dans le passé » mais dans le sens de « compact », de procès envisagé en bloc, sans considération de la durée ou du résultat. C’est exactement cette valeur primaire et unique qui permet d’expliquer tous les emplois du passé composé. On peut, alors, dire qu’il s’agit d’une forme verbale aoristique, c’est à dire atemporelle. C’est ainsi que le passé composé se rapproche de l’aoriste du grec moderne, lui aussi étant une forme verbale à valeur purement aspectuelle.

Le present perfect de l’anglais, d’autre part, est une forme verbale temporelle qui exprime un procès qui s’est déroulé dans le passé et dont les conséquences touchent le moment de l’énonciation.

BibliographieAntoniou Maria, 2000, Etude contrastive de l’aoriste grec et des formes verbales par

lesquelles il est représenté en français, thèse de doctorat, Université Paris 7, 539p.Antoniou Maria, 2001, “ Ο Παρακείμενος Α’ της Νέας Ελληνικής» («   Le parfait A’ du grec

moderne   »), communication présentée au 5ème Colloque International de Linguistique Grecque, 13-15 septembre 2001, Paris, Université Paris 5, (actes à paraître).

Boule Jacques, 1995, L’évolution des systèmes aspectuels, thèse de doctorat, Université Paris 7.

Culioli Antoine, 1980, « Valeurs aspectuelles et opérations énonciatives : l’aoristique », in Jean David et Robert Martin (éds), La notion d’aspect, Paris, klincksieck, p.181-193.

Danon-Boileau Laurent, Duchet Jean-Louis, (éds), 1993, Opérations énonciatives et interprétation de l’énoncé, Mélanges offerts à Janine Bouscaren, Paris, Ophrys, 221p.

Durative adverbials and tense properties in Italian

Fabbrizio Arosio

Italian durative per-adverbials (for) and da-adverbials (since) are found in complementary distribution within atelic predicates. Consider the following sentences containing the state predicate "essere buio" (to be dark)

per-adverbial da-adverbial(1a) ?? È buio per due ore

Is-PRES dark for two hours(1b) È buio da due ore

Is-PRES dark since two hours [PRES = Presente]

(2a) ?? Era buio per due oreWas-IMP dark for two hours

(2b) Era buio da due ore Was-IMP dark since two hours [IMP = Imperfetto]

(3a) Fu buio per due oreWas-PRE dark for two hours

(3b) ?? Fu buio da due oreWas-PRE dark since two hours [PRE = Passato Remoto]

(4a) È/era stato buio per due ore Is-PRES/Was-IMP been dark for two hours(Passato/Trapassato Prossimo)

(4b) ?? È/era stato buio da due oreIs-PRES/Was-IMP been dark since two hours(Passato/Trapassato Prossimo)

As shown by the (a)-examples, per-adverbials combine felicitously with the Passato Remoto and the Passato Prossimo and the Trapassato Prossimo but not with the Presente and the Imperfetto; on the contrary, as you see from the (b)-examples, da-adverbials combine with the Presente and the Imperfetto but not with other tenses. This distribution is the first thing we want to account for. We will show that Giorgi and Pianesi's (2001) recent analysis of the Italian system cannot be the correct one and that it cannot account for the above facts. We will follow Dowty's (1979) definition of durative adverbials by assuming that they measure the length of the reference time introduced by tenses; we will show that the contrasts above depend on the properties of the Italian tenses. We claim that the Imperfetto and the Presente introduce points of time. We propose to define these tenses as time variables carrying presuppositions, in the style of Heim (1994)(5) ||PRESENTEi||g,c is only defined if g(i)< speech time and i is momentary; if defined ||PRESENTEi||g,c=g(i)(6) ||IMPERFETTOi||g,c is only defined if g(i)<speech time and i is momentary; if defined ||IMPERFETTOi||g,c=g(i)

The Imperfetto is a tense behaving exactly as a “present in the past”, i.e., it is only defined for points of time. The presupposed momentary character prevents these tenses combining with for-adverbials and in-adverbials (in the case of telics): exactly the correct prediction for Italian. The adverb "da x tempo" (for x time) combines felicitously with these tenses since it introduces an extended now interval (McCoard (1978), Dowty (1979), von Stechow (1999)) of which a homogeneous predicate holds (von Stechow (2002)); the adverb specifies that this interval is x time long, without specifying the length of the reference time introduced by the Imperfetto or the Presente. The distribution across the Passato Remoto, the Passato Prossimo and the Trapassato Prossimo is explained by the fact that these tenses introduce past time intervals and select for complements having a certain temporal character: those not having the sub-interval property, namely, telic predicates. When the predicate entering the derivation is a state or an activity, it is turned into a telic VP in one of two ways: by application of an achievement operator or by maximalization of the original predicate. These give us respectively the "terminative" (in (3)-(4)) and the "incohative" interpretation of atelic predicates under this tenses (Bertinetto (2001), Giorgi and Pianesi (2001). For-adverbials combine felicitously with these tenses; da-adverbials do not, given the homogeneity (sub-interval ) condition. The ungrammaticality of sentences like (2a) and (3b) follows straightforwardly from their contradictory LFs below

(2a.LF) (3b.LF)

An additional fact to be explained concerns durative modification of telic predicates. The pattern of distribution is slightly different here: in-adverbials distribute analogously to per-adverbials in their atelic domain. Da-adverbials combine felicitously with the Passato Prossimo and the Trapassato Prossimo. We will argue that da-adverbials in this case modify a post state introduced by these tenses (Klein (1994)). Moreover, per-adverbials can combine in the appropriate tense with a change-of-state predicate, and can give rise to a result state reading. As pointed out by Kratzer (2000), not every telic predicate has this property; this means that not every telic predicate combines with per-adverbials:

(7) *Mario spedì una lettera per tre giorni

*Mario sent a letter for three days

(8) Mario aprì la finestra per tre oreMario opened the window for three hours

It appears, then, that per- and da-adverbials are, modulo their tense selection, very much the same.REFERENCES:Bertinetto,P.M. (2001). The 'Perfective - Telic Confusion'. In: Cecchetto, C. Semantic Interfaces. The U. of Chicago PressDowty, D. (1979). Word Meaning and Montague Grammar. Dordrecht, Reidel.Giorgi, A. & Pianesi, F. (2001). Ways of Terminating. In: Cecchetto, C. Semantic Interfaces.

The Univ. of Chicago PressHeim, I. (1994). Comments on Abusch's theory of tense, MIT.Klein, W. (1994). Time in Language. Routledge. New YorkKratzer, A. (2000). Building Statives. University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Berkeley

Linguistic Society.McCoard, R. W. (1978). The English Perfect: Tense Choice and Pragmatic Inferences.

Amsterdam, North-Holland.Stechow, A. v. (1999). “ Eine erweiterte Extended Now- Theorie für Perfekt und Futur .” ZLL

113: 86-118

Incompatibility between telicity and homogeneity   in French

Maria ASNES   /Tel Aviv University

Mittwoch 1982, Krifka 1989, 1998,Verkuyl 1993, White 1994 and others pointed out at the following paradox.

Namely, while a VP composed of a homogeneous V and a heterogeneous DP in its internal argument position is

usually telic, there are cases where a VP may be telic although the composition of the verb and the internal

argument has a homogeneous reading.

The classical examples of this so-called paradox are as following :

(1) a. Jean a dessiné plusieurs cercles en une heure

John drew some circles in an hour

b. Jean a lu au plus trois livres en deux mois

John read at most three books in two months

(2) a. Jean a dessiné trois cercles en une heure

John draw three circles in an hour

b. Jean a lu au moins trois livres en deux mois

John read at least three books in two months

The VPs in both (1) and (2) are telic (as follows from their compatibility with the en/in time adverbials). The paradox resides in the fact that the VPs in (1) but not in (2) possess a subinterval property as a result of the homogeneity of their internal arguments.

I intend to prove here that this case is not a paradox at all. More precisely, I will suggest that :1) DPs such as Fr. plusieurs N and Fr. au plus x N have a heterogeneous and not a homogeneous reference.2) The telicity of situations denoted by VPs implies their heterogeneity. In other words, there are no situations where VPs are homogeneous and telic at the same time.In order to prove the first proposition, i.e. that plusieus N/ au plus N refer heterogeneously, one should perform a deep lexical analysis of the quantificational properties of plusieurs et au plus. It appears from this analysis that NPs located in the scope of these quantifiers satisfy the criterion of the divisibility but not that of cumulability. Despite the formal representation of the meaning of these quantifiers, in natural languages the quantification they perform is characterized by the imposing of a top and a bottom boundary to the denotation of the NP in their scope.

Moreover, these quantifiers operate a discretisation of the referents of the NPs, so that it is possible to identify

every individual occurrence of the referent. All these data point to the fact that DPs quantified by plusieurs et au

plus refer heterogeneously.

When these DPs appear as internal arguments of homogeneous predicates such as Fr. dessiner, Fr. lire, they

usually bring on telic aspect since they impose a terminal boundary to a process.

Thus, we will conclude that the telic aspect of VPs like that in (1) is directly deducible from the heterogeneous

quantification of plusieurs and au plus.

Here are some of the data that will be brought out, and discussed, as empirical support for our hypothesis that the DPs quantified by plusieurs et au plus have a heterogeneous reference:

(3) a. Cette semaine nous avons planté plusieurs arbres dont 10 / ?20/ ??30 ont dû être arrachés (upper

boundary)

b. #Cette semaine nous avons planté trois arbres dont plusieurs ont dû être arrachés (lower boundary)(4) a. Nous allons inviter au plus 20 personnes à l’anniversaire, ?# plus exactement 22 (upper boundary)

b. Il y eu au plus 20 invités chez Paul hier soir , plus exactement il y en avait 18 / ?10/ ? ?3.(lower boundary) (5) a. Plusieurs enfants se suivaient l’un l’autre

b. Au plus 10 enfants se suivaient l’un l’autre

c. *Beacoup d’enfants se suivaient l’un l’autre

(6) a. Plusieurs enfants arrivaient, chacun avec sa bicyclette

b. Au plus 10 enfants arrivaient, chacun avec sa bicyclette

c. *Beaucoup d’enfants arrivaient, chacun avec sa bicyclette

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The absolute and the relative present tense with future time reference in English and Dutch

Griet BeheydtGriet.Beheydt@kulak.ac.be

This lecture is meant to go into two completely different uses of the present tense with future time reference in two cognate Germanic languages, viz. English and Dutch. The description will be based on the comprehensive tense model Declerck (1991)1 worked out for English.

The first use is the present tense with absolute future time reference. ‘Absolute’ means that the time of the situation is directly related to the temporal zero-point (or t0).

Analysing the mechanism underlying the futurate present in English, Declerck uses the term

‘shift of temporal perspective’, which is perfectly applicable to Dutch. This means that the

speaker shifts his temporal perspective from the future to the present, because he wants to

represent the future situation AS IF it were actualising at the temporal zero-point, AS IF it were a

present fact.

Another similarity between the two languages is that a clear future contextualisation (mostly

but not necessarily the presence of a time adverbial) is a necessary condition for a shift of

temporal perspective in order to avoid ambiguity with a present reading. But contrary to what

is sometimes read in the literature, especially on Dutch, this future contextualisation is not a

sufficient condition for the use of the futurate present.

(1) *The sun shines tomorrow. / *The sun is shining tomorrow.(2) *Ben ik zo lelijk als oma, als ik volwassen ben? In spite of the similarities, however, English and Dutch differ to a large extent with respect to

the actual restrictions on the use of the futurate present. That this tense is generally more

widespread in Dutch than in English is well-known. In ca. 55% of the Dutch sentences

referring to the future the verb form is in the present tense; in English the percentage is ca.

12%. We will, however, go into the exact differences. Corpus data corroborating our claims

will be discussed.

Firstly, other than Dutch, English has two present tense forms. When the reference is to the

future the difference between the present simple and the present progressive is not aspectual.

Moreover, there are a number of contexts (such as the apodosis of conditionals, sentences

containing a modalizing adverbial, complement clauses after matrix verbs such as fear/vrezen,

expect/verwachten) where the Dutch present tense is normal, the English one in principle

ungrammatical.

1 Declerck, R. (1991). Tense in English: its structure and use in discourse. London: Routledge.

Further, pragmatic factors play a major role. Much depends on how the speaker wants to

represent the situation within a particular speech context. Either the present tense (3) or the

future tense (4a) is obligatorily used in particular conversational contexts in English.

(3) [reading a timetable] The train leaves at five p.m. / *The train will leave at five p.m.

(4a) ?*Maybe I see him next week. / Maybe I will see him next week.

The difference in interpretation when both tenses are possible will be dealt with. In Dutch the

effect on the interpretation of the sentence is less out-spoken when the temporal perspective is

shifted. The difference in interpretation between the present and the future in (4b) is minimal.

(4b) Misschien zie ik hem volgende week. / Misschien zal ik hem volgende week zien.

Although the present is the most frequent tense in sentences with future time reference in Dutch, the future tense is very often a correct alternative. Apart from its use as an absolute tense, the present tense may also have relative (future) time reference. In both English and Dutch, the present tense is used to express a simultaneity relation with another future time point; it only indirectly (i.e. via one or more intermediate stages) relates the time of a future situation to the temporal zero-point. Though the absolute and the relative present tenses are often lumped together, they belong to two clearly distinct systems of expressing time, in Declerck’s terminology the future and the present perspective system respectively. The use of the English relative present tense is not the exact equivalent of the Dutch one: the different restrictions on their uses will be listed and discussed. In this way we hope to complete the picture of the present tense with future time reference.

L'avertif en portugais Valeriano Bellosta von Colbe Université de Cologne L'avertif est le grammème exprimant qu' "un événement a failli avoir lieu" (imminence contrecarrée). Le portugais européen (1) et le galicien (2) ont un avertif grammaticalisé sous la forme d'une construction à verbe support: (1) O rapaz atravessou la rua sem olhar e ia sendo atropelado pelo automóvel. (IMP ir + GER) (2) Iste señor era o que houbera de casarse coa nosa tía (PLUS/P. SIMPLE haber + INF) Au Moyen Age il n'y avait qu'une seule langue, le galicien-portugais, qui avait déjà développé l'avertif PLUS/P. SIMPLE haber + INF (ainsi comme l'espagnol médiéval et quelques dialectes italiens). La conférence retracera l'évolution vers le portugais moderne y compris la perte de la forme médiévale au 16ème siècle (conservée à Galice) et la naissance de la forme moderne IMP ir + GER) en faisant appel à la théorie de la grammaticalisation. Il s'agira donc de répondre aux questions suivantes: a) Pourquoi est-ce que l'avertif médiéval est disparu en portugais (et pas en galicien)? b) Comment est-ce que le progressif ir + GER est-il devenu télique? c) Comment est-ce que la nouvelle construction a-t-elle acquis les traits temporels, aspectuels et modaux de l'imminence contrecarrée? Références Bellosta von Colbe, Valeriano (2001a): Ausdrücke für "frustrierte Imminenz" im deutsch-romanischen Vergleich, apud: Gerd Wotjak (éd.), Studien zum romanisch-deutschen und innerromanischen Sprachvergleich: Akten der IV Internationalen Tagung zum romanisch-deutschen und innerromanischen Sprachvergleich (Leipzig, 7.10.-9.10.1999), Frankfurt a. M., etc.: Peter Lang (Studien zur romanischen Sprachwissenschaft und interkulturellen Kommunikation 7) 145-156. Bellosta von Colbe, Valeriano (2001b): Sobre el gramema de conato en las lenguas iberorrománicas, apud: Barbara Schäfer-Prieß/Hildegard Klöden/Rolf Kailuweit (éds.), Grammatikalisierung in den iberoromanischen Sprachen, Wilhelmsfeld: Gottfried Egert (Pro Lingua 33) 131-167.Kuteva, Tania (1998): On Identifying an Evasive Gram: Action Narrowly Averted: Studies in Language 22,1: 113-160.Kuteva, Tania (2001): Auxiliation: An Enquiry into the Nature of Grammaticalization, Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.

Merete BirkelundSyddansk Universitet (Odense)birkelund@language.sdu.dk

Négation et modalitéDans cette communication, nous nous proposons d’étudier l’emploi de la négation ne…pas se trouvant dans les énoncés modalisés par les verbes modaux devoir et pouvoir. Pour devoir et pouvoir, on oppose souvent la modalité déontique d’une part : Il doit partir (obligation) et Il peut partir (permission ou possibilité) et la modalité épistémique d’autre part : Il doit venir (Il viendra sans doute) et Il peut venir (Peut-être qu’il viendra), d’où ressort la conception de leur polysémie. Cependant, c’est tout particulièrement leur valeur déontique qui nous intéresse dans cette étude. La modalité déontique reste de première importance, sinon la seule valeur modale pertinente, dans les textes juridiques et contractuels qui constituent le point de départ de nos analyses.

Les expressions verbales de modalité déontique (signifiant l’obligation et la permission) sont ici conçues comme des ‘ordres déguisés’, ce qui signifie que l’analyse de la négation en termes de fausseté n’y trouvera pas sa place puisque l’obligation et la permission en tant que telles ne peuvent être analysées en termes vériconditionnelles.

Une analyse unissant la négation et les verbes modaux fait preuve d’une grande complexité dans la mesure où la négation d’un prédicat signifiant l’obligation (Il ne doit pas partir) ne représente pas la négation de l’obligation, mais, par contre, l’obligation de ~P (Il doit ne pas partir), donc la négation ne modifie pas la nature de l’acte de langage dont il s’agit. On a donc affaire à une négation quelque peu ‘illogique’ qui semble avoir une portée sur toute la phrase alors que le contenu performatif (obligation) reste hors de cette portée.

Il semble que devoir représente une plus grande complexité que pouvoir dans la mesure où devoir n’est pas susceptible d’être modifié par l’opérateur de la négation ne … pas alors que pouvoir n’accepte pas l’anticipation (la montée) de la négation sans impliquer un changement de sens (comp. Il ne peut pas partir Il peut ne pas partir).

Pour exprimer la modalité déontique, le locuteur des textes juridiques et contractuels semble en général préférer pouvoir en combinaison avec la négation au détriment de devoir. Dans notre communication, nous allons proposer une explication de cette préférence.

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Reineke Bok-Bennema

On short V-movement in Romance

The main claim I will defend in this talk is that the target of so-called “Short Verb Movement” in Romance is an aspectual head encoding +/- perfectivity.

Short Verb Movement (SVM) is introduced by Pollock (1989). According to him, French infinitival verbs optionally move to a position in the middlefield, which is lower than the position (overtly) targeted by finite verbs. Pollock calls this lower position Agr (Agreement); Belletti (1990) claims that it is T (Tense).

As I will argue, SVM is not restricted to French infinitivals. It applies as well to Spanish and Portuguese finite verbs (cf. Costa and Galves, 2000 and Costa 2001 for Portuguese) and to active participles in a variety of Romance languages. I will also argue that, contrary to what seems to be the case at first sight, SVM is always obligatory, its apparent “optionality” following from a certain variability in the merging order of its target and certain adverbs.

Specifically the fact that active participles - which encode aspect, but not tense - undergo SVM, leads to my claim that the latter targets an aspectual head. When this head is [+perfective] (i.e. in complex tenses) it functions as the PERF operator proposed by Kamp and Reyle (1993) and de Swart (1998). PERF has to be bound by a higher tense operator, TENSE. This indicates that the target of “Long V-Movement” (e.g. that of finite verbs in French) is the syntactic instantiation of TENSE, i.e. that it is T, as in Pollock’s original proposal.

Andrée Borillo 5ème Colloque ChronosERSS UMR 56 10 Université de GroningenUniversité Toulouse-Le Mirail 19-21 Juin 2002

Les adverbes temporels et la structuration du discours

Les adverbes temporels ont un rôle important à jouer dans la structuration du discours, et plus particulièrement dans la structuration du discours narratif. La structuration ne se réduit pas au type de lien temporel anaphorique que certains de ces adverbes peuvent tout naturellement établir d'une phrase à l'autre en tant qu'adverbes "conjonctifs" (ex. le lendemain, peu après, pendant ce temps.). Elle peut être également s'incarner dans une relation de type sémantico-logique (dite "relation rhétorique"ou encore "relation de discours") qui articule de manière plus générale le discours et qui fait assimiler certains adverbes temporels à de véritables connecteurs (ex. alors, puis, ensuite).

Cependant, on peut se demander si ces deux sortes de relation sont couvertes par deux types différents d'adverbes : si d'un côté, il y a des adverbes qui sont simplement à considérer comme des "temporels anaphoriques" et de l'autre des adverbes auxquels revient de manière plus spécifique un statut de "connecteurs de discours ". L'examen de l' ensemble des adverbes qui sont amenés à jouer un rôle dans l'articulation du discours montre qu'il n'est pas si facile de se prononcer.

Tout d'abord, s'agissant des adverbes temporels anaphoriques, très nombreux en français, il est clair que beaucoup d'entre eux - sinon tous - peuvent jouer le rôle d'adverbe "conjonctif". Ce terme est généralement utilisé pour désigner la classse des adverbes qui peuvent assurer l'articulation entre deux phrases ou plus largement entre deux segments de discours (cf Quirk et Greenbaum 1973, mais également Molinier et Lévrier 1990, Nolke 2001 ). Cependant, en ce qui concerne les adverbes temporels anaphoriques, on voit que le terme "conjonctif" ne peut que caractériser un statut lié à une fonction syntaxique et à une position que prend l'adverbe dans la phrase qui l'héberge; il ne définit donc pas une classe, comme cela peut être le cas pour d'autres types d'adverbes (concessifs, adversatifs, transitionnels, etc) et c'est bien là la première difficulté, i.e. déterminer ce qu'est un adverbe temporel conjonctif.

Par ailleurs, on peut se demander où peut être tracée la frontière entre ces adverbes temporels anaphoriques possiblement conjonctifs et les adverbes temporels ou aspectuo-temporels qui, sans être définissables comme des anaphoriques, fonctionnent comme des conjonctifs susceptibles d'articuler temporellement des phrass ou des segments de discours, mais qui, en même temps, peuvent induire des relations de discours autres que temporelles.. Dans cette deuxième catégorie, on peut bien sûr ranger les quelques adverbes qui ont pour fonction essentielle d'exprimer une séquentialité entre des éventualités - regroupées éventuellement en série (ex. d'abord, puis, ensuite, enfin). Mais il faut également faire la place à différents groupes d'adverbes dont le rôle est d'introduire une certaine modalité temporelle dans la relation articulant plusieurs éventualités : l'idée de rapidité dans le mode de survenance (ex. soudain, tout à coup, brusquement) ou de rapidité dans la succession (ex. immédiatement, aussitôt).

Enfin, concernant tout particulièrement cette deuxième catégorie d'adverbes, mais le problème peut se poser également avec les adverbes temporels fondamentalement anaphoriques, on verra qu'il est parfois difficile de découpler dans un même adverbe ce qui fait de lui un conjonctif temporel et ce qui en fait un connecteur de discours. En d'autres termes, on peut se demander si, pour un même adverbe, il est possible de disjoindre le sens temporel qui lui est attaché en propre - en quelque sorte par définition - et le sens logico-pragmatique qu'il peut éventuellement endosser lorsqu'il se trouve placé à l'articulation de certains types d'énoncé. A notre avis, il semble plutôt que la première relation - la relation temporelle - puisse servir en quelque sorte de base pour la seconde et qu'elle se trouve exploitée pour l'expression d'autres types de relations, dans la mesure où celles-ci intègrent précisément la dimension temporelle dans le sens qui est normalement le leur (ex. succession temporelle et consécutivité, antériorité et cause, etc.).

Références

Borillo A. (2001) "Les connecteurs temporels et la structuration du discours : l'exemple de aussitôt" Colloque Macro-syntaxe et macro-sémantique, Université de Aarhus

Bras M., Le Draoulec A., Vieu L. (2001) "Connecteurs et temps verbaux dans l'interprétation temporelle du discours : le cas de puis en interaction avec l'imparfait et le passé simple", Cahiers Chronos (à paraître)

Guimier C. (1996) Les adverbes du français. Le cas des adverbes en -ment, Paris, OphrysHobbs J. (1979) "Coherence and coreference" Cognitive Science 3 : 76-90Melis L. (1983) Les circonstants et la phrase, Louvain, Presses Universitaires de LouvainMolinier C. , Lévrier F. (1990) Grammaire des adverbes en -ment, Genève-Paris, DrozNolke H. (2001) "Les adverbiaux spatio-temporels dans le système adverbial" dans H. Nolke

Le regard du locuteur 2 , Paris, Editions KiméQuirk R, Greenbaum S. (1973) A University grammar of English, Londres, Longman5

Temps et oralité dans le conte traditionnel et le néo-conteJanice Carruthers, Queen’s University, Belfast.

Parmi les variétés de narration orale qui ont été étudiées récemment par des linguistes

s’intéressant au temps et à l’aspect, ce sont la narration conversationnelle et les “textes”

médiévaux qui se trouvent au coeur du débat. L’exploration des rapports entre temps, aspect

et oralité a mené à des analyses élairantes de certains phénomènes (en particulier, l’alternance

des temps et l’emploi du présent narratif) et a poussé certains chercheurs, tels que Fleischman,

à établir des liens entre les conversations contemporaines et des textes médiévaux.

Cette communication propose une discussion de l’emploi des temps dans deux sortes de conte oral en français moderne, à savoir le conte traditionnel et le néo-conte. Pourquoi le néo-conte oral? Parce qu’il s’agit là d’une narration où la dynamique entre l’influence de l’oral et celle de l’écrit joue un rôle primordial, surtout au niveau des effets pragmatiques et textuels provoqués par l’emploi des temps. Dans le cas du conte traditionnel, le contexte culturel crée une dynamique temporelle qui n’est pas tout à fait la même, malgré l’oralité qui caractérise les deux formes de discours. Nos données viennent du Centre de Littérature Orale à Vendôme (pour le néo-conte) et de la collection CNRS “Aubrac” dans les ATP à Paris (pour le conte traditionnel).

Descriptions of past events in German Abraham P. ten Cate, Groningen

A comparison of the three main categories in the temporal structure, i.e., present, past and future, shows that the German language has a relatively extended array of tense forms to describe events that took place in the past. A speaker of the so-called ‘Hochsprache’ (standard German) has three options to describe events that took place prior to the time of speech (tS): preterit, perfect and pluperfect. In addition, many regiolects have two other tense forms with past functions, namely double perfect and double pluperfect (Er hat/hatte das Buch gelesen gehabt. ‘He has/had the book read had-PAST PARTICIPLE’). During the last five centuries or so, there has been a tendency to eliminate the past tense, a phenomenon known as ‘Präteritumschwund’ (decay of the preterit). As a result, the perfect now expresses tense functions that originally were typical for the preterit. This phenomenon is intruding written language as well, even at less colloquial levels, but at stylistically more formal levels, the perfect still competes with the preterit. Therefore, it seems likely that at least some German speakers still have command of two tense systems.

A second, often overlooked consequence of Präteritumschwund is the changing position of the pluperfect. The pluperfect is one of the preferred tenses when the notion of a ‘time of reference’ (tR) in a Reichenbachian tense description has to be demonstrated, i.e., when the vantage point of the described event is not tS but tR. It is hard to imagine that a tense whose structural position is anchored so strongly would give up its original function and take over functions that can be expressed by other tense forms. However, this is exactly what can be observed in present-day German: the pluperfect shares the preterit function with the perfect, thus enabling one function to be expressed by two or three forms. If the original functions of perfect and pluperfect are to be expressed, one might think of the double perfect and pluperfect form.

A third topic I will address in my contribution is the number of tenses a speaker of German has at his or her disposal. It seems that the Präteritumschwund took away the foundation of the system of sub-categorisation of tense forms and functions used in descriptions of events that took place in the past—an instance of tense syncretism, which leads to a simplification of the German tense system.

Interestingly, some other Germanic languages, notably Dutch and all Scandinavian languages, did not suffer a preterit decay. These languages possess intact systems of tense forms and functions, which resemble the system that existed in German before the decay of the preterit destroyed its foundation. To give an example, the well-known German expression “Wir haben es nicht gewusst” (‘We have not known it’) is out of place in Dutch (“*Wij hebben het niet geweten”). Rather, in Dutch, “Wij wisten het niet” (‘We knew it not’) would be appropriate. Of course, few

Dutch speakers would be able to explain the difference between the unacceptable and the fully acceptable expression.

REFERENCES

ten Cate, Abraham P. (1998). ''Le Parfait et le Prétérit parfait en allemand''. In: André Norillo / Carl Vetters / Marcel Vuillaume (eds.). Regards sur l'aspect. Amsterdam: Rodopi 1998, 75-86 (=Cahiers Chronos 2/3).

Thieroff, Rolf (1992). Das finite Verb im Deutschen. Tempus-Modus-Distanz. Tübingen: Narr.

This talk will be given in English

Echelles de degrés et aspect

Patrick Caudal

L’idée de mettre en relation aspect et échelles de degrés sous-tend implicitement quantité de travaux qui font appel à la métaphore localiste représentant les changements d’état comme un déplacement le long d’un odomètre (Verkuyl 1993) ou d’une échelle abstraite (cf. Tenny 1994, Jackendoff 1996, Ramchand 1997). Mais on doit à Hay et al. (1999) la première tentative de théorisation des échelles de degrés en relation au typage aspectuel des situations, par l’étude des effets de sens aspectuels des termes évaluatifs. Ainsi, ces auteurs ont démontré qu’il existait un lien entre la télicité des situations et le caractère ouvert ou au contraire fermé des échelles de degrés sous-jacentes aux situations. L’idée est en gros que le déroulement d’une situation (en particulier d’une situation associée à un changement d’état) peut être modélisé en termes d’échelles de degrés ; je parlerai donc d’échelle de déroulement. Ainsi, un verbe de changement d’état comme widen (s’élargir) étant associé à une échelle de déroulement ouverte (il n’existe pas de degré “ ultime ” d’élargissement), il sera atélique. Inversement, un verbe comme bake (préparer par cuisson) étant associé à une échelle de déroulement fermée, il sera télique.

Mon propos dans cet article sera de systématiser l’étude de la relation entre échelles de degrés et types de situations, en examinant les effets de sens aspectuels et la distribution de différents termes dits évaluatifs. L’objectif est de parvenir à une conceptualisation affinée des types de situations. Deux catégories distinctes d’effets de sens seront mis en évidence : les premiers renvoient la structure macroscopique (topologique) des situations, c’est-à-dire à un découpage en phases ou sous-situations (comme l’entendent par exemple Smith 1991 ou Tenny 1994), cf. ()-(), alors que les seconds renvoient à une structure microscopique (métrique) des situations, sélectionnant un degré précis sur une échelle appliquée à la phase interne d’une situation, cf. () :() Yannig est presqu’arrivé au sommet. (presque sélectionne la fin de la phase préparatoire)() Yannig a presque nagé. (presque nous place à la limite du début de la phase interne )() Yannig a complètement mangé sa crêpe.

Pour ce faire, je ferai appel à plusieurs concepts nouveaux pour définir la structure des échelles de déroulement que j’associerai à des verbes dont la complémentation est saturée (et non à des propriétés référentielles des verbes, comme le proposent Hay et al. 1999). Je montrerai tout d’abord qu’une distinction doit être faite entre échelles de degrés d’intensité (qui ne sont pas liées à la méréologie de la référence d’un GN argument, cf. rougir, ou

alourdir, qui affectent un argument dans sa totalité) et échelles de degrés de quantité (cf. manger, vernir, dont l’échelle de déroulement est projetée sur la structure méréologique de la référence d’un GN argument). Je distinguerai également entre un zonage des échelles de degrés et une valeur standard (ou standard de comparaison, notion qui a été pleinement développée par F. Corblin (cf. Corblin à paraître) dans son analyse des termes évaluatifs comme comparatifs implicites, mais que l’on trouve en germe chez Hay et al. 1999, ou Rivara 1990). Cette idée est capitale, puisqu’elle permet d’expliquer pourquoi la plupart des verbes ont des échelles de déroulement associées à des degrés “ par défaut ”, d’une part, et que d’autre part certains verbes ont en outre des échelles de déroulements associées à des zones accessibles ou inaccessibles. Ainsi, les verbes détruire et anéantir renvoient par défaut à un haut degré (on a l’implication par défaut : L’OTAN a détruit Belgrade Belgrade est complètement détruite) ; ils ont une valeur standard haute. Mais s’ils sont capables de renvoyer à des degrés moindres (cf. L’OTAN a à moitié détruit Belgrade), ils ne peuvent en aucun cas renvoyer à des degrés bas (cf. ??L’OTAN a à peine détruit Belgrade) ; ils ont par conséquent un zonage haut (i.e., les bas degrés de leurs échelles de déroulement sont inaccessibles). Par la mise en avant des différentes caractéristiques des échelles de déroulement associées à des verbes à complémentation saturée , j’isolerai des types de situations jusqu’à présent ignorés dans l’abondante littérature consacrée à cette question, et expliquerai leur comportement aspectuel singulier.

RéférencesCorblin, F. (à paraître), "Sur la sémantique des évaluatifs", ms., Université Paris-Sorbonne. Hay, J., Ch. Kennedy et B. Levin (1999), "Scalar Structure Underlies Telicity in ‘Degree

Achievements’", in Proceedings of SALT 9, pp. 127-144.Jackendoff, R. (1996), "The Proper Treatment of Measuring Out, Telicity and Perhaps Event

Quantification in English", in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 14, pp. 305-354.

Ramchand, G. (1997), Aspect and Predication: The Semantics of Argument Structure, Clarendon Press - Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Rivara, R. (1990), Le système de la comparaison – Sur la construction du sens dans les langues naturelles, Editions de Minuit, Paris.

Tenny, Carol (1994), Aspectual Roles and the Syntax-Semantics Interface, Kluwer, Dordrecht.Verkuyl, H. (1993), A theory of aspectuality, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Smith, C. (1991), The Parameter of Aspect, Kluwer, Dordrecht.

Un traitement conjoint du conditionnel, du futur et de l’imparfait :

Les temps comme des fonctions d’actes de langage

P.Caudal, C. Vetters, L.RoussarieL’analyse conjointe du conditionnel, du futur et de l’imparfait que nous allons développer ici s’appuie sur l’idée suivante : les différents usages des temps verbaux doivent être analysés en termes de polysémie ; à la source de leur polyfonctionnalité se trouve une profonde unité, celle de fonctions d’actes de langage, capable de se déployer aussi bien dans le domaine temporel, modal, évidentiel ou aspectuel (ce qui amènera une réinterprétation en termes d’actes de langage de propositions théoriques éprouvées ; c’est par exemple le cas de la notion de point de vue aspectuel de Smith 1991, qui sera investie d’une portée nouvelle). Pour ce faire, nous allons considérer les différents usages de ces trois temps, en montrant comment ils sont déterminés par une unique sémantique (fondamentalement liée à l’attitude de l’énonciateur face à son énoncé) et son interaction avec le contexte discursif. On essaiera en particulier de montrer (en partant de l’analyse de Vetters 2001) que le conditionnel associe la sémantique de l’imparfait en tant que marqueur du non-actualisé et celle du futur, en tant que marqueur de succession. On montrera comment ce double contenu en termes d’actes de langage correspond à un enchâssement d’actes de langage, donnant naissance aux différentes valeurs du conditionnel (temporelles, modales ou médiatives) ; métaphoriquement, cet enchâssement peut se comprendre comme une sorte de « j’affirme qu’il est dit que… ».

Notre démonstration se fera en trois temps. Premièrement, nous établirons que l’imparfait n’est pas un véritable temps du passé, mais plutôt un marqueur d’acte de langage « non-actuel » (i.e., ne validant pas une situation pour l’intervalle de l’énonciation), ce qui permet de rendre compte aussi bien de ses usages modaux que médiatifs (dans la mesure où il n’engage pas l’énonciateur quant à la véridicité d’une proposition, par exemple dans les hypothétiques en si) ou aspectuo-temporels ; on verra que la contribution du contexte sera déterminante à tous ces égards, ce temps étant assez sous-spécifié. Ensuite, nous défendrons l’hypothèse que le futur est en réalité un marqueur de consécution entre deux termes ; selon la nature des termes impliqués (référents de discours correspondant à des intervalles temporels, univers de croyances), le futur pourra recevoir des interprétations différentes, temporelles et/ou modales. Ainsi, dans le cas d’un usage purement temporel, un énoncé au futur décrira une situation temporellement consécutive à un intervalle de référence – l’intervalle de l’énonciation. Enfin, nous proposerons pour le conditionnel une analyse conjoignant les résultats de l’analyse du futur et de l’imparfait, et permettant de rendre compte de la variété de ses emplois.

Nous implémenterons cette triple analyse de l’imparfait, du futur et du conditionnel dans le cadre de la SDRT (Segmented Discourse Representation Theory, cf. Asher 1993) ; des extensions récentes à la SDRT (cf. Asher & Lascarides 1998, Asher & Lascarides 2001) ont

en effet rendu possible le traitement de problèmes relevant de la sphère des actes de langage. Ainsi, les constituants de discours étiquetés correspondent en fait à des actes de langage, sur lesquels les relations de discours portent en tant qu’actes de langage relationnels (ou fonction d’actes langages binaires). Cette théorie nous paraît tout à fait à même de proposer une formalisation analogue de nos analyses. Elle permettra également de proposer des règles discursives explicites rendant compte du fonctionnement des temps en qualité de marqueurs d’actes de langage, et de l’interaction de leur sémantique avec la contribution du discours (notamment au travers de l’emploi de relations de discours).

RéférencesAsher, N. (1993), Reference to Abstract Objects in Discourse, Kluwer, Dordrecht.Asher, N. et A. Lascarides (2001), “Indirect speech acts.”, Synthese, 128(1-2) :183-228.Asher, N. et A. Lascarides (1998), “The semantics and pragmatics of presupposition”, Journal

of Semantics, 15(3) :239-300.Smith, C. (1991), The Parameter of Aspect, Kluwer, Dordrecht.Vetters, C. (2001). “Le conditionnel: ultérieur du non-actuel”, in: P. Dendale ; L. Tasmowski, (éds), Le conditionnel en français, Recherches Linguistiques (Université de Metz) 25 : 169- 207.

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Le futur et will dans l’expression de la conjectureAgnès Celle, Université Paris 7celle@paris7.jussieu.fr

L’objectif de cette communication est de rendre compte de la valeur épistémique du futur français et de will en anglais. Dans tous leurs emplois, ces deux formes impliquent une prise en charge énonciative en dépit d’un hiatus inhérent à la visée qu’elles sous-tendent : dans le cas de la référence à l’avenir, l’énonciateur asserte une valeur alors que la validation de l’occurrence est à venir ; dans le cas des emplois épistémiques, l’énonciateur asserte une valeur alors qu’un obstacle retarde non pas l’avènement mais l’identification de l’occurrence. En d’autres termes, on a un décalage d’ordre temporel dans le premier cas, d’ordre modal dans le deuxième. La question est de savoir si le futur en français et will en anglais fonctionnent de façon similaire dans l’emploi épistémique. Pour y répondre, nous nous appuierons sur deux types de corpus : des énoncés en français et en anglais d’une part, leurs traductions respectives dans des ouvrages publiés d’autre part. Une différence apparaît dès le relevé des exemples dans chaque langue : le futur est quantitativement beaucoup plus restreint que will dans l’expression de la conjecture. Conformément aux travaux publiés sur la question, on observe que le futur simple en français est limité à être et avoir et est d’un emploi rare à l’heure actuelle ; c’est surtout le futur antérieur qui permet l’expression de la conjecture. En anglais, même si will est plus fréquent que le futur en français, on ne peut sous-estimer le rôle de la forme d’infinitif parfait have-en et de la forme progressive be-ing. Si will + have-en est à bien des égards comparable au futur antérieur, will + be-ing en revanche n’a pas d’équivalent en français. Il semble donc que l’expression de la conjecture soit étroitement liée à l’interaction avec l’aspect, et que sur ce point le français ne dispose pas des mêmes formes que l’anglais. Cette différence est confirmée par l’examen des traductions : will + be-ing est fréquemment traduit par aller + infinitif, qui temporalise l’occurrence et supprime la modalisation liée à la conjecture. L’analyse contrastive nous permettra de dégager les critères qui autorisent les marqueurs étudiés à exprimer la conjecture. En anglais, il faut souligner que shall ne peut en aucun cas se prêter à cet emploi. Ce modal construit une occurrence garantie par l’énonciateur qui la présente comme nécessaire, ce qui ne laisse aucune place à la conjecture. A contrario, la valeur visée par will repose non sur la seule garantie de l’énonciateur, mais sur le lien que celui-ci établit entre le sujet et le prédicat et tout particulièrement sur les propriétés du sujet. Ainsi, dans « this will be the postman », l’énonciateur fonde sa visée de la valeur « be the postman » sur sa connaissance d’une occurrence itérée chaque jour à la même heure qui lui permet d’identifier les propriétés de this (qu’il s’agisse d’un élément vu ou entendu). Sur ce point le futur français admet la même analyse. Mais les deux langues divergent dans le rôle dévolu à l’aspect dans la structuration de la conjecture. Avec be-ing, la valeur visée par will

est reliée à une situation qui joue le rôle de déclencheur du point de vue de l’énonciateur. Be-ing va ainsi élargir les possibilités de conjecture en opérant une mise en relation avec une situation sans que celle-ci soit nécessairement en relation directe avec l’énonciateur.

Bibliographie sélectiveBORILLO, A. (2001) « La modalité épistémique : le cas du futur conjectural ». Communication au colloque « Temps et Point de Vue », Université Paris 3.CELLE, A. (1997) Etude contrastive du futur français et de ses réalisations en anglais, Paris : Ophrys.CELLE, A. (2001) « Men will be growing breasts, on will + be –ing in contemporary English. » Anglophonia / Caliban n°9. Toulouse : Presses Universitaires du Mirail : 23-40.COATES, J. (1983) The Semantics of the Modal Auxiliaries, London : Croom Helm.CULIOLI, A. (1990) « Valeurs modales et opérations énonciatives», in Pour une Linguistique de l’énonciation, tome 1, Opérations et représentations, pp. 135-155. Paris : Ophrys, « L’Homme dans la Langue ».DENDALE, P. (2001) « Le futur conjectural versus devoir épistémique : différences de valeur et de restrictions d’emploi. » Le français moderne, p. 1-20.GUILLEMIN-FLESCHER, J. (1981) Syntaxe comparée du français et de l’anglais. Paris : Ophrys.HUDDLESTON, R. (1995) « The case against a future tense in English ». Studies in Language, vol. 19, n°2 :399-446.LAKOFF, R. (1970) « Tense and its relation to participants ». Language 46 :838-849.PALMER, F. (1979) Modality and the English Modals, London : Longman.TASMOWSKI, L. & DENDALE, P. (1998) « Must/ will and doit/ futur simple as epistemic markers. Semantic values and restrictions of use » J. van der Auwera, F. Durieux & L. Lejeune (eds.) English as a Human Language, To honour Louis Goossens. Lincom Europa, p. 325-335.TSANGALIDIS A. (1999) Will and Tha : A Comparative Study of the Category Future. Thessalonique : University Studio Press.WILLIAMS, C. (2002) Non-progressive and progressive aspect in English. Bari: Schena Editore, Biblioteca della Ricerca, Linguistica 12.

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The relation between temporal and modal uses of indicative verb forms

Renaat Declerck (University of Leuven, Belgium)

The purpose of this paper is to show that, apart from some stereotyped uses (as in had better, would rather…) the modal meanings of indicative verb forms are predictable from their temporal meanings. More specifically, the modal uses of past time-sphere tenses can generally be explained from the application of mechanisms that are inherent in the English tense system (as described in Declerck (1991) and later work). We can distinguish four possibilities:1) COUNTERFACTUALITY implicated by a SHIFT OF DOMAIN from the present to the past

I thought you were my friend.The past tense form thought itself receives a factual past interpretation: there is no doubt that I had the thought in question at some time in the past. However, the cognitive attitude is interpreted as being over (counterfactual) at the time of speech. The complement clause spelling out the contents of the cognitive attitude receives the same kind of ‘presently counterfactual’ interpretation. This reading is an implicature following from the Gricean Maxim of Relation (= relevance): to the speaker the most relevant time is the time of speech. If the speaker locates a cognitive attitude (such as thinking, hoping, etc.) in the past rather than in the present, he must have a positive reason for doing so. The most obvious reason is that the cognitive attitude is, or at least may be, over at the temporal zero-point, in other words that at the time of speech the contents of the thought are treated as counterfactual. Thus, I thought she was seventy asserts ‘[At some time in the past] I thought she was seventy’ and implicates ‘I no longer think she is seventy’, hence ‘I was wrong to think that she is seventy’.

2) TENTATIVENESS following from a SHIFT OF TEMPORAL FOCUS from the present to the pastI wondered if you could spare me a moment.

Various modal meanings can be generated by using the past tense to put the temporal focus on some past part of a cognitive situation which could easily include the time of speech and could therefore be referred to in the present tense. The relevant effect here is that the speaker suggests that he might no longer be committed to the cognitive attitude in question, and in doing so represents this attitude as rather uncertain, tentative. In most cases this is an attempt on the speaker’s part to sound indirect and hence polite, tactful, modest.

3) CONDITIONAL modality following from a SHIFT OF TEMPORAL PERSPECTIVE from the present to the pastI would be very happy if you could do this for me.I would have felt happier if she had been here too.

In this case a post-present temporal domain is developed as if it were a past one, with the possibility of further ‘backshifting’, i.e. using the conditional perfect instead of the conditional tense and the past perfect instead of the past tense. The result is nonfactual conditional modality.

4) NONFACTUAL modality following from a SHIFT OF TEMPORAL PERSPECTIVE from the present time-sphere to the past time-sphere

It’s high time you left for the station.If wish you {didn’t do / wouldn’t do / hadn’t done} that.

In this case the absolute tenses creating a present, post-present or past temporal domain are replaced by relative tenses expressing simultaneity, posteriority or anteriority in a past domain. The result is a nonfactual interpretation: either a counterfactual reading (as in I wish you {didn’t do / hadn’t done} that) or

a tentative (weakly potential) reading (as in I wish you wouldn’t do that, which expresses a not very hopeful wish about the future).

In my paper I would like to have a closer look at these four categories of modal uses of past time-sphere tenses.

Nouns and Temporal Information in DutchFifth Chronos Colloquium

Gretel De Cuyper (Antwerp University)

1. Aims of this talkIn the present talk we aim to provide an analysis of temporal information in Dutch that combines with noun phrases (1). First we argue that both the possibility and the need to adjoin temporal information are not predicted by previous studies. Second, we show how an ontological approach can account for the existence of two types of temporal adjectives, despite the fact that they appear to represent a homogeneous group.2. Parameters for temporal relationsAlthough the study of tense has most commonly been related to the verb (Reichenbach 1947, among many others), it has been noticed that animate nouns possess a temporal feature as well (Bach 1972, Cremers 1981, Enç 1986, Musan 1997, Demirdache 1997, Musan 1999). Generally, these studies have focussed upon the temporal dependence relations between the noun and the verb(2). Whereas Enç (1986) argues for an arbitrary relationship, purely dependent upon context, Musan (1997, 1999) convincingly shows that this does not hold for all nouns: if nouns are interpreted as stages, they are temporally dependent upon V. We agree with the fact that a stage-interpretation establishes a temporal dependence relation, but we claim that this relation is not necessarily linked to the Event Time (Reichenbach 1947). An additional parameter must indeed be introduced: the Speech Time (Reichenbach 1947). If one does not take into account the Speech Time, it is impossible to explain how (3a), (3b) and (3c) are able to reflect temporal independent readings upon V. Moreover, nouns that are not combined with a verb have temporal properties as well. This proves that the Event Time, but not the Speech Time, is omissible to situate nouns from the point of view of tense.

We will demonstrate that the optionality or obligatoriness of temporal information depends

upon the mutual relations between the temporal situation of the noun, the temporal situation

of the Speech Time and the temporal situation of the Event time. The examples in (3) each

have their own sets of situations, some of which can be shared. However, if the noun is

temporally unrelated to both the Event Time and the Speech Time, (3b) is odd. In this case,

(3a) or (3c) must be used.

3. Kinds of temporal information

After having unraveled the conditions for temporal information to be possible or even

necessary, we will show that even though these conditions are satisfied, temporal

modification still can yield odd results (4). This is due to the fact that the temporal

information presented in (4) solely applies to nouns that refer to stages of objects (Carlson

1977). The example in (5’’) is not a counterexample to our claim. The judgements of the three

nouns in (5) are indeed determined by another condition: here the temporal information

applies to stages of kinds (Carlson 1977). In order for this type of temporal information to be

possible, the entity the noun refers to must pass the Non-Uniqueness-in-the-World test.

The distinction between temporal information that applies to stages of objects on the one hand

and to stages of kinds on the other hand provides a clear and comprehensive account for the

total or partial impossibility to add temporal information to nouns in Dutch (4&5). It also

explains the semantic differences that appear in case both types of information occur (4’’’&5’’’).

(1) de oud-leerling , de toekomstige kampioen, de toenmalige student, de huidige afgevaardigde "the former pupil, the future champion, the at-that-time president, the present delegate"(2) The student invented a time travel machine. (Musan 1999) – invent (x,y) a) x is a student at the moment of inventing the machine: temporal dependence relation between V and N b) x is not a student at the moment of inventing the machine: temporal independence relation between V and N(3a) de ex-voorzitter kloeg steen en been

“the ex-president complained very much”(3b) de voorzitter kloeg steen en been

“the president complained very much”(3c) de toekomstige voorzitter kloeg steen en been

“the future president complained very much”(4’) De *ex-uitvinder van het dynamiet/ (4’’) *ex-paus/ (4’’’) ex-voorzitter ontdekte het schandaal.

“The *ex-inventor of dynamite / *ex-pope / ex-president discovered the scandal.”(5’) De *toenmalige uitvinder van het dynamiet/ (5’’) toenmalige paus/ (5’’’) toenmalige voorzitter ontdekte het schandaal.

“The *at-that-time inventor of dynamite / at-that-time pope / at-that-time president discovered the scandal.”

Selected References:Bach, E. 1972. "Nouns and Noun Phrases". Universals in Linguistic Theory. London. 90-122. - Carlson, G. 1977. Reference to Kinds in English. Indiana University Linguistics Club, Bloomington. - Cremers, C. 1981. "Over Nominale en Verbale tijd ". TABU 11/2. 32-49. - Demirdache, H. 1997. "Predication Times in St’át’imcets". Proceedings of the 1997 Texas Linguistic Society Conference. 73-88. - Enç, M. 1986. Tense without scope: an analysis of nouns as indexicals. Bloomington, Indiana. - Milsark, G. 1977. "Toward an Explanation of Certain Peculiarities of the Existential Construction in English". LA 3. 1-29. - Musan, R. 1997. On the Temporal Interpretation of Noun Phrases. Garland, New York. -Musan, R. 1999. "Temporal Interpretation and Information-Status of Noun Phrases". Linguistics and Philosophy 22, 621-661. - Reichenbach, H. 1947. Elements of Symbolic Logic. The Macmillan Company, New York.

(A)telicity and intentionality

Ilse Depraetere

U.M.R 8528 Silex du CNRS, Université de Lille III

Depraetere (1995) attempted to provide evidence for the claim that (un)boundedness is an

equally important explanatory tool as the traditional Aktionsart category of (a)telicity. In that

text (p.3), a telic proposition was defined as a proposition that has a natural or an intended

endpoint which has to be reached for the situation as it is described in the sentence to be

complete and beyond which it cannot continue. At this stage, the fact that intended endpoints

are similar to natural endpoints was in a way taken for granted. In Depraetere & Reed (2000),

in which the restrictions on the combination of the (past and present perfect) progressive with

multiple numerical NPs (e.g. 10 chickens, 5 somersaults) was explored, it became clear that

the notion of intentional endpoints is crucial to explain constraints on the use of the past

progressive. For instance, the sentence He was killing five chickens is only acceptable when

couched in a context in which it is the subject's intention to kill five birds:

(1) a. * Because he lost control of the car and skidded across the farmyard, he was killing

five chickens. (adapted from Depraetere & Reed 2000:107)

b. Because we had so many extra guests, he was killing five chickens. (

The argumentation led to the hypothesis that a proposition with a multiple numerical NP is

telic only if the numerical NP is part of the subject's intention. Although this approach

definitely has explanatory power, it has been frowned upon because intention is a parameter

that is hard to formalise.

In this paper, we would like to explore in more detail the link between intentionality and

telicity, first by providing more data that show that intentionality (whether explicitly or not)

comes into the picture (cf. e.g. Comrie (1976), Piñòn (2000), Verkuyl (2001)). Whereas the

focus was on numerical NPs in Depraetere & Reed (2000), it will now be on adverbials. The

new data will hopefully prove that intentionality is inextricably linked up with telicity, and

this conclusion will, in the second part, lead us to look for an adequate framework in which

the 'formalisation problem' can be solved.

Comrie, Bernard. 1976. Aspect. Cambridge University Press.Depraetere, Ilse. 1995. On the necessity of distinguishing between (un)boundedness and

(a)telicity, Linguistics and Philosophy 18:1-19.Depraetere, Ilse & Susan Reed. 2000. The present perfect progressive: constraints on its use

with numerical object NPs, English Language and Linguistics 4.1:97-114.Pinon, Christopher. 1999. Durative adverbials for result states. Proceedings of the 18th West

Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, ed. by Sonya Bird, Andrew Carnie, Jason D. Haugen, and Peter Norquest, 420–433. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.

Verkuyl, Henk. 2001. Aspectual composition: surveying the ingredients. Available from home page H. Verkuyl.

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L'expression du temps et de l'aspect en vietnamien en comparaison avec le français

Danh Tành Do-Hurinville

Il s'agit d'une étude diachronique du début du XXe siècle jusqu'à nos jours pour connaître l'emploi des circonstanciels de temps et des marqueurs aspectuels en vietnamien. Depuis toujours la grande majorité des linguistes vietnamiens pensent que le vietnamien est une langue disposant des temps grammaticaux que connaissent les langues européennes (langues flexionnelles). Selon eux, les marqueurs ñaõ, ñang, seõ, une fois antéposés au verbe de la phrase, permettent d'exprimer respectivement le passé, le présent et le futur. Mais en réalité, le vietnamien et le chinois, langues isolantes, sont des langues à aspect. Les trois marqueurs ci-dessus sont en effet des marqueurs aspectuels. Ils sont utilisés lorsque le locuteur veut insister sur l'aspect accompli ou duratif. Leur emploi n'est pas fréquent car le principal moyen d'exprimer le temps est les circonstanciels de temps et le marqueur Zéro (absence de marqueur). Le fonctionnement de ces marqueurs est différent selon qu'il s'agit de la presse écrite ou de la littérature vietnamiennes. Cela est dû à la situation énonciative. On peut constater de même une différence relative à l'emploi des temps verbaux dans la presse écrite et la littérature françaises timents distingués.

Nina Dobrushina

Towards the typology of apprehensives and admonitives

The typological overview of modal constructions with the meaning of apprehension, warning,

monition (monitory constructions) shows their great diversity.

Semantics is the first typological parameter of variation in monitory constructions. Cross-

linguistically, at least two semantic types of monitory constructions must be distinguished. They

correspond with two main components of monitory situation: (1) the speaker informs the addressee of

the undesirable situation A which might occur, (2) the speaker urges the addressee to carry out actions

B in order to avert the undesirable situation A. There are languages which develop special construction

or inflectional form referring to the first part of monitory situation (an undesirable event A). I will

refer to this type of grammatical category as apprehensive. Apprehensive is used to tell about the

future situation which the speaker is scared of, thus combining epistemic and attitudinal modality.

Apprehensives are common in Australian and Austronesian languages, as well as in languages of the

Russian Far East:

Even (Malchukov 2001: 171)(1) – Mo-v mole-li! – Mo-le tik-cikeri-v.water-ACC fetch-IMP:2SG water-LOC fall-APPR-1SG‘- Go and fetch water! – I might fall into the water.’

Other languages have special constructions referring to the second part of monitory situation,

admonitive in our terms. Admonitive expresses an appeal to the addressee to avert an undesirable

situation by not carrying out the action B:

Mandarin Chinese (Li & Thompson 1981: 210)

(2) bié pèng le lúzi

don’t touch PFV stove

Don’t touch the stove!

Apprehensives were tackled by Frantisek Lichtenberk (Lichtenberk 1995). Admonitive

constructions were considered by Vladimir Xrakovskij and his coauthors (Xrakovskij & Volodin

1986: 150-154, Biriulin & Xrakovskij 1992: 38-41) under the name preventive. However, to the best

of my knowledge, apprehensives and admonitives never were treated together, although apprehension

and admonition are the two parts of the same cognitive situation and in certain languages are

expressed by the same marker, as in Lavukaleve:

Lavukaleve (Angela Terrill, p.c.)

(3) sevo hoka ngo-ve-n, kokoroko la ngo-ki-n

tabu/holy there.MED 2SG-go-ADM chicken sgfART 2sg-shoot-ADM

Don’t go there; the chicken might peck you (which would be bad).

Semantic varieties of apprehensives and admonitives will be discussed in my paper in more detail.

Another way in which languages vary with respect to monitory constructions is in formal means

of expressing admonitive or apprehensive meaning. In this paper, I examine data from 45 languages in

order to outline typical formal patterns of admonitive and apprehensive constructions.

A third point of variation is the set of grammatical persons available for monitory construction.

While admonitive is typically confined to second person, apprehensive can occur in all three persons.

Lastly, both admonitive and apprehensive occur in polypredicative constructions. However,

apprehensive is used in subordinate clause, whereas admonitive occurs in the main clause.

THE ALTERNATIVE IN LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS:THE SUBJUNCTIVE versus THE INDICATIVE IN FRENCHa sign-oriented approach

Igor DreerBen-Gurion University of the Negev

This study presents a sign-oriented analysis of the non-random distribution of the

Indicative and the Subjunctive in French.

The present work has been carried out in the framework of the Columbia school

theory established by William Diver and his students at Columbia University. The Indicative

and the Subjunctive are each hypothesized to be a signal (Saussure’s signifiant) of a semantic

constant, a meaning (Saussure’s signifié), which is postulated to motivate the distribution of

each mood in written and spoken French.

The analysis is intended to demonstrate how the speakers of French use this

difference in the meanings of the Indicative and the Subjunctive to communicate different

kinds of messages. The validation of the hypothesis will be done at the level of complete texts

(“macro-level” analysis) to demonstrate the existence of predicted skewings in favor of one or

another meaning.

Intransitive Accomplishments and the Lexicon: the Role of Implicit Arguments,Definiteness, and Reflexivity in Aspectual Composition.

Stefan Engelberg

Theories of aspectual composition in the tradition of Krifka (1989) assume that accomplishments arise when a transitive verb has an incremental theme argument which is realized as a quantized NP - foremost, an NP which is not a mass noun or a bare plural - in direct object position. But, unexpectedly, quite a number of intransitive verbs occur in accomplishment expressions, too, as the following examples from German show:(1) das Eis schmolz in etwa zwanzig Minuten 'the ice melted in about twenty minutes'(2) sie aß in zwei Minuten auf

'she ate up in five minutes'(3) er duschte in fünf Minuten

'he showered in five minutes'(4) er frühstückte in fünf Minuten

'he had breakfast ("breakfasted") in five minutes'In particular, the unergative verbs in (2) through (4) pose a serious problem for the above assumptions about aspectual composition since their single overt argument does not fulfill the thematic requirements for accomplishments. Nevertheless, it will turn out that theories of aspectual composition such as Krifka (1989) can still be upheld if certain independently motivated lexical assumptions about the representation of implicit arguments are made, e. g. the distinction between definite and non-definite implicit arguments.For verbs like those in (2) it will be shown that they have an implict argument which is inherently marked for definite reference. Definite reference, in turn, leads to singularity and thereby to quantization of the verb relative to this argument. Since the implicit argument bears the right thematic relations the verb gets an accomplishment reading in an intransitive construction.The explanation for verbs like those in (3) hinges on the existence of an implicit reflexive argument, i. e. the two thematic arguments of the verb are identified. The quantized subject NP becomes a predicate over the implicit object argument and, thus, allows an accomplishment reading.Finally, the explanation for the class of verbs represented in (4) does not involve particular properties of implicit arguments. These verbs either don't have an implicit argument like obligatorily intransitive promovieren (5), or the implicit argument does not have a definite reading as in (6). (5) sie promovierte in acht Monaten

'she did a Ph.D. in eight months'(6) Schumacher tankte in acht Sekunden

'Schumacher got gas / refueled ("tanked") in eight seconds'Their accomplishment status is based on the fact that all verbs of this type describe events which follow a relatively rigid course and culminate at a particular point. A comparison with the behavior of nouns with respect to the mass-count distinction shows that these verbs are inherently quantized: they are "count" verbs. Although this contradicts Krifka's original claim that all verbs are inherently cumulative, it does not affect his assumptions about aspectual composition and allows us to do away with the otherwise unexplained assumption that nouns but not verbs show a lexically based count-mass distinction.

Temporality in Narratives: Changing Scales

Stéphanie Girault

Up to now, the foundations of linguistic studies on temporality have been the notion ofprocess and the organization of processes. Now is this option still valid when the observerchanges scales ? In this paper I would like to show that the properties of units depend on thescale at which their organization is observed. This suggests another way of analyzingtemporality in French based on the concept of referential situation: i.e. a narrative segment,possibly wider than a sentence yet bringing up a temporally smooth and homogeneous mentalrepresentation.I shall present the outline of a model which controls the segmenting of a story in as manysituations it evokes. Based on the principles of closure (conjunction) and rupture (disjunction)of temporal consistency, this segmentation is actually quite frugal: it does not require asemantic analysis of the text since it works from formal clues extracted strictly from morpho-syntacticfeatures.Segmenting a story into situations is a bit like rewriting a script while watching the film: howdoes one realize that this particular scene is a flash-back ? And there, do we have somebodydreaming — projecting in the future, or is it merely a chronological sequence ? Theoriginality of this model is that its segmenting method is driven by some articulations inutterances, hinges viewed as the borderlines of situations.Next to this presentation, I shall submit a typology of the main types of temporal transitionsfound in narrative texts, then I shall characterize a number of temporal connectives in French,from the referential situation vantage point.

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The manifestation of two basic types of modality in the syntax of English generic sentences

In this talk I suggest a novel account of both the strong similarities, as well as the semantic, pragmatic and distributional differences, between minimally contrasting

generics with indefinite singular subjects (IS sentences, henceforth, like A dog has four legs ) , and those with bare plural subjects (BP sentences, henceforth, like Dogs have four

legs ). Yael Greenberg

The traditional approach (e.g. Wilkinson 1991, Krifka et al 1995), which assigns such minimal pairs an equivalent semantic structure headed by a nonovert unselective modalized generic quantifier (over accessible worlds, individuals and situations), successfully accounts for the similarities between the two types of sentences, namely the fact that both express nonaccidental, counterfactual-supporting generalizations. This approach, however, cannot account for the differences between them, e.g. the strong analytic, rule-like flavor of the IS sentences, vs. the weaker, more descriptive/inductive flavor of the BP ones (Burton Roberts 1977), and the restricted/unrestricted distribution of IS and BP generics, respectively, as can be seen in e.g. (1)-(2):(1) a. # A madrigal is popular (2) a. Madrigals are popular (Lawler 1973) b. # A famous 54 years old American linguist hates tomatoes b. Famous 54 years old American linguists hate tomatoes c. # An Italian restaurant is closed tonight c. Italian restaurants are closed tonight (Greenberg 1998)

On the other hand, theories (e.g. Krifka & Gerstner 1987) which assign such sentences two completely different structures (e.g. quantified -modalized vs. nonmodalized Direct Kind Predication), cannot capture the strong similarities between them.

I argue instead that both IS and BP sentences express nonaccidental generalizations, involving a

modalized generic quantifier. They differ, however, in the type of nonaccidentalness they can express, and more

formally, in the type of accessibility relation restricting this modalized quantifier. Intuitively, IS sentences can

only express what I call “in virtue of” generalizations, asserting very roughly that the generalization over

individuals (e.g. “every dog has 4 legs”) is nonaccidentally true in virtue of some property, which is associated

on the basis of the shared real world knowledge with the subject property (e.g. with being a dog), that the

speaker has in mind, and the listener is supposed to accommodate (e.g. in virtue of having a 4 legged genetic

makeup). In contrast, BP sentences can express both “in virtue of “, as well as “descriptive” generalizations,

which merely assert that that the universal generalization is nonaccidentally true, without specifying any

property in virtue of which this holds.

Following Kratzer’s 1981 ideas about circumstantial modality, and Brennan 1993 work on “root” modal verbs, I take the accessibility relation of IS sentences to yeild worlds in which every member of the subject set has the “in virtue of” property, which is itself true of every member of the subject set in all worlds which are epistemically, deontically stereotypically, etc. accessible from our world, given the shared real world knowledge (thus – the semantics of IS sentences involves, in fact, two levels of modality). In contrast, the accessibility relation of descriptive BP sentences is inherently vague, and defined as maximally similar to our world (in Lewis’s 1983 sense), except for what is needed to allow for the existence of nonactual (more/different) members of the subject set.

I illustrate how the different degrees of similarity of accessible worlds to the actual one, and the presence vs. absence of shared real world knowledge requirements on the accessibility relations, together with independent Grician maxims, can successfully account for the full range of differences between IS and BP sentences. Finally, I show how the difference in availability of accessibility relations can be derived from property/kind referring denotations of the IS and BP noun phrases in these sentences, respectively. A standardized protocol to identify Aktionsart in Spanish

Lourdes Guzman-Dufau, Martha Islas & Veerle Vranx

In order to identify the event type of a verb a standard set of tests have been used. This study gathered an ample

number of these tests in order to design a protocol applicable to Spanish. Tests such as those proposed by

Vendler (1967), Dowty (1979), and Tenny (1998), among others, were closely examined in order to gain better

insight into the sometimes elusive nature of the Aktionsart concept. As has been previously pointed out that

their application to languages other than English, the original language for which they were proposed, normally

yields non-uniform results, different from those expected. The tests collected were applied to Spanish. It was

found that some adjustments were necessary to correctly apply the tests. These parameters of variation were, (i)

determining the correct alternative of nominalization, (ii) consideration of perfective vs. imperfective aspect, and

(iii) preservation of the original verb meaning. In addition, some of the tests were non-applicable because they

produced a semantically incoherent sentences or an agrammatical (syntactically ill-formed) construction. It is

expected that similar adjustments are going to be necessary to apply the tests in other languages. This

preliminary study can serve as a guide for formulating parallel protocols for other linguistic systems. It was

further confirmed that the material added to the verb instance forced a different reading of the verb meaning,

changing its original inherent aspect. When a change in the original verb event type was promoted by the test it

conveyed a systematic directionality suggesting a hierarchical arrangement of this sort: State > Activity >

Accomplishment > Achievement. This is the order already established by other independent factors such as

acquisition (Andersen & Shirai 1994) or semantic complexity (Croft 1990). After applying the tests, evidence

that sustains the existence of subclasses was observed.

Interaction between modality, aspect and subjectivity-- a study in the theory of enunciative operations

Sylvie Hancil (ESSEC, France)

The goal of this paper is to focus on the subjective expression of the Expanded Form (EF) and its correlation with the expression of modality, with the help of the theory of enunciative operations developed by Culioli in the late sixties. After briefly explaining the basic terminology with respect to the concept of modality and the construction of an utterance in Culioli’s theory, I will see in what respect this theory can shed a new light on the interpretation of the EF.

I will explain to what extent the EF can be interpreted as an example of epistemic modality, qualifying modality, deontic modality, or even as a combined meaning of epistemic modality and deontic modality (case of politeness strategies). Following and refining Bouscaren and Deschamps’s (1991) verb classification, which takes into consideration the cognitive representation of a given verb in an utterance and associates it with a specific topological structure, I will show why the EF is compatible with one modal value rather than another. I will also focus my attention on the combination of the EF with modals. In particular, I will show how and why a modal belonging to deontic modality can acquire an epistemic meaning.

These results can be considered as an enrichment of the remarks suggested by Wright (1995). She had attracted our attention on the collocation of epistemic expressions with the expanded form, which was responsible for the interpretation of the construction as being an instance of epistemic modality, but she had not explored the other types of modal constructions, and therefore the other kinds of modality, which could be associated with the expanded form. Even though some contexts clearly show the blurring of categories between aspect and modality, they can hardly be generalized to a more important range of contexts; therefore, it is not possible to postulate that the expanded form can be associated with a modal value in any particular case.

References

Benveniste, Emile. 1966. Problèmes de linguistique générale, vol.1. Paris: Gallimard.------------------------ 1974. Problèmes de linguistique générale, vol.2. Paris: Gallimard.Bouscaren, J. and A. Deschamps. 1991. "Réexamen de la typologie des verbes anglais", Cahiers Charles V, 13,

Travaux de linguistique énonciative, 7-23.Brown, P. and S. C. Levinson. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Universals, Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.Coates, J. 1983. The semantics of the Modal Auxiliaries, London : Croom Helm.------------ 1987. "Epistemic modality and spoken discourse", Transactions of the Philological Society , 110-131.Culioli, A. 1995. Cognition and Representation in Linguistic Theory, Current Issues in Linguistic Theory,

vol.112, Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Groussier, M-L. 1991. “A propos de l’attitudinal past de Quirk et al.”, Cahiers de Charles V 13, Institut

d’anglais, Université Paris VII, 103-18. Wright, Susan. 1995. “Subjectification in experiential syntax”. In: Dieter Stein and Susan Wright (eds.)

Subjectivity and subjectivisation, Linguistic perspectives, Cambridge University Press, 151-172.

IMMEDIATE FUTURE READINGS Jack Hoeksema

Universal and free choice indefinite noun phrases give rise in a number of languages to an immediate future reading in certain (modal) contexts:

(i) The train may arrive any minute (now). (ii) De trein kan elk moment arriveren. (Dutch) (iii) Der Zug kann jedes Augenblick da sein. (German)

(Similar examples can be adduced from the Romance languages, modern Greek, etc. Whether the phenomenon extends beyond the European languages, I do not know.)

In my talk, I discuss the following issues:

(a) the choice of the determiner involved in the immediate future reading (free choice, universal, or both)

(b) the type of noun that combines with the determiner (c) the context in which the immediate future reading arises, in particular the helping hand that modal

verbs give in generating the immediate future reading

(d) syntactic restrictions (ie. presence or absence of temporal prepositions)

Point (c) will be the target of a corpus study, comparing Dutch and English immediate future sentences.

I will point out a number of areas of overlap between immediate future nominals and negative polarity items, and argue that these similarities can be explained by the fact that the same principles of scalar pragmatic reasoning are at work.

Sequence of Tense: new insights from cross-linguistic comparisonsBart Hollebrandse

This paper discusses the role of complementation in determining which languages are Sequence of Tense languages and which are not. Sequence of Tense is traditionally described as a phenomenon that shows up in complement clauses. Sequence of Tense languages (English and Dutch) can report on a present tense (1a) by using a simple past tense in a past-under-past construction (1b). Other languages (Japanese, Polish) express simultaneity of events by a present tense in a present-under-past construction (2).

(1) a. Mary: “I am happy”b. Mary said that she was happy.

(2) Taroo-wa Hanako-ga byooki-da-to it-ta JapaneseTaro-Top Hanako-NOM be-sick-PRES that say-PAST

In analyses of Enç (1987) and Abusch (1997) complementation plays a crucial role. But its role is downsized by Ogihara (1996) and Stowell (1995). Ogihara observes that Japanese complement clauses and relative clauses both render the same strict simultaneity (i.e. there is no other reading than a simultaneous one) (3).

(3) Taroo-wa [ nai-te i-ru otoko]-o mi-taTaro-TOP cry-PROG-PRES man-ACC see-PAST“Taroo saw a man who was crying” (at the time of the meeting)

As the literature shows, however, this is clearly not the case for English (and Dutch). The time of the relative clause can be before (4a), after (4b) as well as simultaneous (4c) to the time of the main clause.

(4) a. Yesterday John saw a man who was crying last week.b. Last week John saw a man who was crying yesterday.c. Yesterday John saw a man who was crying at that time.

One conclusion could be that Sequence of Tense (past-under-past) languages have complementation as a syntactic requirement and non-Sequence of Tense (present-under-past) languages do not. However, Romance languages provide a new angle: in Italian simultaneity is expressed by a past-under-past construction (5), which would make it a Sequence of Tense language.

(5) Mario ha detto che Gianni mangiava una mela ItalianM. said that G. ate-IMP an apple

However, Italian does not make a distinction between complement and relative clauses, like Japanese: (6) only has a simultaneous reading. This would make it a non-Sequence of Tense language.

(6) Giovanni ha visto un uomo che era in TVG. has seen a man that was-IMP on tv

A classification of languages into Sequence of Tense and non-Sequence of Tense based on past-under-past or present-under-past does not capture the effects of complementation. I will propose a classification of languages based on the interpretation of tense in complement and relative clauses. The nature of tense is the crucial property. Some tenses are anaphoric; the tense-linking system picks out the nearest tense available, regardless the structure, complement or relative clause. The Japanese present tense and the Italian Imperfetto are examples of this type. Other tenses are not anaphoric; they are independent and link with respect to utterance time. However, under certain syntactic conditions (=complementation), they become dependent tenses and link to the main clause tense. English and Dutch simple past tense are examples.

Abusch, D. (1997). “Sequence of Tense and Temporal DE RE.” Linguistics and Philosophy 20, 1-50.Enç, M. (1987). “Anchoring Conditions for Tense”. Linguistic Inquiry 18, 633-657.Ogihara, T. (1996). Tense, Attitudes and Scope. Kluwer, Dordrecht.Stowell, T. (1995). “The Phrase Structure of Tense.” In J. Rooryck and L. Zaring (eds.) Phrase

Structure and the Lexicon, 277-291. Kluwer, Dordrecht.

Acquiring the aspects in PolishAngeliek van Hout, University of Groningen

This paper reports on a study that tested the comprehension of the perfective-imperfective paradigm by young learners of Polish (2, 3 and 4 year-olds). In earlier work it was found that once Polish learners start to inflect their verbs, they produce the two aspects in what sounds like adult ways (Weist et al. 1984). The results of my study, however, indicate that young children=s comprehension of the two aspects is not at all adult-like. In particular, their comprehension of the imperfective deviates from adult interpretation. It seems that production is ahead of comprehension, a pattern very much unlike what is typically found in child language development. I will draw parallels with studies on Dutch and Italian learners= comprehension of the aspectual tenses in their languages which show the same pattern (Van der Feest and van Hout, in press; Hollebrandse and van Hout (2001)). I will lay out a developmental model that explains these surprising results of comprehension lagging behind production in terms of a discrepancy in children=s semantics and pragmatics of aspect and tense knowledge. While learners may know the semantics of the aspects or tenses, they do not properly compute their discourse relations.

In the Germanic and Romance languages lexical aspect is determined by the semantics of the verb and its arguments, and, in the Germanic languages, additional VP modifiers such as directional phrases and particles. Grammatical aspect is carried by the tense forms: a past tense can be perfective, imperfective or neutral between the two aspects. Lexical and grammatical aspect interact. De Swart (1998) shows how the aspectual tenses in French and English build on top of lexical aspect where the latter is determined by the VP predicate. Depending on the semantics of the tense, the lexical aspect value (bounded or unbounded) is passed on unchanged or manipulated into the opposite value (coerced, as De Swart claims). In Polish lexical and grammatical aspect interact in a very different way. There is one morphological aspect paradigm that affects both lexical as well as grammatical aspect values, making the aspectual computation more straightforward than in Romance of Germanic: Polish perfective yields bounded and imperfective gives unbounded aspect. The tenses are a separate morphological system and do not affect the aspects.

In a picture selection task Polish subjects (children n=56, adults n=20) were prompted with sentences with perfective or imperfective verb forms. They had to choose between two pictures that showed different aspects of a certain event: an event in mid-progress, an event=s incomplete termination moment or the completed, final situation. These situations were presented in three conditions: subjects had to choose between: (i) an ongoing versus completed event; (ii) a completed versus incomplete event and (iii) an ongoing versus incomplete event. The results show that all Polish children allowed both the completed and the ongoing situation for the imperfective, and even to some extent the incomplete situation,whereas the adults clearly preferred the ongoing situation. In particular, the 2 and 3-year old subjects are not yet aware of the aspectual entailments of imperfective aspect and choose the completed situation too often. At the same time they correctly choose the completed situation when prompted with perfective aspect.

Why are these children overly liberal with imperfective aspect? I propose that young learners= discourse linking system of time variables is not fully developed. In particular, children initially anchor an imperfective past to any moment in the past instead of relating it to the last mentioned tense of the narrative. Having mis-anchored their event variable to some earlier time, they then assume that the event may have developed to its completion moment,

thus allowing the completed situation. The perfective aspect on the other hand is easier to get right since it refers to completed situations independent of the preceding temporal discourse.

References

van der Feest, S., and A. van Hout, in press, >Tense comprehension in child Dutch=. Proceedings of BUCLD 26. Cascadilla Press, Somerville.

Hollebrandse, B. and A. van Hout, 2001, >On the acquisition of the aspects in Italian=. In J.-Y. Kim and A. Werle(eds.) Proceedings of SULA, The semantics of the under-represented languages of the America=s. University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers 25, 111-120. GLSA, Amherst.

de Swart, H., 1998, `Aspect shift and coercion=. NLLT 16, 347-385.Weist, R., H. Wysocka, K. Witkowska-Stadnik, E. Buczowska and E. Konieczna, 1984,

>The Defective Tense hypothesis: On the emergence of tense and aspect in child Polish=. Journal of Child language 11, 347-374.

Le Present perfect résultatif : marqueurs aspectuels Bissera Iankova

Cette contribution vise à examiner les marqueurs aspectuels qui interviennent dans le calcul de la valeur aspectuelle exprimée dans un énoncé contenant le present perfect résultatif anglais. Le corpus est constitué de quatre cents énoncés tirés de deux romans anglais, The Sea,the Sea (1978) d’Iris Murdoch et The Millstone (1965) de Margaret Drabble et de huit pièces de Harold Pinter. La valeur d’état résultant associée à la forme complexe HAVE Présent + V-en décrit une situation où l’état est engendré par un processus accompli ; l’état est contigu à ce processus. Dans tous les cas, il y a eu un processus accompli qui affecte soit le sujet, soit l’objet. Nous avons constaté que dans la majorité des énoncés, l’état résultant affecte le sujet de la relation prédicative. Au niveau lexical cet état se manifeste comme un changement par rapport à un état initial : changement de localisation, attribution d’une propriété, attribution d’une caractéristique, ou possession d’un objet par le sujet. L’étude du corpus montre que la notion d’achèvement est dominante avec le present perfect résultatif. Deux paramètres bien précis interviennent dans la valeur aspectuelle de l’énoncé : le sémantisme du verbe et l’opposition grammaticale singulier (d’objet) vs pluriel (d’objet). La notion d’achèvement est véhiculée par la télicité verbale assez prononcée. Il s’agit de verbes de changement de localisation, verbes copules : be, become, etc., verbes désignant un changement d’état. Dans tous les énoncés intransitifs, le sémantisme verbal prédétermine l’achèvement du processus (« Yes… Everything has sprung back into place. ;The great ones have gone from me :Clement dead, Wilfred Dunning dead … ; You’re trapped. We’re alone. I’ve locked up.). Nous avons constaté que les verbes à particules s’avèrent être des marqueurs aspectuels importants. Etant donné que la télicité verbale est une caractéristique du present perfect résultatif, les particules verbales sont chargées de renforcer la télicité et, respectivement, la notion d’achèvement. Signalons également les procès causatifs ainsi que les verbes d’aspectualisation qui , eux aussi, déterminent la valeur d’achèvement (You’ve made me into such a – you’ve made me so bad – oh, Christ, why can’t we get out ? ; It has ceased to amaze me that they showed, at this stage, so little professional sympathy.) Dans les énoncés transitifs, nous avons analysé l’incidence de l’objet sur la valeur aspectuelle. Deux constatations s’imposent :1) Dans les cas où l’objet direct est introduit par l’article the, l’opposition grammaticale singulier (d’objet) vs. pluriel (d’objet) n’intervient pas dans le calcul de la valeur aspectuelle d’achèvement vs. non-achèvement du processus. 2) Dans les énoncés transitifs, la télicité verbale ainsi que l’objet indéfini au singulier (ou défini : singulier et pluriel sont les deux marqueurs aspectuels d’achèvement. En revanche, dans les énoncés contenant des verbes atéliques, seul le groupe : a/an + objet au singulier, ou the + objet singulier (pluriel) renvoie à la notion d’achèvement. Notre corpus révèle aussi que les marqueurs aspectuels peuvent appartenir au niveau lexical, mais hors du sémantisme verbale (I have of course had my full share of disappointments, of lost time , and lost ways. ; I have tried my hand at everything …). Nous avons recueilli certains exemples dans lesquels le contexte large s’avère le seul marqueur aspectuel indiquant l’achèvement ou non-achèvement du procès. En cas d’absence d’indices dans le contexte immédiat ou/et large, on peut avoir recours aux connaissances extra-linguistiques pour interpréter la valeur aspectuelle de l’énoncé. La sous-estimation des paramètres décrits risque de fausser les analyses car l’aspect dépend de plusieurs facteurs relevant de l’environnement contextuel. Comme l’indique W.Pollak (1976) : « s Le manque d’indices morphologiques explicites des qualités

sémantiques rend la dépendance vis-à-vis du contexte plus forte pour les langues romanes que pour les langues slaves. »

How episodicity and genericity can go together

J.Jayez and L.M.TovenaEHE-LSH Lyon Universite de Lille

It is generally accepted that simple episodic sentences refer to a single eventuality, and that habitual sentences refer to a sequence of eventualities. The sentences we will discuss refer to an eventuality and carry a conventional implicature which is close to that of generics. Thistype of interpretation makes them suitable environments for Free Choice Items (FCIs), cf. the case of subtrigging in (1) and the comparative in (2), while 'plain' episodic sentences cannot host them, cf. (3).

(1) Mary read any book which was on the reading list (2) At the last maths exam, Mary did better than any other girl in herclass (3) * Mary read any book

Cross--linguistic data show that this mixed behaviour results from the fact that sentences like (1) and (2) intuitively convey a connection between properties. The modification of the NP in (1) creates a conditional/causal reading. Mary read the books in virtue of theirproperty of being on the reading list. The emphatic character of comparatives like (2) suggests that Mary was intrinsically superior to her classmates, and that the episodic fact results from this superiority.

We characterise this complex behaviour as a case of 'weak' genericity. Technically, this is captured by a minor modification of the accessibility relation for the conditional operator > proposed by Asher and Morreau (1995) for generic sentences. We identify a set of worlds where the truth of phi comes together with everything which is normally the case at ourworld when phi is true. Then, we impose the constraint that our world is a member of such a set (a condition called 'centering' in modal logic). The newy defined relation holds between phi and psi iff psi is true at every world in the set identified as above. For (1) this means that an event of the type described actually took place, as indicated by the past tense,and as required by the centering condition. The fact that such an event is the manifestation of some causal/conditional dependency follows from the use of the conditional operator. Similarly, in (2) Mary did better than her classmates, and would have outperformed any other girl in any world where she would have had the same sort of superiority she had in theactual world. Finally, since it lacks any linguistic cue favouring a conditional/causal value, (3) cannot be weakly genericised and is plainly episodic, thus creating reference problems for FCIs.

Simple past tenses related to focus and background in Romance languages: a neo-functionalist point of view

Bob de Jonge

In this paper, light will be shed on the problem of the alternation or possible choice between the simple past tense and the imperfect, as used commonly in various (and not only) Romance languages, such as French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The theoretical viewpoint taken will be an extreme functionalist point of view, as developed by the late William Diver (cf. Diver 1975 and 1995) and further elaborated, among others, by García (cf. García 1975).

An example of this method will be given in the observation of the distribution of the verb tenses under focus in the already mentioned Romance languages. An attempt will be made to show that one abstract, functional meaning of each tense (see Reid 1977 and De Jonge 2000 for earlier attempts) is capable of, not only, explaining the individual uses of each verb form, but also, and moreover, justifying their distribution over large amounts of (in this case, written) discourse. The samples taken for this investigation are literary texts by renowned authors in the respective languages.

References:

De Jonge, Bob (2000): ‘Eventuality classification: meaning and use of Spanish simple past tenses’, in Ellen Contini-Morava and Yishai Tobin (eds.), Between Grammar and Lexicon, Amsterdam, John Benjamins, pp. 227-254

Diver, William (1975). Introduction, in Columbia University Working Papers in Linguistics, no. 2, Fall, pp 1-26

Diver, William (1995). Theory, in: Ellen Contini-Morava and Barbara Sussman Goldberg (eds.), Meaning as Explanation. Advances in Linguistic Sign Theory. Trends in Linguistics, Studies and Monographs 84; Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 43-114

García, Érica (1975). The role of theory in linguistic analysis: the Spanish pronoun system. Amsterdam: North Holland

Reid, Wallis (1977): The quantitative validation of a grammatical hypothesis: the passé simple and the imparfait, in Kegl, Juday Anne et. al.: Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Meeting of the North Eastern Linguistic Society, Cambridge, Massachusetts, pp. 315-333

PRESENT TENSE IN PORTUGUESE AS A RADIAL CATEGORYAna Flávia Lopes Magela Gerhardt (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro –

Brazil)

Current studies about tense in portuguese have verified that some verbal forms convey

different meanings, most of times likely to be interchanged to other tenses in the same

utterance. That’s the case of the present tense in portuguese (called presente do

Indicativo), which basically conveys present time, but can appear in past and future

contexts, and still express passed time, habituals, hypotheses and imperatives as well.

Evidences form these uses for present tense and also for other tenses and moods can

raise the question of how a verbal form originally destinated to convey a specific

meaning can have its use extended to such an ample scenery; we can discuss this

problem in a descriptive framework favourable for us to explain how to relate the uses

of the verbal form at issue. Our researches have revealed that present tense in

portuguese has possible employments related in order to form a radial category, and

this fact allow us to assume that, among its uses, there are the more central ones,

related to prototypical expression of deixis, and the more peripheric ones, taken as

definitional, linked to deixis via metaphor, and imperatives, related to the status of

reality conveyed by definitional uses. Moreover, we propose two distinct

morphological forms for the verb, one of them related to deixis, comprising a mood-

tense grammatical morpheme, and another non-deictic form, comprising only a mood

morpheme.