Perfects in the Romance Languages

Author(s):  
Gerhard Schaden

This article is devoted to the description of perfect tenses in Romance. Perfects can be described as verbal forms which place events in the past with respect to some point of reference, and indicate that the event has some special relevance at the point of reference ; in that, they are opposed to past tenses, which localize an event in the past with respect to the moment of utterance. Romance is an interesting language family with respect to perfect tenses, because it features a set of closely related constructions, descending almost all from the same diachronic source yet differing in interesting ways among each other. Romance also provides us with a lesson in the difficulty of clearly pinning down and stating a single, obvious and generally agreed upon criterion of defining a perfect.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 155
Author(s):  
Christopher D. Sams

The aim of this paper is to investigate the properties associated with unaccusativity and the selection of auxiliary verbs (AUX) in the perfect tenses of the modern Romance languages. The modern languages that have a split-AUX system (such as Italian and French) operate under a principle in which some intransitive verbs select the equivalent of to be as their AUX in the compound past tenses, and others select the equivalent of to have. In research I have conducted over the past decade in the Italian language classroom, Bentley and Eythórsson’s auxiliary selection hierarchy (ASH) is best suited to explain how L2 Italian learners acquire the ability to make the appropriate surface AUX selection.


1972 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 388-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Gratwick

‘The sudden emergence of all the post-classical functions of habeo+Infinitive in Tertullian is very remarkable’, as Mr. Coleman has said in his important paper (p. 226) on the origin and development of this structure, so prominent in the formation of the Future and Conditional paradigms of the main Romance languages. The functions which he has in mind are all Prospective: he distinguishes meanings tangential, as he puts it, to Possibility, Obligation/Necessity, Futurity, and, for the past tenses of habeo, Futurity-in-the-Past and Conditioned Unreality (p. 217). In this he essentially follows received opinion, though there have been those who would also distinguish a meaning tangential to Volition. Mr. Coleman gives these short shrift (p. 217 n. 3, p. 219 n. 2). Whether rightly, the reader may judge from what follows.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-158
Author(s):  
T. E. Yanko

The paper is aimed at the analysis of expressing the meaning ‘long ago’ or the meaning of pluperfect. In the meaning of ‘long ago’ the Russian word davno is the focus of a sentence. Meanwhile, if an event began long ago and is taking place at the time of reference (for instance, at the moment of speech), such context does not require davno to function as the focus. At present, the hypothesis was verified on the spoken corpora material. The key to the analysis is the prosody of the focus. On the whole, the hypothesis appeared to be true. At the same time, it acquired some substantial corrections. If earlier it was presumed that the context of pluperfect arises from the combination of davno and the aspectual forms of a verb, at present, the corpus analysis has revealed the third factor: it is the lexical semantics of the verb. The corpus analysis shows that the verbs of information transfer and the verbs in the negative can recover the connection of the past events with the point of reference. This meaning, in its turn, can cause the loss of the invariable focal function of davno in the context of the general factual in the past.


2013 ◽  
pp. 109-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Rühl

This paper presents the highlights of the third annual edition of the BP Energy Outlook, which sets out BP’s view of the most likely developments in global energy markets to 2030, based on up-to-date analysis and taking into account developments of the past year. The Outlook’s overall expectation for growth in global energy demand is to be 36% higher in 2030 than in 2011 and almost all the growth coming from emerging economies. It also reflects shifting expectations of the pattern of supply, with unconventional sources — shale gas and tight oil together with heavy oil and biofuels — playing an increasingly important role and, in particular, transforming the energy balance of the US. While the fuel mix is evolving, fossil fuels will continue to be dominant. Oil, gas and coal are expected to converge on market shares of around 26—28% each by 2030, and non-fossil fuels — nuclear, hydro and renewables — on a share of around 6—7% each. By 2030, increasing production and moderating demand will result in the US being 99% self-sufficient in net energy. Meanwhile, with continuing steep economic growth, major emerging economies such as China and India will become increasingly reliant on energy imports. These shifts will have major impacts on trade balances.


Chelovek RU ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 18-53
Author(s):  
Sergei Avanesov ◽  

Abstract. The article analyzes the autobiography of the famous Russian philosopher, theologian and scientist Pavel Florensky, as well as those of his texts that retain traces of memories. According to Florensky, the personal biography is based on family history and continues in children. He addresses his own biography to his children. Memories based on diary entries are designed as a memory diary, that is, as material for future memories. The past becomes actual in autobiography, turns into a kind of present. The past, from the point of view of its realization in the present, gains meaning and significance. The au-thor is active in relation to his own past, transforming it from a collection of disparate facts into a se-quence of events. A person can only see the true meaning of such events from a great distance. Therefore, the philosopher remembers not so much the circumstances of his life as the inner impressions of the en-counter with reality. The most powerful personality-forming experiences are associated with childhood. Even the moment of birth can decisively affect the character of a person and the range of his interests. The foundations of a person's worldview are laid precisely in childhood. Florensky not only writes mem-oirs about himself, but also tries to analyze the problems of time and memory. A person is immersed in time, but he is able to move into the past through memory and into the future through faith. An autobi-ography can never be written to the end because its author lives on. However, reaching the depths of life, he is able to build his path in such a way that at the end of this path he will unite with the fullness of time, with eternity.


CounterText ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-32
Author(s):  
Norbert Bugeja

In this retrospective piece, the Guest Editor of the first number of CounterText (a special issue titled Postcolonial Springs) looks back at the past five years from various scholarly and personal perspectives. He places particular focus on an event that took place mid-way between the 2011 uprisings across a number of Arab countries and the moment of writing: the March 2015 terror attack on the Bardo National Museum in Tunis, which killed twenty-two people and had a profound effect on Tunisian popular consciousness and that of the post-2011 Arab nations. In this context, the author argues for a renewed perspective on memoir as at once a memorial practice and a political gesture in writing, one that exceeds concerns of genre and form to encompass an ongoing project of political re-cognition following events that continue to remap the agenda for the region. The piece makes a brief final pitch for Europe's need to re-cognise, within those modes of ‘articulacy-in-difficulty’ active on its southern borders, specific answers to its own present quandaries.


Author(s):  
Rafael Komiljonov

The article examines the Genesis of the institution of jury trial in the Russian Empire from the moment of its introduction to the end of the Provisional government. It is noted that the emergence of a trial with the participation of jurors was influenced by Western models of the judicial process, and the forms of participation of citizens in the administration of justice that previously existed on the territory of the Russian state were taken into account. The role that the jury system has played with some success in the search for truth, justice, and the implementation of effective and independent justice in the past centuries is particularly highlighted.


1968 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 226-239
Author(s):  
Barend A. De Vries

In the past two decades developing countries have invested an increasing proportion of their resources in new industries and the infrastructure needed to support them. Many of the new industries have been light, simple and con¬sumer-oriented. But a significant number of LDC's, mostly the larger or richer ones, have established heavy, more complex capital-goods industries. Both sectors of industry have been largely domestic-oriented, although there are some LDC's which have succeeded in sharply increasing their industrial exports, mostly of light and simple products. The absence of export success may, in itself, cast a doubt on the effici¬ency and competitiveness of the new industries. The question has been raised in several quarters whether, in fact, the resources spent on industrialization have been well spent or whether the LDC's could have achieved more growth—in domestic product or export earnings—by a different design of industrialization or by more emphasis on other sectors. These questions are of special relevance for the newly-established capital-goods industries, because:


Author(s):  
Ken Peach

This chapter discusses the process of building research teams. Increasingly over the past three-quarters of a century, science has become a collective activity, with teams of tens, hundreds or even thousands of scientists, engineers and technicians working together on a common goal. Consequently, almost all research involves building, motivating and maintaining a research team. Even a theoretical group is likely to have one or two postdocs, graduate students and visitors, but research teams will, in addition, have engineers and technicians, as well as, possibly, research administrators. The chapter also addresses the importance of creating and maintaining a good team and team spirit, as large projects are assembled from a large number of small teams working on common goals, usually in a loose federated structure with some overall coordination and leadership.


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