Prescription vs. praxis: The evolution of future temporal reference in French

Language ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 557-587 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shana Poplack ◽  
Nathalie Dion
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Reference ◽  
Future Temporal Reference

An extension of the comparative sociolinguistics approach for sociosyntax

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Comeau
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Temporal Reference ◽  
Generative Theory ◽  
Single Constraint ◽  
Variationist Sociolinguistics ◽  
Acadian French ◽  
Grammatical Structures ◽  
Future Temporal Reference

This paper integrates aspects of both generative theory and variationist sociolinguistics. To compare the structure of two varieties of French (Acadian French and Laurentian French), I adapt the comparative sociolinguistics approach to compare the syntactic structure of these varieties. Specifically, I focus on the effects of a single linguistic constraint across multiple sociolinguistic variables. I argue that such a comparison provides insights into the underlying grammatical structures of the varieties under comparison, differences that may have remained hidden otherwise. To illustrate the approach, I focus on a single constraint, sentential polarity, and I analyze its effects on two sociolinguistic variables, yes/no questions and future temporal reference. Results show that the polarity constraint is operative in Laurentian French for both variables, but inoperative in Acadian French. To account for this difference, I argue that Laurentian French negative structures involve a negative head above the tense phrase while Acadian French does not.

scholarly journals Future temporal reference in French: An introduction

2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Comeau ◽  
Anne-José Villeneuve
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Reference ◽  
Future Temporal Reference

scholarly journals Expanding the the notion of a tenseless language: Data from Anii

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah C. Morton
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Relations ◽  
Font Size ◽  
Temporal Reference ◽  
Temporal Interpretation ◽  
Language Data ◽  
Tenseless Languages ◽  
Future Temporal Reference

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There has been debate in recent years regarding the analysis of ‘tenseless languages’ (languages without overt tense marking). Some scholars (cf. Matthewson 2006) argue that such languages contain phonologically null tense marking to express temporal relations, while others (cf. Bittner 2005, Tonhauser 2011) claim that temporal interpretation in such cases comes from sources other than tense marking (e.g. context, aspectual marking, and/or Aktionsarten).</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;"> This presentation will contribute to this debate by providing and analyzing data on temporal and aspectual reference in the under-documented Kwa language Anii. This data will show that Anii is a tenseless language, though in a different way from many languages that have previously been so described. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> An overview of Anii will show that the only potential tensed clauses in the language are those with future temporal reference and those marked with the far-past marker /bʊ̀ŋ</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">à</span></span></span></span><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">/. I argue that the apparent future/non-future distinction is actually a realis/irrealis contrast and that the far-past marker is not a tense marker, but a Temporal Remoteness Marker.<br /></span></span></span></span></p>

scholarly journals PLUPERFECT – ABSOLUTE, RELATIVE OR ABSOLUTE-RELATIVE TEMPORAL FORM?

2021 ◽  
pp. 7-12
Author(s):  
Andriiv O.B.
Keyword(s):  
Time Moment ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Relative Time ◽  
Temporal Reference ◽  
Temporal Form ◽  
Past Action ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Future Temporal Reference

The article is devoted to the problem of grammatical status of pluperfect forms of German and Ukrainian languages. The study differentiates the views of scientists on pluperfect forms in terms of their relative or absolute interpretation. The definition of the pluperfect with the future temporal reference is given, confirmed by applied representations and analysis of the studied units in the sentence structure. From the point of view of traditional linguistic interpretation, pluperfect is a form that expresses either “precedence over another past action” or “distant past”. However, in this study, we look at new meanings of this grammar: “present” or “future”.The article raises the problem of the futural orientation of pluperfect forms, based on two positions: when pluperfect is used in the sense of “past” in relation to another past action. That is, when this gram is in opposition to its conventional meaning; when the plusquamperfect expresses the meaning of “counterfactual” with the future temporal reference, when the subject of the statement knows that in the real world certain actions cannot be realized because they contradict the objective laws of human existence. The use of the pluperfect forms in such constructions indicates that language not only does not limit us by means of expressing real knowledge about the world, but also provides such for the reproduction of hypothetical, unreal or counterfactual statements.It is concluded that from the point of view of temporality, the conjunctive forms of the pluperfect are timeless and can express the action that occurs at the time of speech, occurred (or could occur) before the moment of speech or will occur after the moment of speech, the temporal nature of the verbal form recedes into the background. It is proposed to consider plusquamperfect as an absolute-relative time form.Key words: pluperfect, absolute time, relative time, moment of speech, counterfactuality. Статтю присвячено актуальній проблемі граматичного статусу плюсквамперфектних форм німецької та української мов. У дослідженні диференційовано погляди науковців щодо плюсквамперфектних форм із боку їх відносної чи абсолютної інтерпретації. Подається визначення плюсквамперфекта з майбутньою часовою рефе-ренцією, підтверджене прикладними репрезентаціями й аналізом досліджуваних одиниць у структурі речення. З боку традиційного лінгвістичного трактування плюсквамперфект – це форма, яка виражає або «передування щодо іншої минулої дії», або «віддалене минуле». Однак у дослідженні звертаємо увагу на нові значення цієї гра-меми: «теперішнє» чи «майбутнє».У статті висувається проблема футуральної спрямованості плюсквамперфектних форм, виходячи з двох позицій: коли плюсквамперфект вживається в значенні «післяминуле» щодо іншої минулої дії, тобто коли ця грамема опозиціонує своєму загальноприйнятому значенню; коли плюсквамперфект виражає значення «контр-фактичність» із майбутньою часовою референцією – суб’єкт висловлення знає, що в реальному світі певні дії не можуть бути реалізовані, оскільки суперечать об’єктивним законам людського існування. Вживання плюсквам-перфектних форм у подібних конструкціях свідчить про те, що мова не лише не обмежує нас засобами вираження реальних знань про світ, а й надає такі для відтворення гіпотетичних, ірреальних чи контрфактичних висловлень.Зроблено висновок, що з позиції темпоральності форми плюсквамперфекта кон’юнктива є позачасовими й можуть виражати дію, що відбувається в момент мовлення, відбувалася (чи могла відбутися) раніше моменту мовлення або відбудеться після моменту мовлення, оскільки в зіставленні часу й способу переважає спосіб дієслова, а часовий характер вербальної форми відходить на другий план. Запропоновано розглядати плюсквампер-фект як абсолютно-відносну часову форму.Ключові слова: плюсквамперфект, абсолютний час, відносний час, момент мовлення, контрфактичність

scholarly journals Variation and change in future temporal reference with avoir and être

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Anna Tristram
Keyword(s):  
Multivariate Analysis ◽  
Variant Selection ◽  
Verbal System ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Temporal Reference ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Periphrastic Future ◽  
Future Temporal Reference

ABSTRACT Variation and change in the future temporal reference (FTR) sector in French has been the subject of numerous studies, from a variety of perspectives. Most studies consider the patterns of variation and evidence for change by looking at the verbal system as a whole. However, there are indications that some verbs differ significantly in their preference for one or other variant. Avoir and être are two such verbs. This study first examines the overall distribution of the inflected and periphrastic future with these two verbs in the ESLO corpus of spoken French, and considers the evidence for change. A multivariate analysis of the linguistic factors affecting variant selection in FTR with these two verbs reveals no exceptional effects; we thus explore other possible explanations for the exceptional distribution of FTR variants with these two verbs.

Approche procédurale et référence temporelle du futur de l’indicatif en français

Revue Romane ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-89
Author(s):  
Camino Álvarez Castro
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Content ◽  
Future Tense ◽  
Textual Information ◽  
Verbal System ◽  
Temporal Reference ◽  
Instructional Content ◽  
The Future ◽  
Future Temporal Reference

This essay analyses the future tense in the French verbal system in order to explore its semantic content, as well as its contribution to the fixation of temporal reference. Our study adopts a procedural perspective: we argue that the future tense has an instructional content that leads the hearer to a temporal — or other- interpretation of a given occurrence. We also contend that the semantics of the future tense is underdetermined and, thus, it must be filled by the hearer with co(n)textual information during the pragmatic process of interpretation. The analysis of the procedural meaning coded in the future tense — around three temporal coordinates — and its function in various linguistic environments prompts us to deal with temporality and aspectuality. Besides, it leads us to distinguish, among other things, a default instruction that we perceive as the trigger of a deictic calculation of the future temporal reference.

scholarly journals Motion time and tense on the grammaticalization of come and go to future markers in Bantu

2006 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Botne
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Reference ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Image Schemas ◽  
Motion Time ◽  
Motion Verb ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Future Temporal Reference

Many Bantu languages have grammaticized one or both types of motion verb -COME and GO - as future markers. However, they may differ in the semantics of future temporal reference, in some cases referring to a "near" future, in others to a "remote" future. This paper explores how the underlying image-schemas of such verbs in several languages - Bamileke-Dschang, Bamun, and Lamnso' (Grass fields Bantu), Duala, Chimwera, Chindali, Kihunde, and Zulu (Narrow Bantu) - contribute to how the verbs become grammaticized in relation to the dual construals of linguistic time: ego-moving vs. moving-event.

Vestiges from the grammaticalization path: The expression of future temporal reference in Acadian French

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
PHILIP COMEAU
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Reference Systems ◽  
Temporal Reference ◽  
Conditioning Factors ◽  
Acadian French ◽  
Periphrastic Future ◽  
Future Temporal Reference

ABSTRACTThis study presents a variationist analysis of the expression of future temporal reference (variation between the inflected future and the periphrastic future) in a linguistically conservative variety of Acadian French spoken in Baie Sainte-Marie, Nova Scotia, Canada. Results show that Acadian French is distinct from Laurentian French and that the Baie Sainte-Marie variety also differs from other Acadian varieties in some respects. A comparison of the distribution of variants and of the conditioning factors reveals that Acadian and Laurentian varieties have different future temporal reference systems. The Baie Sainte-Marie variety retains vestiges of earlier stages of the grammaticalization of one of the variants, the periphrastic future, not found in other Acadian varieties, thus supporting its characterization as a conservative variety.

Future temporal reference in French: An introduction

2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-239
Author(s):  
Philip Comeau ◽  
Anne-José Villeneuve
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Reference ◽  
Future Temporal Reference
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