ISSN: 2306-5737E-ISSN: 2658-4069
Acta Linguistica Petropolitana
Transactions of the Institute for Linguistic Studies
ISSN: 2306-5737E-ISSN: 2658-4069
Acta Linguistica Petropolitana
Transactions of the Institute for Linguistic Studies 

Semantics of the perfect and its implementations in American English

DOI:10.30842/alp2306573714110
PDF, 375.87 kb
Bondar V. A. Semantika perfekta i yeye realizatsiya v amerikanskom angliyskom. Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. 283.
The paper deals with the analysis of the perfect/preterit distribution in American English from a diachronic perspective. Prevalence of preterits in contexts with temporal adverbs, in which British English, as a rule, gives preference to the perfect in its immediate meaning, is interpreted as a consequence of a language shift caused by substratum interference. These changes emerge due to wrong perception of the perfect category by native speakers of foreign languages in the process of L2 acquisition. The spread of the preterit in the contexts of resultative-immediate eventualities is enhanced by the use of respective temporal adverbs like already, yet, just as well as verbs with respective Aktionsart characteristics. In the course of the so-called hypoanalysis the semantics of a context is attributed to the preterit which thus acquires a new function of expressing results in resultative-immediate contexts. The perfect, which retains certain pragmatic properties (current relevancy), is used to highlight a certain significance of the context for the speaker.
Keywords
perfect, preterit, semantics, pragmatics, American English, free variation
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Keywords
perfect, preterit, semantics, pragmatics, American English, free variation
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