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Starting from the assumption that the occurrence of Sequence of Tense violations in subjunctive argument clauses is sensitive to the type of clause, we examine the distribution of [Present under Past] occurrences violating the double access requirement (i.e. those in which the event in the subjunctive clause precedes Speech Time) in two closely related Spanish varieties, Argentinian and Uruguayan Spanish. Our results show that the two varieties clearly differ both in the frequency of occurrence of the [Present under Past] pattern and in the sensitivity of SoT violations to the type of clause, with the Argentinian variety exhibiting greater frequency of the pattern and less sensitivity to the type of clause. This supports our assumption that the Argentinian variety is more advanced in the process of change affecting the temporal specification of the present subjunctive as a morphological form.

On the basis of corpus and experimental evidence, this paper claims that the ongoing process of change affecting the use and interpretation of the [Present under Past] pattern in subjunctive argument clauses in some Spanish varieties is sensitive to the syntactic/semantic type of the clause. The pattern deviates from Sequence-of-Tense grammar in not giving rise to double access effects. In the variety explored in this paper, this only happens in the argument clauses of causative, directive, and volitional predicates, i.e. in a type of clause which is held to be lower in a scale of clausehood than the argument clauses of predicates of belief and assertion. @font-face{font-family:Calibri;panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;mso-font-charset:0;mso-generic-font-family:auto;mso-font-pitch:variable;mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal{mso-style-parent:\"\";margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;}div.Section1{page:Section1;}

This monograph investigates the temporal interpretation of narrative discourse in two parts. The theme of the first part is narrative progression. It begins with a case study of the adverb ‘now’ and its interaction with the meaning of tense. The case study motivates an ontological distinction between events, states and times and proposes that ‘now’ seeks a prominent state that holds throughout the time described by the tense. Building on prior research, prominence is shown to be influenced by principles of discourse coherence and two coherence principles, NARRATION and RESULT, are given a formally explicit characterization. The key innovation is a new method for testing the definitional adequacy of NARRATION and RESULT, namely by an abductive argument. This contribution opens a new way of thinking about how eventive and stative descriptions contribute to the perceived narrative progression in a discourse.

One major misconception about tense is that it locates situations. In fact, tense merely locates reference time, while aspect determines the manner in which the denoted situation relates to reference time (Partee 1984). This chapter will show why reference time is crucial to an understanding of relative tense, sequence of tense, the tense–aspect interface, and the division of semiotic labor between exponents of tense and exponents of aspect (like the progressive and perfect constructions) in the grammar of English. Focusing on the means by which we convey situations ongoing at reporting time, we will examine evidence that the present tense in English and other languages is a state selector. We will see that numerous functions of the present tense, including its habitual and futurate functions, are attributable to its aspectual sensitivity and the mechanism of aspectual coercion, or, equivalently, semantic conflict resolution (Moens and Steedman 1988).

Cet article présente la concordance des temps dans les langues romanes – et plus particulièrement en français et en italien – comme un phénomène en constante évolution depuis le latin classique. Il la replace dans le cadre général de la déflexivité, concept emprunté à la psychomécanique du langage de Gustave Guillaume, pour montrer qu’il est ainsi possible de comprendre non seulement les divers types de fonctionnement mais aussi le passage d’un type à l’autre : une concordance des temps active en italien, en espagnol et en français classique, mais en cours de réduction dans le français d’aujourd’hui, une disparition pratiquement complète de la concordance dans la langue roumaine. Understand the sequence of tenses and its evolution as the phenomenon of deflexivity This paper presents the sequence of tenses as an evolving phenomenon from Classical Latin to Romance languages, especially French and Italian. It aims at defining it in the broader context of deflexivity (a concept borrowed from the psychomechanics of language of Gustave Guillaume). The study accounts for differences between languages, and it also explains how the tense sequence could shift from one pattern to another : the active tense agreement pattern in Italian, Spanish and Classical French, is gradually being reduced in present-day French, and has virtually disappeared from modern Romanian usage.

Early Latin has archaic futures like faxō ‘I shall do’, archaic subjunctives like faxim I may do’, duim ‘I may give’, or attigās ‘you may touch’, and archaic infinitives like impetrāssere ‘to achieve’. These forms are already quite rare in Plautus; a generation later, in Terence, they are almost non-existent. This study focuses on such forms from a synchronic perspective. It examines their meaning, distribution over clause types, register, and productivity. In order to reach reliable conclusions, the book looks at the usage of ‘regular’ futures, subjunctives, and infinitives in the early period. Thus, morphosyntactic phenomena such as the sequence of tenses and the use of subjunctives in prohibitions are examined and compared with classical practice. The work contains diachronic elements as well. Not only does it discuss the reconstruction of elements of the Proto-Italic and Proto-Indo-European verb systems, but it also shows the patterns by which archaic forms were lost in classical and later Latin.

The starting point of this article is a textual problem at the beginning of §7 of Agr. 2 (Cicero's first consular contio), where he claims that he will be a people's man (popularis). A close examination of the role of attraction in the sequence of tenses shows that the transmitted text is almost certainly wrong. An emendation is proposed, which also gives the sentence a rhythmical ending. An analysis of Cicero's strategy in the speech, and of the role that the sentence plays in it, suggests that such a marked clausula is appropriate and contributes, together with other formal features, to making the sentence a 'claptrap', designed to elicit approval from the contional audience.