The semantics of unmarked tenses

• Grant number: 15/00819-5
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International
• Start date: August 15, 2015
• End date: September 27, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Linguistic Theory and Analysis
• Principal Investigator: Ana Lucia de Paula Muller
• Grantee: Ana Lucia de Paula Muller
• Visiting researcher: Brenda Selva Laca Luque
• Visiting researcher institution: Université Vincennes Saint-Denis (Paris 8), France
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The project focusses on the cross-linguistic variation on the semantics of unmarked tenses. Unmarked tenses are tenses in which speech time and reference time (the moment talked about) coincide. These are the so-called "presents". The project will be developed against the background of formal semantics and linguistic typology. Its goal is to achive a formal analysis of unmarked tenses which is able to deal both with commonalities and variations among natural languages. More specifically, it will focus on a deep analysis of unmarked tenses in some Romance languages - French, Spanish and Portuguese - and in a native Brazilian language - Karitiana, Tupi family. (AU)