Advanced search
Start date
Betweenand
(Reference retrieved automatically from Web of Science through information on FAPESP grant and its corresponding number as mentioned in the publication by the authors.)

On The Indexicality of Portuguese Past Tenses

Full text
Author(s):
Ferreira, Marcelo
Total Authors: 1
Document type: Journal article
Source: JOURNAL OF SEMANTICS; v. 34, n. 4, p. 633-657, NOV 2017.
Web of Science Citations: 0
Abstract

This article investigates the semantics of Portuguese past tenses, focusing on their indexical behavior. I show that under certain circumstances, even when they are used anaphorically and refer to a contextually salient interval, these past tense heads can denote intervals that do not precede the speech time. I argue that the best way to capture this behavior is to construe its presupposition as a shiftable indexical (Schlenker 2003; Anand 2006), with a meaning roughly paraphrasable as `earlier than socthorn', with socthorn being set to some context (attitude-like) time, not necessarily the speech time. I also argue that nonanaphoric uses of the Portuguese verb form called Preterito Perfeito should be analyzed as present tense + perfect aspect combinations, as was suggested in Giorgi \& Pianesi (1998). In particular, I show that Portuguese instantiates what is called double-access readings in past under past configurations that mimic the more well-known cases involving embedded present tenses in attitudinal contexts (Ogihara 1996; Abusch 1997, inter alia). (AU)

FAPESP's process: 13/21993-8 - Reference and quantification in the verb tenses of Portuguese
Grantee:Marcelo Barra Ferreira
Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research