Nobody's Perfect

Bibliographic Data

ID5901237
AuthorsAnne Bertrand (0000-0001-7683-507X, University of British Columbia, corresponding author), Yurika Aonuki (University of British Columbia), Sihwei Chen (Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica), Hilda J Davis (0000-0002-4904-8828, University of British Columbia), Henry Davis (0000-0002-4176-2496), Joash Gambarage, Joash Johannes Gambarage (0000-0001-5514-9003, University of British Columbia), Laura Griffin (0000-0001-6705-5848, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa), Marianne Huijsmans (0009-0005-8695-3316, University of British Columbia), Lisa Matthewson (0000-0001-5157-6470, University of British Columbia, corresponding author), Daniel Reisinger (0000-0002-2541-4467, University of British Columbia), Hotze Rullmann (University of British Columbia, corresponding author), Raiane Salles (University of British Columbia), Michael David Schwan (0000-0002-0945-3159, University of British Columbia), Neda Todorović (0000-0003-0885-4353, University of British Columbia), Bailey Trotter (University of British Columbia), Jozina Vander Klok (0000-0001-8550-3181, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
Year2022
Volume7
Issue2
Pages148
Publication date2022-06-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguages (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2226-471X • E-ISSN: 2226-471X
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/languages7020148
OpenAlexW4282597487
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited54

This paper challenges the cross-linguistic validity of the tense-aspect category 'perfect' by investigating 15 languages from eight different families (Atayal, Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, English, German, Gitksan, Japanese, Javanese, Korean, Mandarin, Niuean, Québec French, St'át'imcets, Swahili, and Tibetan). The methodology involves using the storyboard 'Miss Smith's Bad Day' to test for the availability of experiential, resultative, recent-past, and continuous readings, as well as lifetime effects, result-state cancellability, narrative progression, and compatibility with definite time adverbials. Results show that the target forms in these languages can be classified into four groups: (a) past perfectives; (b) experientials; (c) resultatives; and (d) hybrids (which allow both experiential and resultative readings). It is argued that the main division is between past perfectives, which contain a 'pronominal' tense, on the one hand, and the other three groups on the other, which involve existential quantification, either over times (experiential) or over events (resultative). The methodological and typological implications of the findings are discussed. The main conclusion of the study is that there is no universal category of 'the perfect', and that instead, researchers should focus on identifying shared semantic components of tense-aspect categories across languages

Linguistics · Narrative · Resultative · Swahili · Verb · Computer Science · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Philosophy · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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