The perfective aspect in english and portuguese: a constrative study on semantic basis

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Alfa,zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA São Paulo 24:137-48, 1980.

T H E P E R F E C T I V E A S P E C T I N E N G L I S H AND

P O R T UGUE S E : A C O N S T R A S T I V E S T UDY ON

S E M A N T I C BA S I S

D irce Charara M onteiro *

M aria Helena de M oura N eves ** Sónia V easey Rodrigues * * *

MONTEIRO, Dirce Charara; NEVES, Maria Helena de Mo ura & RODRIGUES, Sonia Veasey. The perfective aspect in English and Portuguese: a contrastive

study o n semantic basis.zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA Alfa, São Paulo, 24:137-48, 1980.

ABSTRACT: A n exam of the occurrences of the PRESENT PERFECT in English was made in such a w ay as to establish the prevailing semantic features of this verbal fo rm. It was verified up to w hat an extent the meaning of the PERFECTIVE thus characterized is expressed in the corresponding Portuguese

sentences i n the PRETÉRITO PERFEITO. I t was found that in Portuguese the verbal inflexio n itself characterizes in a much smaller degree the PER-FECTIVE ASPECT.

UNITERMS: Present perfect; Perfective; Contrastive analysis; Verbal aspect; "Pretérito perfeito ".

1. INTRODUCTION AND PROPOSITION

1.1. I t is evid ent that w hen stu-d y ing the PRESENT PERFECT there are some "uses" to be d

istin-guished .

Jespersen presents three m ain uses: a) fo r past occurrences w hich

co ntinued u p to the present mo -m ent; b) fo r past occurrences hav ing results o r consequences o n the present m o m ent; c) w hen the tim e ind icated is no t y et co mple-ted ('this y ear' fo r istance) (5; 1st 1933).

A llen p o ints six uses: a) to express the co mp letio n of an actio n

* Professora Assistente do Departamento de Didática do Instituto de Letras, Ciências Sociais e Educação, Campus de A raraquara, UNESP

** Professora Assistente-Doutora do Departamento de Lingüística do Insti-tuto de Letras, Ciências Sociais e Educação, Campus de Araraiquara, UNESP.

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M O N TEIRO , D . C . ; N EV ES , M . H . d eM . & RO D RIG UES, S . V . The perfective aspect

in English and Portuguese: a contras tive study on semantic basis.zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA Alfa, São Paulo, 24:137-48, 1980.

by N OW ; b) to ind icate so mething w hich happened i n a perio d of time that is no t yet over; c) to i n -dicate a p o int i n past ti l l N OW

(e.g. w i thzyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA since); d ) to express

leng th of time ti l l NOW (e.g. w i th

for ) ; e) to emphasize the present

interest i n a past actio n (e.g. w i th

already, just, yet or ever); f ) to

ind icate ind efinite tim e i n the past (1; 1st 1947).

A cco rd ing to Roberts the PRE-SENT PERFECT a) "serves to link u p the past w i th the present"; b) "ind icates that the actio n has just been co mpleted "; c) ind icates that the effects of the actio n "are still being f elt" (11, p . 155).

Corder mentio ns the fo llo w ing uses: a) "fo r an actio n w hich began i n the past and w hich has co nti-nued u p to the time of speaking"; b) "fo r an actio n w hich to o k place i n the past, the results of w hich we can feel or observe i n the present"

(3;lst 1960; p . 81).

Eckersley and Eckersley state the fo llo w ing fo ur uses: a) "fo r an actio n just concluded w hen the re-sulting state is still present"; b) f o r activities co mpleted i n the

imme-diate past (just is o ften used );

c) "fo r d uratio n of an actio n o r absence of an actio n begun i n the past and co ntinuing to the present (and possibly to the f u tu re ) " d) fo r actions w i th ind efinite tim e (4; 1st 1960; p . 174-5).

Stone mentio ns three m ain uses saying that the PRESENT PER-FECT "shows so mething that: a) 'has happened' at ind efinite past tim e"; b) "began i n the past

and 'has co ntinued ' u p to the pre-sent"; c) "has just happened " (12; 1st 1967, p . 7).

Leech p o ints fo ur uses fo r the PRESENT PERFECT (the f irst f o r 'state verbs' and the others fo r 'event verbs') ind icating ; a) a state w hic h extends up to the pre-sent; b ) an ind efinite hap p ening i n the past; c) a habit i n a p erio d lead ing up the present; d ) a resul-tativ e past (6; 1st 1971 & 8; 1st,

1969).

Q uirk et alii link the choice of

the PRESENT PERFECT to the expression o f: a) a p erio d of tim e stretching backw ard s into some earlier tim e (it is past w i th "cur-rent relev ance"); b) ind efinite re-ference (10; 1st 1972, p . 91-2).

Palmer says that i t is used : a) to ind icate a perio d of tim e "that spe-cifically began before and co nti-nued u p to (possibly o verlapping) the present m o m ent" (p.36); b) to acco unt fo r very recent activ ity ; o) to refer to past experiences

(usually w i th a fall-rise into natio n) (9; 1st 1974; p. 77).

In spite of the existence of seve-ral uses, as those mentio ned above, it is possible to d etermine the mo st regular features of the PRESENT PERFECT. I n the autho rs cited w e may f ind reference to a general meaning linked to the PRESENT PERFECT. First of all, the autho rs in general connect the PRESENT

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M O N TEIRO , D . C . ; N EV ES , M H . de M . & RO D RIG UES, S . V . The perfective aspect

the PRESENT PERFECT (1,4,6,8, 10,12) and some of them refer to the idea of "current relevance" as a basic p o int (9, 10). Linked to these po ints, some of them add the idea of some element of the sentence (specially the subject arg ument) being still alive or i n actio n at the mo ment of speech (5, 9, 12).

1.2. I n this w o rk we have tried , starting f ro m a classificatio n o n a semantic basis, to d etermine the mo st co nstant features i n the oc-currences of the PRESENT PER-FECT i n such a w ay as to get a

co mmo n d eno minato r w hich, i n ge-neral terms, may characterize this verb fo rm .

On the o ther hand , co nsidering the fact that the PRETÉRITO PERFEITO has been trad itio nally accepted as the verb f o rm w hic h i n general translates the PRESENT PERFECT, we have tried to v erify if the to tality of the possible cons-tant feature, w hich can be o btai-ned by examining the features of the English predicatio ns i n the PERFECTIVE, bears some corres-pondence to the examinatio n of the

Portuguese predicatio ns i n the PRETÉRITO PERFEITO. *

Our hypothesis, w hic h we have tried to v erify by examining a number of sentences, is that i n Por-tuguese the verb inflectio n of the PRETÉRITO PERFEITO i n itself

is able to acco unt fo r the PERFEC-TIV E aspect i n a m u c h smaller degree. This w o uld be an element to conclude p ro v isio nally that, al-tho ug h the Eng lish and the Po rtu-guese languages lack special fo rms fo r the ind icatio n of aspect — co n-trary to o ther languages as, fo r instance, the Greek — and this ind icatio n is alw ays subo rd inated to a time ind icatio n, the so-called verb tenses i n Eng lish bear mo re aspectual features th an the verb tenses i n Portuguese.

2. MATERIAL AND METHOD

Thro ug h the examinatio n of d if-ferent pred icatio ns i n Eng lish we have tried to detect the presence of d istinctiv e features necessary to the expression o f the PERFECTI-VE.

Using a bro ad sample, we have stud ied the sentences w hich exem-p lified all the tyexem-pes of exem-pred icatio ns embodied by a general classifica-tio n w hich we devised.

As a f irst appro ach we have selected the sentences i n w hic h the verb inflectio n itself ( i. e. w itho ut the specifications that o ther components may bring , such as adverbiais) w as able to account fo r the 'meaning' o f the PRESENT PERFECT.

* We are no t saying, however, that the sentences i n Portuguese, w hich we provided, are exact translations of the English sentences, w hich w ould o nly

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M O N TEIRO , D . C . ; N EV ES , M H . de M . & RO D RIG UES, S . V . The perfective aspect

Our classificatio n begins w i th a

bip artitio n of the predicate into + zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA

generic and — generic *. This

dis-tinc tio n is useful i n the stud y of the PERFECTIVE go v erning the meaning of past tim e expressed by the PRESENT PERFECT.

The subsequent specificatio n classifies the verbs acco rd ing to

the binary taxo no my ± state.

A mo ng the — state verbs we have

considered three groups respecti-vely characterized by the three

binary taxo no mies: ± action, ±

process, ± action-process.

We have taken into acco unt the classificatio n into "one-place pre-d icatio n" anpre-d "tw o-place prepre-dica- predica-tio n" (7, p. 134) w hich enables us to observe the existence of d istinc-tiv e features i n the d ifferent ele-ments (argument (s) and predica-te) i n the expression of the PER-FECTIVE.

3._RESULTS

3 . 1 . I n Table 1 there is an illus-tratio n of the several occurrences of the PRESENT PERFECT i n accordance w i th the ado pted clas-sificatio n of the p red icatio n. The features o ccurring i n the arg u-ment (s) and i n the predicate that are linked to the inflexio n of the PRESENT PERFECT have been p o int o ut. We have left o ut the semantic features no t d istinctiv e i n a stud y of the PERFECTIVE.

The occurrences of the

PERFEC-TIV E i n + generic predicates have

been restricted to + action verbs

because we have v erified that the

verbs w ith the feature + state and

those w i th the feature + process

do no t inflect i n the

PERFECTI-V E w hen + generic ** O n the o ther

hand , co nsid ering that the verbs of relative state *** can o nly be

ge-* We understand generic as a verb semantic unit w ich indicates a

time-less and general affirmatio n (2, p. 168.171). Thus, fo r example, John has wofked

can no t only signify that once in his life John w o rked ( + generic) but can also

refer to a single occurrence (— generic).

** Sentences like The door has been open (+ state), The door has opened

(+ process) and John has killed (+ action and + process) w ould never be +

generic because they w ould always refer to a particular fact. In verbs belonging to these groups in the PRESENT PERFECT, the feature — generic is, therefore,

automatic. On the other hand , i n + generic verbs in the PRESENT PERFECT,

the feature + action is an automatic one.

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M O N TEIRO , D . C . ; N EV ES , M . H . de M . & RO D RIG UES, S . V . The perfective aspect

neric * the feature +zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA relative can

no t occur i n the PERFECTIVE pre-dicatio ns w ith state verbs fo r, as w e have verified , these o nly inflect

i n the PERFECTIVE if-generic**.

3.2. The specificatio n of the dis-tinctiv e semantic features present i n the elements of the examined predicatio ns are i n Table 2 w here we can see the specific differences betw een the several classes of

pre-dicatio ns.

3.3. I n Table 3 there are the Portuguese sentences correspon-d ing to those i n Table 1. The verbs

are inflected i n the PRETÉRITO

PERFEITO as i t i s trad itio nally

done i n a translatio n of the PRE-SENT PERFECT.

3.4. I n Table 4 w e f in d the re-presentatio n of the d istinctiv e semantic features present i n the

elements of the several pred icatio ns represented i n Table 3.

4. Discussion

4.1. The examinatio n o f the features specified i n Table 2 i n d i

-cates th at:

a) all the predicates have the

feature + completion;

b) all the pred icatio ns show the

feature ± relevance on the

completed fact, w hich may

o ccur:

— i n the pred icate w hen i t is a one-place p red icatio n

w i th + action verbs;

— i n the initial arg ument (subject) w hen i t is a one place p red icatio n w i th +

state verbs or + process

verbs, i . e., w i th — action

verbs ***;

* The relative states are necessarily generic because they are always timeless (2, 1st 1970, p . 170). Therefore the sentence A freeway is wide (relative

state) is necessarily + generic and the sentence A door is open (no nrelative

state) is — generic, fo r the state of wide is no t understood as transito ry as

that of open is. Co nfirming the generic meaning of the first sentence and

the nongeneric of the second, we observe that, i n the first, the no un does no t refer to a particular freew ay and that, i n the second, the no un does refer to a particular door (2, p. 170). I n Portuguese, this difference can be seen in the representation of is fo r e in the first sentence, and fo r estd, in the second.

** A sentence like The door has been wide is "an o dd thing to say" (2,

p. 174), and only by adding up an adverb, w hich w ould alter the verb specifi-catio n itself (such as fo r a long time), the oddness w o uld vanish.

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— i n the f inal arg ument w hen i t is a tw o-place pre-d icatio n *;

c) all the pred icatio ns present

the feature +zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA indefinite past,

so being that i n the

predica-tes w i th the feature —

gene-ric this ind efinite past is very

close to the present;

d) to every predicate w i th the

feature + action corresponds

an agentive w i th the feature

+ still alive and active **.

4.2. The above considerations lead us to establish the fo llo w ing general marks of PERFECTIVE:

+ completion zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA - f - relevance on the

com-pleted fact

- f - indefinite past.

It may also be mentio ned that w i th a restricted occurrence to certain types of predicates the fo llo w ing features also characterize the PER-FECTIVE:

+ subjet still alive and active

(w ith + acton verbs)

+ indefinite past very close to the present

(w ith — generic verbs)

4.3. Observing the Portuguese

sentences i n Table 3 and the fea-tures represented i n Table 4 w e

to o k as a p o int of reference the same binary taxo no mies p o inted o ut fo r the Eng lish sentences and

we verified that:

a) all the predicates have

the feature + completion;

b) all the pred icatio ns may or m ay no t have the

fea-ture + relevance on the

completed fact, w hich

signifies that the event itself m ay be i n relevance; c) all the pred icatio ns may

or may no t have the

fea-ture + indefinite past,

and, i n the case of —

ge-neric predicates, the past

may no t have recently o ccurred ;

d) the subject arg ument

cor-respo nd ing + action verbs

may or m ay no t have the

feature + still alive and

active.

Thus, examining the Portuguese sentence 6, fo r example, we may observe that:

a) João m ay o r m ay no t be

still alive and active i n the mo ment of speech;

b) cantou can bo th refer to

a recent and to a far aw ay past, to an ind efinite and

* In this case, to be more precise, w e have: relevance of the present state as a consequence of the completed fact, w hen the verb expresses actio n

(sentences 2 and 6); relevance of the change of state as a consequence of the completed fact, w hen the verb expresses action-process (sentence 7).

** It is interesting to observe that a sentence like * Queen Victoria has

visited Brighton, w hich is no t acceptable because the subject argument is

dead, w ould be possible in the passive co nstructio n (Brighton has been visited

by Queen Victoria) because the subject is still an existing place. We should

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a d efinite past, being even possible to ad d to the sen-tence a precise ind icatio n

such aszyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA em 10 de dezembro

de 1950 (= on the 10th December of 1950);

c) the relevancy can be o n the co mpleted fact (that

is, if Jo ão has just left the stage and somebody refers to the fact of Jo ão hav ing done w hat he sho uld ) as w ell as i n the actio n of sin-g insin-g itself (PUN CTUA L A SPECT).

As fo r sentence 5 there are some special considerations that sho uld be made. I n this sentence i t is d ifficult to recognize the d istinc-tiv e features of the PERFECTIVE A SPECT as they are expressed by the PRESENT PERFECT. O n the co ntrary, the mo st evident

mea-ning i n A porta esteve aberta (or

even i n A porta foi (uma porta)

aberta), w itho ut any ad v erbial

spe-cificatio n (such as sempre,

duran-te esse duran-tempo todo)} is that, at the time of reference, the door does no t present this state o r quality

(CESSA TIVE A SPECT). I n fact, sentence 5 can be a good starting p o int to exemp lify the d ifficulty of expressing i n Portuguese, thro u g h the verbal inflectio n itsef, the aspect w hich the PRESENT PER-FECT expresses. If we translate

The door has been open by A porta está aberta, so as to acco unt f o r

one of the d istinctiv e features of the PRESENT PERFECT ("rele-vance of the presente state") we

w ill no t be expressing, how ever, as i n has been open that the present

state is a consequence o f a past fact. Such is so that the Portuguese

sentence A porta estd aberta

corresponds mo re accurately to

The door is open than to The door zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA

has been open.

4.4. I n any of the Portuguese sentences o nly the co ntext or the situatio n (w hen a specificatio n given by ano ther element such as an ad v erbial ad junct does no t occur) can assign the meaning o f PERFECTIVE o r of any o ther as-pect. I t is of interest to observe that any of these pred icatio ns, iso-lated as they are, can no t o nly correspond to the PRESENT PER-FECT pred icatio ns b ut also to the PA ST TENSE pred icatio ns ( in En-glish) .

5. CONCLUSION

This stud y presents evidence that f ro m all the features charac-teriz ing the PERFECTIVE,

abstract-ed f ro m the sentences w i th the PRESENT PERFECT ( in Eng lish),

o nly the feature + completion is

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MONTEIRO, Dirce Charara; NEVES, Maria Helena de Mo ura & RODRIGUES, Sónia Veasey. O aspecto perfectivo em inglês e em português: um estudo

constrativo sobre base semântica.zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA Alfa, São Paulo, 24:137-48, 1980.

RESUMO: A p artir do exame de ocorrências do "PRESENT PERFECT" tentou-se chegar ao co njunto de traços semânticos característicos dessa fo rma verbal inglesa. Verificou-se em que extensão o sentido do PERFECTIVO assim caracterizado é expresso nas formulações correspondentes portuguesas em PRETÉRITO PERFEITO. Concluiu-se que, em português, a simples flexão verbal caracteriza em grau muito menor o ASPECTO PERFECTIVO.

UNITERMOS: "Present perfect"; Perfectivo; Análise co ntrastiva; Aspecto verbal; Pretérito perfeito.

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