영어 현재 완료의 의미 분석

A Semantic Analysis of the English Present Perfect Form

  While the English perfect is perfective, it shares this characteristic with the simple past. Since Reichenbach(1947), the present perfect has been discussed in relation to the simple past. The Reichenbachian characterization E_R,S has led to the view that the English present perfect, with its restrictions on modification by time adverbials and its resistance to narrative structure is the prototypical perfect. Some perfect sentences receive a continuative interpretation, with the past eventuality overlapping the reference time, while others are incompatible with such a temporal relation. Aspectual class appears to be at the root of the continuative or non-continuative distinction. Continuative perfects may arise when the clause embedded by the perfect is stative. This much follows "The Temporal Sequencing Principle". I combine a unified semantics of time adverbials and temporal clauses with a general inference rule about the presuppositional character of these expressions in a discourse setting in which topic-focus structure influences the order in which clauses are processed. And I discuss the pragmatic relevance effects which help condition adverbial choice. These are directly attributed to the perfect"s presupposition, and in fact provide fairly direct evidence in favor of it.