For citation:
Zolotarev M. V., Popp A. V. The semantics and contextualized use of the Present Perfect in modern American English: A corpus-driven study. Journal Izvestiya of Saratov University. Philology. Journalism, 2023, vol. 23, iss. 3, pp. 247-253. DOI: 10.18500/1817-7115-2023-23-3-247-253, EDN: HOEOYT
The semantics and contextualized use of the Present Perfect in modern American English: A corpus-driven study
The article identifies the main ways in which the Present Perfect meanings are expressed in the oral speech of the US citizens speaking American English. The necessity to study in detail how the Present Perfect functions in modern American English is attributed to the emerging reports emphasizing the existing functional instability of these forms in the speech of Americans. This tendency shows that the Present Perfect loses its ability to express traditional perfect meanings. Therefore, the aim of the study is twofold: to apply the methods of corpus linguistics in order to confirm that the semantics of the perfect and preterite forms tend to merge in modern American English, as well as to collect and describe the contexts in which the preterite substitutes the Present Perfect forms in their traditional meanings. We created a corpus of oral texts and collected the data reflecting the frequency of the perfect and preterite forms found in the speech of the respondents. Based on the comparative analysis, we carried out the research determining the percentage ratio of the perfect meanings expressed by the preterite forms. It was found that today in the oral speech of the US women aged 18–25 the preterite verb forms substitute the perfect verb forms in their traditional meanings in almost a third of the contexts. At the same time, the preterite replaces the perfect only in its ‘stative’ and ‘existential’ meanings. The findings confirm the hypothesis that the Present Perfect evolves in American English in accordance with the scenario of “arrested” grammaticalization where the semantics of the perfect and the preterite merge.
- Плунгян В. А. Общая морфология: Введение в проблематику: учеб. пособие. Изд. 5-е, стер. М. : ЛЕНАНД, 2016. 384 с. (Новый лингвистический учебник).
- Ritz M.- E. Perfect Tense and Aspect // The Oxford Hand- book of Tense and Aspect / ed. by R. I., Binnick. Oxford : Oxford University Press, Inc., 2012. P. 881–907. https:// doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195381979.013.0031
- Попп А. В. К вопросу о семантической неоднородности перфекта в современном английском языке: социолингвистический анализ // Иностранные языки в контексте межкультурной коммуникации : материалы докладов XIV Всерос. науч.-практ. конф. с междунар. участием (Саратов, 24–25 февраля 2022 г.). Саратов : Саратовский источник, 2022. С. 72–82.
- Плунгян В. А. К типологии перфекта в языках мира: предисловие // Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. Труды Института лингвистических исследований. 2016. Т. 12. №. 2. С. 7–36.
- Кашкин В. Б. Функциональная типология перфекта. Воронеж : Изд-во Воронежского ун-та, 1991. 128 с.
- Бондарь В. А. От результатива к перфекту: из истории английского предпрошедшего времени // Индоевропейское языкознание и классическая филология. 2020. Т 24, № 1. С. 339–352. https://doi.org/10.30842/ ielcp230690152407
- Ландер Ю. А. Перфект и обстоятельства конкрет- ного времени // Языки мира. Типология. Уралистика. Памяти Т. Ждановой / сост. В. А. Плунгян, А. Ю. Урманчиева. М. : Индрик. 2002. С. 300–312.
- Ritz M.- E. Perfect change. Synchrony meets diachrony // Historical Linguistics 2005. Selected papers from the 17th International Conference on Historical Linguistics. Madison, Wisconsin, 31 July – 5 August 2005 / ed. by J. C. Salmons, S. Dubenion-Smith. Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2005. Vol. 284. P. 133–147. https://doi.org/10.1075/ cilt.284.11rit
- Бондарь В. А. Семантика перфекта и ее реализация в американском английском // Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. Труды Института лингвистических исследований. 2018. Т. 14, № 1. С. 283–315.
- Ritz M.- E. The perfect crime? Illicit uses of the present perfect in Australian police media releases // Journal of Pragmatics. 2010. Vol. 42, № 12. P. 3400–3417. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.05.003
- Elsness J. The present perfect and the preterite // One Language, Two Grammars? Differences between British and American English / ed. by G. Rohdenburg,
- J. Schluter. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2009. P. 228–245.
- McCawley J. D. Notes on the English present perfect // Australian Journal of Linguistics. 1981. № 1. P. 81–90.
- Захаров В. П., Богданова С. Ю Корпусная лингвистика : учебник. 3-е изд., перераб. СПб. : Изд-во С.-Петербургского ун-та, 2020. 234 с.
- Золотарев М. В. Грамматические структуры с прецедентными феноменами в современном американском молодежном дискурсе // Известия Саратовского университета. Новая серия. Серия: Филология. Журналистика. 2018. Т. 18, вып. 4. С. 376–380. https://doi. org/10.18500/1817-7115-2018-18-4-376-380
- Labov W. Principles of Linguistic Change : in 3 vols. Vol. 2. Social Factors. Maiden, MA : Wiley-Blackwell, 2001. 592 p.
- Labov W., Ash Sh., Boberg Ch. The atlas of North American English. Phonetics, Phonology, and Sound Change: A Multimedia Reference Tool. Berlin ; New York : Mou- ton de Gruyter, 2006. 318 p.