Query Details

Query Subject:	Present Perfects
Author:	YANAGI Tomohiro
Submitter Email:	click here to access email

Linguistic LingField(s):	Syntax

Query:	Dear linguists, I am YANAGI Tomohiro, graduate student at Nagoya University, Japan. I work on perfect constructions from the historical and cross-linguistic points of view. My interest now is the possibility of the occurrence of definite-past-time adverbs, such as _last year_ and _yesterday_, in present perfects. In German and French, this type of adverbs can be used, while in English they cannot. I have a few questions as to the possibility of the occurrence of such adverbs. 1. Whether such adverbs can also be used in present perfects with BE-cognates (_sein_/_etre_). 2. How about Scandinavian languages, and other Germanic and Romance languages? 3. Whether present perfect forms and simple past forms are freely interchangeable in languages where the adverbs can be used in present perfects. If I get enough feedback, I will post a summary with the information received. Thanks for any help. YANAGI Tomohiro Graduate School of Letters, Nagoya University e-mail: a986703d@eds.ecip.nagoya-u.ac.jp//yanagi_t@excite.co.jp
LL Issue:	10.264
Date posted:	18-Feb-1999
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