Chapter 14
Simple past with pluperfect interpretation
Evidence from Brazilian and European spoken Portuguese
In this chapter, we analyze the variation between simple past and compound pluperfect forms to indicate past-in-the-past in European and Brazilian spoken Portuguese. Comparing data from Rio de Janeiro and Lisbon, we focus on the effect of three variables: verbal person, reference time and type of clause. Using multivariate analysis, we discuss the traditional assumption according to which the simple past with past-in-the-past reference is constrained in the third-person plural. We provide strong evidence that semantic and discursive relations are of utmost importance to the interpretation of simple past as past-in-the-past.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Past-in-the-past in Portuguese: An overview
- 3.Simple past and compound pluperfect: Variation in EP and BP
- 4.Simple past with pluperfect reading: linguistic constraints
- 4.1Person inflection
- 4.2Reference time for the pluperfect
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4.3Type of clause
- 5.Final remarks
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Notes
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References