Cover not available
Part of
Hispanic Linguistics at the Crossroads: Theoretical linguistics, language acquisition and language contact
Edited by Rachel Klassen, Juana M. Liceras and Elena Valenzuela
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 4] 2015
► pp. 69–88

Sequence of tenses in complementation structures

Lexical restrictions and effects on language acquisition

ORCID logo | Universidade de Lisboa
| Universidade do Porto
| Universidade de Lisboa
ORCID logo | Universidade de Lisboa

In this paper we discuss the combinations of tenses in main and complement clauses of European Portuguese, focusing on the issue that restrictions on the tenses allowed in complement clauses are observed with some predicates but not with others. We show that these lexical restrictions are independent of the mood occurring in the complement clause, though an integrated analysis of mood and tense may be achieved. The proposal is made that the observed lexical restrictions on embedded tenses have a semantic basis and follow from the fact that Portuguese is an SOT-language, that is, a language where embedded tenses have semantic import. A preliminary investigation is conducted on the sequences of tenses produced at early stages of language acquisition.

Keywords: complement clauses, language acquisition, sequence of tenses, temporal dependence
Published online: 30 July 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.4.04mar
References
Ambar, M
(1992) Temps et structure de la phrase en portugais. In H. Obenhauer & A. Zribi-Hertz (Eds.), Structure de la phrase et théorie du liage (pp. 29–49). Saint-Denis: Presses Universitaires de Vincennes.Google Scholar
Demirdache, H., & Lungu, O
(2009) Sequence of tense in (French) child language. Linguistic Variation Yearbook, 8, 101–130. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Duarte, I., Gonçalves, A., & Santos, A.L
(2012) Infinitivo flexionado, independência temporal e controlo. In A. Costa, C. Flores, & N. Alexandre (Eds.), Textos selecionados do XXVII Encontro Nacional da Associação Portuguesa de Linguística (pp. 217–234). Lisboa: APL.Google Scholar
Gennari, S.P
(2003) Tense meanings and temporal interpretation. Journal of Semantics, 20, 35–71. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Giannakidou, A
(1999) Affective dependencies. Linguistics and Philosophy, 22, 367–421. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2013) The epistemic basis of mood: selection, nonveridical weakening, and emotive verbs. In Blaszack, J. et al. (Eds.), Tense, mood, and modality: New perspectives on old questions. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Gonçalves, A., Cunha, L.F., & Silvano, P
(2010) Interpretação temporal dos domínios infinitivos na construção de reestruturação do Português europeu. In A. Brito, J. Veloso, & Fiéis (Eds.), Textos seleccionados do XXV Encontro Nacional da Associação Portuguesa de Linguística (pp. 435–447). Porto: APL.Google Scholar
Guasti, M.T
(2002) Language acquisition. The growth of grammar. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Heim, I
(1992) Presupposition projection and the semantics of attitude verbs. Journal of Semantics, 9, 183–221. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hollebrandse, B
(2000) The acquisition of sequence of tense. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Kamp, H. & Reyle, U
(1993) From discourse to logic: Introduction to modeltheoretic semantics of natural language, formal logic and discourse representation. Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar
Karttunen, L
(1971) Implicative verbs. Language, 47, 340–358. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kempchinsky, P
(1990) Más sobre el efecto de referencia disjunta del Subjuntivo. In I. Bosque (ed.), Indicativo y subjuntivo (pp. 234–258). Madrid: Ediciones Taurus.Google Scholar
Kratzer, A
(1989) An investigation of the lumps of thought. Linguistics and Philosophy, 12, 607–653. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Marques, R
(2009) On the selection of mood in complement clauses. In L. Hogeweg, H. de Hoop, & A. Malchukov (Eds.), Crosslinguistic semantics of tense, aspect, and modality (pp. 179–204). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2014) Référence au réel et concordance de temps en portugais européen. Travaux linguistiques du Cerlico, 27. ([URL]).Google Scholar
Matos G
(1992) Construções de elipse do predicado em Português. SV Nulo e Despojamento. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. Universidade de Lisboa.Google Scholar
MacDonald, J
(2008) The syntactic nature of inner aspect. A Minimalist perspective. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
MacWhinney, B
(2000) The CHILDES Project: Tools for Analyzing Talk. 3rd Edition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Ogihara, T
(1999) Double-access sentences generalized. In T. Matthews & D. Strelovitch (Eds.), Proceeding of SALT IX (pp. 224–236). Ithaca, NY: CLC Publications, Cornell University.Google Scholar
(1996), Tense, Attitudes, and Scope. Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Picallo, C
(1984) The Infl node and the null subject parameter. Linguistic Inquiry, 15, 75–102.Google Scholar
Portner, P
(1997) The semantics of mood, complementation and conversational force. Natural Language Semantics, 5, 167–212. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Raposo, E
(1987) Case theory and Infl-to-Comp: The inflected infinitive in European Portuguese, Linguistic Inquiry, 18, 85–109.Google Scholar
Santos, A.L
(2006) Minimal answers. Ellipsis, syntax and discourse in the acquisition of EP. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Universidade de Lisboa.Google Scholar
Silvano, P
(2002) Sobre a semântica da sequência de tempos em Português Europeu. Análise das relações temporais em frases complexas com completivas. Unpublished MA Dissertation, Universidade do Minho.Google Scholar
Smith, C
(1991) The Parameter of Aspect. Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tenny, C.L
(1987) Grammaticalizing Aspect and Affectedness. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Wagner, L
(2001) Aspectual influences on early tense interpretation. Journal of Child Language, 28(3), 661–681. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Marques, Rui
2018. Subjunctive and subject obviation in Portuguese. In Complement Clauses in Portuguese [Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 17], ► pp. 213 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 19 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.