MA, LLE

Florea (Gheorghe) Georgiana

Tense and Context in French

Carlota Smith discusses the tense system of French from a cross-linguistic perspective considering
certain tenses in French from a semantic and pragmatic point of view.
Therefore we have several sections that refer to:
1

- a general discussion of tense and its properties across languages;

- the atemporal meanings of past tense;

- the question of a Future tense:

-temporal interpretations;

- conclusion.

1 Introduction: Tense as a Cross-linguistic Category

For languages that are tensed in the traditional sensesuch as French and English tense is a verbal
inflection that gives information about temporal location.
Tense heads its own syntactic projection and participates in case assignment, agreement, and
subjectivity; the distinction between finite and non-finite clauses is made within the category of
tense.
Thus the inflectional morphemes of tense are part of, or form, the syntactic spine of a sentence.
The semantic interpretation of tense is deictic, with Speech Time at the center. The approach
assumes the category of tense and tries to understand its contribution to sentence interpretation.
Several positions can be identified:

Dahl & Velupillai (2005) - posit a broad category that enables them to deal with many
different languages
o

tense, mood and aspect (TMA) form a systematic whole = individual grams
may express such notions as past, perfective, perfect.

Huang (1984) - all languages have abstract tense which may or may not be realized as
morphological tense on the surface

Smith - tense = morphological category with syntactic ramifications + certain general

semantic meanings.
traditional category of tense + understanding the system of a tensed language and
in dealing with languages where the category of tense is not so clear-cut => identification
of the morphemes of a language as more or less tense-like if they have all or some of the
properties of tense.
- e.g. French morphological + syntactic = tense as an inflectional category; tense is
obligatory.
semantics : temporal meaning along the lines of an extended Reichenbach
approach - Tense codes the relation between RT, the time talked about in a sentence, and
ST; and the relation between RT and ST.
(1) Features of tense
Morpho-syntactic
(i)

Inflectional: verbal morpheme or auxiliary

(ii)

Syntactic projection; obligatory

Semantic
(iii)

Temporal meaning basic: tense codes 2 relations between Speech Time and
Reference Time;
Reference Time and Situation Time

(iv)

May have atemporal meanings in certain contexts

Assumption: - if all the features apply to a morpheme, it is a tense;

- and that the more features apply to a given morpheme, the more tense-like it is.
1. tense is inflectional = it has ramifications in the grammar of a language.
2. tense = an obligatory syntactic projection => a tense morpheme is required to appear in all
full clauses.
3. morpheme convey temporal information, is semantic
4. participation in atemporal interpretation - less familiar

Iatridous (2000) discussion of the meanings of the past tense.

The French past tenses four features of tense listed above:

tense = obligatory, inflectional morpheme key role in the grammatical articulation
of the clause (cf. Pollock 1984);
tense = primary temporal meaning + certain tenses - atemporal meanings in
conditional and counter-factual contexts.

2 Atemporal Meanings in Certain Contexts

- atemporal interpretation - focus on the interpretation of dependent si clauses.
e.g. Fleischman (1989) parallel instances from English, French, and Spanish.

*The

French tenses are the prsent, the imparfait, and the plus-que-parfait, In the dependent si clauses the

tenses do not have temporal meaning.

a. If I have time, Ill write to you.

The prsent tense in the a examples

conveys some degree of uncertainty

a. Si jai le temps, je tcrirai.

a. Si tengo tiempo, te escribo.
b. If I had time, I would write to you.

the past tense in the b examples conveys a

greater degree of uncertainty

b. Si javais le temps, je tcrirais.

b. Si tuviera tiempo, te escribira.
c. If I had had time, I would have written to you.
c. Si javais eu le temps, je taurais crit.
c. Si hubiera tenido tiempo, te habra escrito.

the pluperfect tense in the c examples

conveys a hypothetical or contrary to fact
meaning

S. Fleischman Temporal distance is pressed into service to express model distance,

particularly the speakers assessment of the certainty / reality / actuality status of a predicated
situation
other examples of conditional clauses
a. Si Jean passe lexamen, il y russira.

prsent

b. Si Jean passait lexamen, il y russiait. imparfait

c. Si Jean avait pass lexamen, il y aurait russi. plus-que-parfait
a. Si tu achetais ce costume, tu ressemblerais Humphrey Bogart. prsent
b. Si (un jour) tu achetais ce costume, tu ressemblerais Humphrey Bogart. imparfait
c. Si tu avais achet ce costume, tu aurais ressembl Humphrey Bogart. plus-que-parfait
a sentences - Conditional, expressing a possibility in the future.
b sentences - are also about the future, but suggest that the possibility is not very likely to occur. These
sentences exemplify the Future Less Vivid. They are about the future, and still realizeble, therefore distinct in
meaning from past conditionals, usually known as counter-factuals (cf. Iatridou 2000: 234).
c examples are usually interpreted as Counterfactual, in the absence of specific contextual information that
suggests otherwise.

French has other past tenses besides the imparfait and the plus-que-parfait, notably the pass
compos and the pass simple, though neither the pass compos nor the pass simple are fully
acceptable in conditional clauses:
a. ??? Si demain son tat de sant a empir, contactez-moi tout de suite.
b. Si demain son tat de sant empira, contactez-moi tout de suite.
c. Si demain son tat sant empirait, contactez-moi tout de suite.
The imparfait appear in (c), for contrast. According to native speakers, the pass compos is strange
in this construction, whereas the pass simple is absolutely impossible.

Iatridou introduces a semantic exclusion feature. She proposes that the past tense morpheme provides a
skeletal meaning of the form T(x) excludes C(x). [] C(x) stands for the x that for all we know is the x of the
speaker. [] The variable x can range over times or worlds (cf. Iatridou 2000: 246).

Iatridou (2000) - past tenses in atemporal contexts do not have their usual aspectual meaning in
Modern Greek or in English or in French.

the si-clauses with the imparfait have completive meaning

a. Si vous repeigniez cette maison, vous pourriez la vendre avant lt.
b. Si vous repeigniez cette maison dans une semaine, vous pourriez la vendre avant lt.

The examples show that the imparfait has neither its temporal or aspectual value in the context of a
si-clause.
The same is true for the plus-que-parfait: the si-clause in :
Si Jean navait pas parl quand Marie tait arrive, il aurait vu quelle tait drange. is ambiguous. It

allows either a bounded or unbounded interpretation. In the former Jean began to talk when Marie
arrived; in the latter he was already talking when she arrived.

Past tense meanings

a. imparfait: imperfective; RT < SpT; SitT = RT in C-context, neutral; RTw SitTw
b. plus-que-parfait: perfective; RT

SpT, RT < SpT; RT < SitT in C-context; neutral; RTw SitTw

c. pass compos: perfective; RT < SpT; SitT = RT

d. pass simple: perfective; RT < SpT; SitT = RT
These meanings are interpreted by the construction rules of Discourse Representation Theory = specifies a
different aspectual viewpoint when an imparfait or plus-que-parfait morpheme appears in the context of a
conditional si-clause, indicated by the notation C-context. The representations do not differentiate
between the pass simple and the pass compos; the differences between these tenses arise from other
features.

3 Can Future be a Tense?

Temporally the future is symmetrical to the past both are related to Speech Time: the past
precedes Speech Time, the future follows it.
Future morphemes have a modal property as well.

only past and present morphemes can be considered tenses. - L. Stassen notes that across languages, future
time expressions tend to have idiosyncratic formal behaviour
Palmer (1985) notes that future morphemes may either pattern with modals, as they do in English; or they
may pattern with past and present tenses, depending on the language
Smiths view - that a future morpheme may be part of a tense system, if it has the features of a tense posited
above.

French has a morpheme known as the futur: it is inflectional, marked on the verb, and has a
future temporal meaning.
What might suggest that it is not a tense? according to the view sketched above, futures should
be categorized as modals presumably, both syntactically and semantically.
o

a set of examples based on Ens 1996 study of will in English.

She argues that future meaning is not enough for a morpheme to qualify as a tense,
since futurity is common to several intensional expression

Therefore, the future meaning of will doesnt necessarily mean that it should be
categorized as a tense.

She then argues that will patterns with modals rather than with tenses in
interpretation.

Adapting the tests used by En French futur in sequence of tense and relative clause contexts
do clauses in the futur pattern interpretively with the French past tense?
-

For the latter Smith uses the pass compos and the imparfait.

The complement clause examples are in 3 groups: pass compos and imparfait under

pass compos, prsent under prsent, futur under futur. The prsent conveys that
Reference Time is simultaneous with Speech Time, noted as =; the futur conveys
that Reference Time is posterior to Speech Time, noted as ->.
Past under past. Relational value [<-RT]
a. Marie a dit quelle souffrait. state: = or <b. Marie a dit quelle a souffert. state: = or <c. Marie a dit quelle est partie. event: = or <Present under present. Relational value [= RT]
Marie dit quelle est malade. =
Future under future. Relational value [-> RT]
a. Marie dira quelle souffrira. state: = or ->
b. Marie dira quelle gagnera. event: = or ->
=> The interpretations of past-under-past and future-under-future readings are symmetrical: both allow a
reading in which the tense has its usual relational value, anteriority or posteriority, and a simultaneous
reading as well. Event embedded clauses tend to have the anterior or posterior reading, whereas state
embedded clauses tend to have the simultaneous reading.

Modal verb under modal verb:

a. Marie doit dire quelle doit souffrir en silence. state: = or ->
b. Marie doit dire quelle doit gagner. event: ->
=> This pattern suggests that the French futur is a tense like other tenses. Now consider the pass compos
and the futur in relative clauses with the same tenses in the main clause .

Conclusion: There is no justification here for not treating the futur as a tense; nor
for treating modals differently from other tensed verbs. The futur has the morphosyntactic features of tense given above, and the basic meaning of temporality. The
fourth feature, atemporality, does not apply: the futur does not have atemporal uses.

4 Tense Interpretation in Discourse

Discourse Modes= characterizes passages of written texts
The key factor is the Discourse Mode of a text passage within a text one recognizes stretches
that are intuitively of different types, e.g. narrative, description, argument, commentary.
1.

Narrative Mode

2.

Report Mode

3.

Description Mode

4.

Informative Mode

5.

Argument Mode.

 Texts introduce individuals, concepts, and times into the universe of discourse. They also
introduce situations such as events and states, which are familiar from aspectual studies.
Classes of situation entities conceptual categories, expressed linguistically at the level of the
clause
Eventualities specific events and states
General statives generic and generalizing states
Abstract entities facts and propositions

Different situation entities predominate in passages of each mode

Narrative eventualities (temporal mode)
Report eventualities, general statives (temporal mode)
Description states, ongoing events (temporal mode)
Information general statives
Argument abstract entities, general statives

Narrative advances through narrative time, with situations related to each other. Description is
static temporally; it advances by changes in spatial location, within the scene described.
In Reports, situations are related to the time of report, often the present Speech Time, and
advancement involves a change of time.
The text modes of Argument and Information are not temporally organized, though they may
include
The temporal modes, Narrative, Description and Report, progress by three different temporal
principles.
Narrative primarily introduces event and state entities into a discourse. The situations are
temporally related to each other according to their aspectual properties, and information specified
by adverbs. In narrative tense conveys continuity.
Description primarily introduces states and ongoing events into the universe of discourse, and
temporally locates them at a single established time. Tense in description conveys a time anaphoric
to a previously established time.
Report primarily introduces events and states, and general statives; they are temporally related to
Speech Time. In Report tense is deictic; this is the default, found in the atemporal modes as well.
The principles of interpretation are modeled using an extended Reichenbach framework. In texts
with the principle of tense continity, Reference Time advances according to bounded events or
temporal adverbials. In texts with the principle of deictic tense, Reference Time changes with
different relations to Speech Time. In texts with the principle of tense anaphora, Reference Time is

simultaneous with a previously established time.

Narrative: Narrative consists of consequentially related events.
- The essence of a narrative is dynamism: as the events of the narrative unfold in
sequence, we understand that narrative time advances.
- The dynamism that advances narrative time is due to aspectual information, and to
explicit time adverbials and inference.
- Narrative advances with bounded, perfective events and with explicit temporal
adverbials.
- It fails to advance with states and ongoing events, unless additional information
warrants an inference of advancement.
- The information that tense conveys after the initial sentence of a narrative is
continuity.
- Bounded events are conveyed by clauses with event verb constellations and the
perfective viewpointthe pass compos and the pass simple.
e.g. The clauses that advance RT are marked by an arrow and numbered subscripted Es (for Event).
Past tense narrative ... ll parlait des personnes dont les proprits bordaient la route. Au milieu de Toucques
->E1 il dit En voil une Mme Lehoussais... . Flicit nentendit pas le reste; les chevaux trottaient, lne
galopait; ->E2 tous enfilrent un sentier, ->E3 une barrire tourna, ->E4 deux garons parurent, et ->E5 lon
descendit devant le purin, sur le seuil mme de la porte. (G. Flaubert, Un Coeur Simple, p. 19)

Present tense narrative ...Dans son dos, ->E1 les mains jouent avec la carte de la lune quil a dans sa poche
fessire. II pense aux rochers de la lune et la fine poussire mtorique, semblable du charbon mulvrulent,
qui la recouvre. ->E2 Puis elles la lchent et ->E3 se prennent elles-mmes comme tenon et mortaise jusqu ce
quil ->E4 finissse par les balancer devant lui. (R. Detambel, Msanges, 2003)

Description: Time is static in description:

- situations are temporally located, but the time does not change.
- time is stable or suspended, without dynamism.
- Situations are located at a time already established in a text so that all the clauses of a
given passage have the same Reference Time.
- Description passages appear in fiction, travel writing, and accounts of states of affairs.
- Tense is anaphoric to a time already established in the discourse
- Event verb constellations in passages of Description are atelic, sometimes by
coercion due to the tacit time adverb.

Monsieur Guillaume regarda la rue Saint-Denis. -> ll aperut alors le passant en faction, qui de son ct
contemplait le patriarche de la draperie. = Monsieur Guillaume portait de larges culottes de velours noir, des

bas chins et de souliers carrs collet carr, enveloppait son corps lgrement vot dun drap 198 C.S.
Smith verdtre garni de grands boutons en mtal blanc mais rougis par le usage. = Ses cheveux gris taient si
exactement aplatis et peigns surson crne jaune, qui le faisaient ressembler un champ sillonn. = Ses petits
yeux verts, percs comme avec une vrille, flamboyaient sous deux ares marqus dune faible rougeur dfaut
de sourcils. (Balzac, La Maison duchat-qui-pelote, p. 31)

Report: In Reports, eventualities and general statives are related to Speech Time and are not
temporally related to each other.
- Time and space adverbials are common in reports, as are changes in tense.
- Tense and adverbials are Deictic, oriented to Speech Time.
an arrow before a clause indicates that it advances time; an = indicates that the previous RT is
maintained.
-> Quatre employs de la Compagnie parisienne de chauffage urbain ont t tus et neuf autres blesss
grivement dans lexplosion, merecredi 15 novembre, dune canalisation, porte de Clignancourt Paris, dans
le 18e arrondissement. -> 2 Le drame sest produit lorsque les ouvriers ralisaient, treize mtres sous terre,
des tests dans une nouvelle canalisation de vapeur de chauffage urbain. -> 3 Les victimes sapprtaient
mettre en service cette nouvelle conduite. = 4 Les causes de lexplosion sont inconnues. -> 5 Les personnes
blesses se trouvaient trois mtres environ sous terre et coordonnaient lopration. (Le Monde 11/17/00)

The deictic interpretation maintains Speech Time as the center, and there are changes in time with
changes in tense. Situations related to Speech Time. Tense and adverbials are deictic, related to
Speech Time.
Conclusion: The interpretation of tense in discourse varies according to the discourse mode of a
passage. The semantic meanings of tense must be compatible with different pragmatic
interpretations.

5 General Conclusions
The discussion and example have established the following points.
(a)

The French imparfait and plus-que-parfait have a hypothetical, often counter-factual,

meaning in conditional contexts.

- They thus participate in the alternation between temporal and atemporal
meanings that appears in many languages of the world.
- The pass simple does not have atemporal meanings, however.

(b)

The French futur functions both syntactically and semantically like the other tenses of

French.
- This supports the view that the status of a future morpheme depends on the
particulars of a language.
- The form marking future may be a real tense - as in French: it patterns with
other tenses in various ways, including sequence of tense interpretations. In
contrast, English will patterns with modals syntactically and interpretively and
is not considered a tense.
(c)

Tense in discourse is interpreted according to three different patterns, depend-ing on the

Discourse Mode of a text passage.

-

Discourse Modes distinguish text passages passage according to the

classes of entity the passage introduces and the principle of
advancement.

The discussion and examples have shown that tense inter-pretation is

pragmatic, varying according to the discourse mode of a passage.

For each of these points about tense, access to context is essential:

-

the conditional context of si or another form that triggers atemporal

interpretation;

the context of sequence of tense interpretations;

the matrix sentence for a complement or relative clause;

the Discourse Mode of a text.