The present perfective paradox : a typological study of present-time markers

The English present tense can do many things, but – paradoxically – it is rarely used to refer to the ongoing present. More precisely, present-time reference is only possible with a specific group of verbs, namely those that refer to situations where nothing moves or changes (so-called “stative verbs”): I have my laptop with me right now is a grammatical English sentence because having a laptop is a state rather than a dynamic process. With verbs that refer to dynamic situations, the simple present cannot express present-time reference: I run to the bus station right now sounds rather odd. Instead, dynamic verbs in the simple present typically refer to habitually reoccurring situations, as in I run to the bus station every morning. A similar thing happens in Slavic languages such as Polish and Russian, in which the present tense gets a future-time interpretation in certain contexts (instead of a habitual one as in English). This phenomenon, where present tenses are systematically used for something other than the present, has been called the “present perfective paradox” (henceforth: “PPP”). Yet it has been unclear until now whether this pattern can also be found outside of the well-studied languages of Europe, and if so, to what extent. This dissertation represents the first large-scale cross-linguistic study of the PPP, investigating a sample of 180 unrelated languages from all over the world. Results indicate that the PPP is a cross-linguistically relevant phenomenon: it can be found in about one third of the investigated languages and does not seem to be tied to a specific region or language type. But while the present tenses of the above-mentioned European languages may either refer to habits or to future-time situations, it turns out that globally, most present tenses with additional non-present meanings are in fact used for past-time situations. This systematic co-expression of past and present illustrates how grammar may reflect human cognition: while past and present situations are both available to human experience, the future cannot be experienced but only be imagined. Building on these and other cross-linguistic findings on the PPP, this thesis develops a novel theoretical framework for the analysis of verb meanings. It illustrates how looking at languages through the lens of the PPP can tell us more about grammar and verbs in general.