Contenu du sommaire : Temps et co(n)texte, sous la direction de Jacques Bres

The French Imparfait: aspect or anaphora? In this article, we will only tackle the anaphoric dimension of imperfect without trying to defend the part-whole option supported with Anne-Marie Berthonneau in 1993. First we will confront the imperfectivist approach to the temporal anaphoric approach to attempt at determining which one may prevail against the other. Then we will endeavour to show that, whatever the importance we may still attach to imperfectivity as well, imperfect is intrinsically an anaphoric marker, but an anaphoric that is not solely temporal.

The simple past and its context: a study of selected distribution The much decried if referentialist-based definition of the simple past as a "punctual" aspect established by Damourette & Pichon is evoked and its substantiality in the light of distributional compatibilities with a few prepositions and conjunctions like depuis (que) and pendant (que) is examined. Next follows an explanation of why the periphrasis être en train de - which generally can not logically be used with the simple past - can be found associated with it in certain subordinate conjunctions, for example Quand les invités furent en train de prendre l'apéritif, Max monta sur l'estrade et prit la parole . Lastly, the case of the combination of the simple past with the adverb déjà, a combination which is traditionally described as impossible despite proof to the contrary, is examined, using the example La nuit tomba déjà (P. Bourgeade).

Discursive representation, viewpoint and the unique signified of the French conditional Considering that any statement is a discoursive representation, this paper shows how such an approach accounts for various meanings of the French conditional: defined in terms of viewpoints on the corresponding state or event, they are seen as resulting from the interaction between a given context and what is defined as the basic, universal meaning of the verbal form. Most of the concepts used by the author originate from the « théorie polyphonique du discours » by Anscombre & Ducrot.

How to determine the meanings of the French « passé composé » by means of contextual exploration? Having given precise definitions of aspectual primitives (resulting state, inferential state, event...), the authors examine the effects of contextual environments on a semantic interpretation of the French « passé composé » by means of heuristic rules. It is argued that the invariant meaning of French « passé composé » is a complex value: "resulting state - event". To solve this semantic indétermination, a general method, known as Contextual Exploration, is used: different contextual occurrences of linguistic markers such as adverbial expressions, discourse relations, meanings of verbal predicates. . . contribute to determining the interpretation of this tense in context.

Treating the French Imparfait as an inconsequent tense The goal of this paper is to provide a unified account of the different interpretations of the French imparfait. Capitalizing on the idea put forth in Caudal & Roussarie (2002a) that tenses should be viewed as illocutionary functions ('illocutionary viewpoints') because their aspectual, temporal and modal content reflect the speaker's attitude towards some propositional content, we will ascribe the imparfait a largely underspecified illocutionary force. In particular, we argue that the imparfait is not intrinsically related to assertion, as opposed to the passé simple. We show that such a move makes it possible to account for the entire range of interpretative effects associated with this tense. towards some propositional content, we will ascribe the imparfait a largely underspecified illocutionary force. In particular, we argue that the imparfait is not intrinsically related to assertion, as opposed to the passé simple. We show that such a move makes it possible to account for the entire range of interpretative effects associated with this tense.

The french passé simple subjectivized Since Emile Benveniste, the French passé simple has largely been considered as a purely objective tense as opposed to the subjective imparfait. A study of literary examples reveals however that this form is likely to generate subjective interpretations in contexts where another mind (a guide person) is already present. A linguistic polyphonic description shows that this is what should be expected from this tense's linguistic properties. Our combined literary and linguistic analysis is outlined on a text from Madame Bovary.

The "French imparfait": on conditions of Causality Inference This paper will examine a set of contextual parameters which are in harmony with the french imperfect to express a causal relation between two sentences in a paratactic construction. It will be shown that the meaning of this tense, if only reduced to an abstract scheme of elementary operations, allows the implicit expression of causality without any deformation of its primary and fundamental value. Then, the context is conceived as a set of interactions between the different terms of the text sequences (words, grammatical categories, ...), so that these terms are the textual traces which point to the processes of a dynamic construction of the sense.

The revisited "sequence of tenses" The starting point of this article is to revisit the "sequence of tenses" in a more general problematics, wondering about the relationship between tenses and co(n)text. Indeed, the sequence of tenses offers a particular cotext of use which was studied mainly, in French and English, under the restricted angle of the introducers verbs and /or the temporal articulation, whether mechanical or semantic, between verbs of the sentence and the under-sentence. In the light of a monosemist approach of verbal tenses, we advance two simple rules: (i) The verbal form with the past is the sufficient condition of "imparfait" in the under- sentence but is not a necessary condition (cf the "imparfait" in the under-sentence with a nonlast verbal form). (ii) The co(n)textuals elements are necessary conditions but never sufficient of a present (because the secant aspect of "imparfait" entitles it to play the same role).

The French Imparfait hypocoristic: a past tense like all the others How can we account for the imperfect tense used as an hypocoristic expression? The usual explanations, following different lines of reasoning, do not regard it as a past tense and ascribe to it meanings that are in fact generated by contextual parameters. I propose that the imperfect tense invariably conveys the same aspectual and temporal values, whether used hypocoristically or otherwise. My demonstration reaches the conclusion that the hypocoristic meaning is actually a result of the interaction between these values and contextual parameters.