The Present Perfect In Non-native Englishes: A Corpus-based Study Of Variation

The Present Perfect in Non-Native Englishes Topics in English Linguistics 77 Editors Bernd Kortmann Elizabeth Closs Traugott De Gruyter Mouton The Present Perfect in Non-Native Englishes A Corpus-Based Study of Variation by Julia Davydova De Gruyter Mouton ISBN 978-3-11-025501-0 e-ISBN 978-3-11-025502-7 ISSN 1434-3452 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Davydova, Julia, 1977 — The present perfect in non-native Englishes : a corpus-based study of variation / by Julia Davydova. p. cm. — (Topics in English linguistics ; 77) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-3-11-025501-0 (alk. paper) 1. Language and languages — Variation. 2. English language — Globalization. I. Title. P120.V37D38 2011 427—dc23 2011024518 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. © 2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, 10785 Berlin/Boston Cover image: Brian Stablyk/Photographer’s Choice RF/Getty Images Printing: Hubert & Co. GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen © Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com Contents Acknowledgements xn 1. Introduction 1.1. General background 1.2. Research questions and goals 1.3. Previous studies on the present perfect 1.4. Principal definitions of the study 1.4.1. Working terminology 1.4.2. Native speaker vs. non-native speaker 1.4.3. Second language vs. foreign language 1.4.4. Language acquisition vs. language learning 1.4.5. Simplification 1.4.6. Avoidance strategies 1.4.7. Transfer 1.4.8. Varieties vs. interlanguage 1.4.9. Acrolect, mesolect, basilect 1.5. Outline of the book 1 1 4 6 7 7 8 9 9 11 12 12 14 15 16 2. Non-native varieties of English 2.1. Foreign-speaker varieties of English 2.1.1. Case study: English in Russia 2.1.1.1. History 2.1.1.2. English in Russia: some social aspects 2.1.1.3. Essential characteristics of the English spoken in Russia: from acrolect to basilect 2.2. Second-language varieties of English 2.2.1. Case study: Indian English 2.2.1.1. History 2.2.1.2. Indian English: some social aspects 2.2.1.3. Essential characteristics of Indian English 2.2.1.3.1. Acrolectal varieties of Indian English 2.2.1.3.2. Basilectal varieties of Indian English 2.3. Summary 18 18 23 23 24 3. Some theoretical preliminaries 3.1. The category of tense 3.2. The category of aspect 3.2.1. Aktionsart 42 42 45 47 26 29 29 29 32 34 35 39 40 vi Contents 3.3. The present perfect: tense or aspect? 3.4. Summary 49 50 4. Towards a theoretical explanation for variation between the present perfect and preterite 52 4.1. Thepretente 52 4.2. The present perfect 54 4.2.1. The meaning of the present perfect 56 4.2.1.1. The resultative perfect 57 4.2.1.2. The extended-now perfect 58 4.2.1.3. The experiential perfect 60 4.2.1.4. The perfect of recent past 61 4.3. Semantics of the perfect and preterite: Contrastive analysis.... 62 4.4. Limitations of the semantic analysis of the perfect and preterite 66 4.4.1. Analysis of the collocation of the perfect and preterite with other elements in the sentence 67 4.4.2. Pragmatic analysis of the perfect and preterite 70 4.4.2.1. The preterite and pragmatic discourse 71 4.4.2.2. The perfect and pragmatic discourse 72 4.5. Summary 73 5. The notion of complexity and the English present perfect 5.1. Complexity in the history of linguistics 5.1.1. Absolute approach vs. relative approach to measuring complexity 5.2. Complexity in language 5.2.1. Phonology 5.2.2. Grammar 5.2.2.1. Syntax 5.2.2.2. Inflectional Morphology 5.3. Definitions of complexity adopted in this study for ev