A French puzzle: Future reference with the composed past Louis de Saussure University of Neuchatel 6 e journées, Société suisse de linguistique NEUCHATEL, 9 DECEMBRE 2011
The puzzle (s) J aurai fini dans deux minutes I finish-ant.fut. in two minutes J ai fini dans deux minutes I finish-cp in two minutes Both the AF and the CP represent here: an event E represented past from a future R-point. an implied state e represented true at R. Future CP not always available There is (almost) no future uses of English present perfects What's the proper meaning of Future CP (FCP)?
Typical and (apparently?) odd FCP utterances Le président est bientôt sorti de sa réunion The president soon exit-pc from the meeting. Dans un an, j'ai fini ma thèse. In one year, I finish-pc my thesis.? Demain il a plu (vs. Demain il aura plu) Tomorrow it rain-pc (vs. Ant.Fut.? Dans dix jours j'ai acheté des cigarettes In ten years I buy-pc cigarettes? Dans dix ou quinze ans, un tremblement de terre a eu lieu sur la faille de San Andreas In ten or fifteen years, an earthquake take-pc place on the San Adreas rift. * Demain Paul a dû aller à la piscine / Demain il a pu pleuvoir. Tomorrow Paul must-pc go to the pool / Tomorrow it may-pc rain. * Demain, Pierre a été heureux. Tomorrow, Pierre be-pc happy. * Demain, le concierge est sorti, il a fermé la porte à clé et il est parti. * Demain, Max est arrivé à cinq heures.
A 'future' resultative present Vet (1992, 1994): FCP is a resultative variant of futures uses of the present. Future denotation is possible only with resultative CP (not with temporal CP) This explains why FCP is blocked with narrative sequences * Demain, le concierge est sorti, il a fermé la porte à clé et il est parti. and when the event itself is focussed. * Demain, Max est arrivé à cinq heures NB:.Demain à cinq heures, Max est arrivé is a natural utterance (à cinq heure specifies demain, not E).
FCP-utterances imply a "projected course of actions" Vet: similarly as with the present, a future detonation with the CP requires pragmatically that the speaker (and the hearer) projects a course of actions that needs or should be conducted in the future. Entails that Future CP is only possible with agentive predicates.? Demain il a plu (vs. Demain il aura plu) Tomorrow it rain-pc (vs. Ant.Fut? Dans dix ou quinze ans, un tremblement de terre a eu lieu sur la faille de San Andreas In ten or fifteen years, an earthquake take-pc place on the San Adreas rift.
Vet's assumption: not enough Agentive predicates may also seem odd?dans dix jours j'ai acheté des cigarettes. In ten days I buy-cp cigarettes. Possible without agentivity under certain conditions In hypotheticals: Si demain il a neigé, tu seras contente / lugeras In main clauses Demain il a plu et tes salades sont sauvées. Difference in naturaleness with the futurate present? Demain il a plu. Demain il pleut.
Non-agentive predicates are also possible: If there is a consequence IN THE PRESENT about the course of actions to be undertaken / attitude to be adopted Demain il a plu et tes salades sont sauvées. Tomorrow it rain-cp and your salads are saved. Implying NO NEED TO WET THE SALADS NOW
A pragmatic hypothesis Assumption Not only the CP with future denotation implies a projected course of events (rather than 'actions') but also there is a. practical-deontic attitude or action or behaviour to be adopted in the very deictic present about what has to be done / what attitude has to be adopted NOW Le président est bientôt sorti It's worthwile waiting NOW without being nervous Dans un an j'ai fini ma thèse It's worth an effort NOW / reassuring NOW Demain il a plu > no need to wet the salads NOW.
Dans dix jours j'ai acheté des cigarettes is actually possible if one imagines a consequence in the deictic present about what to do in this perspective. It's only the (relative) difficulty to figure out a proper context that provides a feeling of oddness. Dans dix jours, c'est sûr, j'ai acheté des cigarettes et tout est à recommencer! Also explains the deontic-practical flavour of si- Utterances with future CP: S'il a neigé demain tu pourras luger (hence get in the mood for it)
Future CP-utterances are interpretiveallocentric Future CP are deictically shifted in the future: an imaginary S' is projected in the future and plays the role of an allocentric S E-R,S' & S-S' hence the metalinguistic effect: S E e S' - 'at S' it will be possible to say the utterance truthfully The speakers pretend they are at the future stage and they represent some past, achieved, event (which is in fact future). The link with the actual S is pragmatically infered in terms of a course of actions or attitude that needs to take place at S. Absent from the Ant. Fut.
Types of verbs Not only aspectual verbs (like finir), as sometimes assumed (Desclés & Guentcheva): L'avion a bientôt atterri (rassure-toi) The airplane soon land-cp Dans une heure les touristes ont bu leur verre et nous pouvons repartir.
An event-type situation has to be accessed (explicitly or infered) because only events / telic predicates trigger a resulting state) hence no pure stative verb * Dans un an Pierre a été heureux. But possibly activities: Dans une heure Pierre a dormi (et nous pouvons repartir) has slept till relief is fit to go. hence most typical cases are with aspectual verbs since they make explicit a situation change but this is no semantic requirement
Other strange cases Negation: * Demain, Paul n'est pas arrivé. Heureusement que tu n'as pas voyagé demain! (Vuillaume 2009) Negative sentences are stative, but there are negative events, which however still look bizarre with the future CP: * Demain, Pierre n'a pas payé ses impôts But as soon as some metalinguistic flavour is available as well as consequences in the present, negative utterances seem possible: Tu vas voir: d'ici quelques minutes, Paul n'a pas fermé le gaz et nous devons rentrer. forgot to turn off the gas
Conclusions Allocentricity / Interpretive metarepresentational uses have the effect of generating modal interpretations If the FUTURE tense is not modal in itself, the future uses of the CP in French are, and are associated to typical inferences relative to their relevance at the real (not the shifted) deictic present. A similar case can be made (Saussure & Morency in press) about epistemic uses of the future in French Ce sera le facteur / That'll be the mailman
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