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Decoding French equivalents of the English present perfect: evidence from parallel corpora of parliamentary documents

  • Thatchanon Raoprasert and Athip Thumvichit ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: July 2, 2024

Abstract

Scholars have yet to establish a consensus regarding French equivalents of the English present perfect (PP). This study investigates the French equivalents of the PP through the lens of parallel corpora. Although the passé composé is commonly considered the French equivalent, no singular tense in French entirely mirrors the PP. This paper challenges this assumption by suggesting other French forms as viable correspondences, including the présent de l’indicatif, the passé récent, the futur antérieur, and the imparfait. Leveraging the benefits of parallel corpora for crosslinguistic analysis, these forms were scrutinized in relation to their function and application across different uses of the PP. The findings provide empirical evidence that enriches the understanding of the crosslinguistic complexity between the PP and its French equivalents, offering valuable insights for foreign language learning, teaching, and translation. The study also stresses the importance of interpretations of tense equivalences in the pursuit of successful crosslinguistic communication.

Résumé

Les chercheurs n’ont pas encore établi de consensus concernant les équivalents en français du present perfect anglais (PP). Cette étude examine les équivalents du PP en français à partir de corpus parallèles. Bien que le passé composé soit communément considéré comme l’équivalent en français, aucun temps en français ne reflète entièrement le PP. Cet article remet en question cette hypothèse en suggérant d’autres formes françaises comme correspondances viables, notamment le présent de l’indicatif, le passé récent, le futur antérieur et l’imparfait. En tirant parti des avantages des corpus parallèles pour l’analyse interlinguistique, ces formes ont été examinées en relation avec leur fonction et leur application à travers différents usages de PP. Les résultats fournissent des preuves empiriques qui enrichissent la compréhension de la complexité interlinguistique entre le PP et ses équivalents en français, offrant des informations précieuses pour l’apprentissage, l’enseignement et la traduction des langues étrangères. L’étude souligne également l’importance d’interprétations des équivalences de temps dans la poursuite d’une communication interlinguistique réussie.


Corresponding author: Athip Thumvichit, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia, Mahidol University, 999 Budhamonthon Sai 4, Salaya, Nakhon Pathom 73170, Thailand, E-mail:

Acknowledgments

We express our profound gratitude to the editors and anonymous reviewers, whose insightful comments and suggestions on earlier drafts have substantially enhanced the quality of this manuscript. Our thanks extend to the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia at Mahidol University for the essential resources necessary for this research.

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Received: 2023-07-02
Accepted: 2024-04-11
Published Online: 2024-07-02

© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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