The perfect map: Investigating the cross-linguistic distribution of TAME categories in a parallel corpus
Östen Dahl · 2014
The work presented in this paper can be seen as a continuation of my earlier attempts at using quantitative methods to compare tense-aspect categories across languages using translation questionnaire data using a different kind of data - a parallel corpus of Bible translations. Here I report on a comparison of the distribution of grams labeled perfect in traditional descriptions. The results confirm earlier claims that these grams do share a core of prototypical uses and also an anti-prototype, that is, a set of uses that are left untouched until the final end of the grammaticalization process by which perfects expand into general pasts. In the grey zone between the prototype and the anti-prototype, versions in one and the same language tend to show great variation. But it is also possible to identify specific areas of cross-linguistic variation even among the more conservative perfect grams.