FOCUS ON THE PRETERIT Cover Image

LE PASSÉ SIMPLE: MISE AU POINT
FOCUS ON THE PRETERIT

Author(s): Guy Cornillac
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai
Keywords: Psychomecanics of language; French preterit tense; human experience; decline of grammatical tense.

Summary/Abstract: Focus on the Preterit. The different elements that compose a definite language condense impressions belonging to human experience. Starting from Gustave Guillaume’s theory of language, the author tries to isolate those that compose the preterit tense in French as opposed to those that define the imperfect and the present perfect. He also underlines the reasons that led to the near extinction of the preterit in the so-called spoken French.

  • Issue Year: 57/2012
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 127-132
  • Page Count: 6
  • Language: French