On "attenuative" uses of the French imparfait: towards a constructional analysis
Les « usages atténuatifs » de l’imparfait : vers une analyse constructionnelle
Résumé
This paper aims at revisiting a fairly well-studied issue, namely the so-called ‘attenuative’ or ‘polite’ uses of the French imparfait. Departing from a currently predominant line of analysis in the semantics & pragmatics community, it will argue against a fully productive approach to said uses. It will, on the contrary, establish its conventionnalised (yet not completely entrenched) nature, on two grounds : (i) on interpretative grounds, because the corresponding meanings cannot be straightforwardly accounted for on the basis of ‘productive’ semantic/ pragmatic processes ; (ii) on form-related grounds, by establishing that the so-called imparfait atténuatif in fact points to a constructional network rather than a bona fide productive form/meaning pairing, cf. (Traugott & Trousdale 2013; Timponi Torrent 2015).
Finally, the paper will replace the imparfait atténuatif within the larger, and cross-linguistic context of other conventionnalised TAM constructions exhibiting composite tense-aspect/modality marking without a fully productive (e.g. compositional) interpretation, thereby offering a general plea against aprioristic productive approaches to such composite TAM structures.
Domaines
Linguistique
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