Imparfait and Stereotypes

Abstract

A number of Relevance theorists support the view that tense morphemes do not communicate conceptual values but procedures that interlocutors use for the interpretation of an utterance. According to this view, the proposition put forward in this paper is that the French past tense imparfait forces the hearer to synthetize the propositional form of the expression with an assumption attached to the encyclopedic entry of its verb. So when we interpret a sentence like “Jeanne rentrait chez elle” we automatically choose some stereotypical representation of the activity {quelqu’un rentre chez lui} and derive out of it, and the propositional form of the sentence, an implication, which could be for example {Jeanne est dans la rue à un moment T du passé}. I show in the different sections of the article how pragmatic properties of the French imparfait and most of its non-standard uses can be explained as different strategies to find relevance against the cognitive effort entailed by this procedure. I also discuss a possible way to link this procedure with the imperfective aspect. 

Keywords: French imparfait, relevance theory, imperfective aspect.