The uses of the French imperfect have undergone a vast extension throughout the history of the French language. It has become prototypical in contexts such as description where old French used simple past. The prototypical uses have resulted in a large number of stylistic uses: hypothesis, free indirect speech, and the so-called forain, hypocoristique, ludique and narratif. The wide range of uses raises the question of the semantic unity of that form in synchrony as well as in diachrony.
Here are gathered for the first time discussions of emergent uses of the imperfect, that are tackled through a variety of approaches (Damourette and Pichonâs, Wilmetâs or Guillaumeâs systems, logic semantics or relevance theory).
This volume will be of interest for theoreticians interested in linguistic meaning and applied linguists concerned with its organization.
âThe volume presents an insight into current scholarship on the subject of IMP [imparfait], and it is interesting to see the variety of interpretations even within the majority monosemitic approach. A must for all researchers of IMP.â in: French Language Studies, Vol. 16, 2006