IV. More on the indefinite reading of the perfect 245 I {have met / met} him {recently / lately}. I {have just seen / just saw} him leave the house. I {have only this minute arrived / only this minute arrived} [and Sue already wants to know when I’m leaving!] 5.12 Indefinite readings of negative present perfect sentences A clause triggering an indefinite perfect interpretation can be used not only to say that (or to question whether) a situation has actualized in a period leading up to now but also to say that it has not actualized in that period. The latter possibility is illustrated by the following: [I don’t know that song.] I’ve never heard it in my life. We haven’t met {yet / before}, have we? It is important to see that the interpretation given to such sentences is an indefinite rather than a continuative interpretation. Thus, the correct inter- pretation of We haven’t read that letter before is not ‘Our not reading of that letter has lasted until now’ but ‘It has not happened before that we read that letter’. This is in keeping with the fact that the sentence can hardly be made progressive: ?? We haven’t been reading that letter before. As noted in 5.9.3, a continuative reading of a nonstatic sentence normally requires the progressive form (unless the reference is to a repetitive habit). An example of a progressive perfect sentence referring to a single dynamic situation and yielding a continua- tive reading is We’ve been playing cards since 7.45 a.m. This is not to say that negative present perfect sentences can never be inter- preted as continuative. Under certain conditions (minimally: the negator must not be never, and the situation referred to must be a state) they can be: It’s three months now that I haven’t had a car. (ϭ ‘The situation of my doing without a car started three months ago and is still continuing.’) However, sentences like the following (with a dynamic VP) cannot be interpre- ted continuatively: For the last three years I haven’t driven a car. (indefinite reading: ‘The situation of my driving a car hasn’t actualized in the last three years’) For a fuller treatment of negative present perfect sentences, see 5.30.3 and 5.30.5. 5.13 The ‘experiential perfect’ use of the indefinite perfect 5.13.1 One of the typical usage types of the indefinite perfect is the so-called perfect of experience (or experiential perfect). In this use, the indefinite 246 5. The absolute use of the present perfect present perfect refers to the actualization of one or more W-bygone situations which are not necessarily recent but which are still ‘with us’ as part of our experience and knowledge. 11 He has read a lot about their culture. Have you read Dante’s Inferno? She hasn’t had flu yet this winter. Have you ever been to Japan? It should be noted that the category ‘perfect of experience’ (as well as the categories ‘resultative perfect’ Ϫ see 5.15 Ϫ and ‘hot news perfect’ Ϫ see 5.14) does not belong to the same categorial distinction as the categories ‘indefinite reading’, ‘up-to-now reading’ and ‘continuative reading’. While the latter three are a question of different temporal W-interpretations allowed by the present perfect’s temporal T-interpretations (‘situation time located in the pre-present but wholly before t 0 ’ and ‘situation time co-extensive with the pre-present zone’), the ‘experiential’, ‘resultative’ and ‘hot news’ readings are functional interpretations which belong to the array of usages compatible with the ‘indefi- nite’ temporal W-interpretation of the present perfect. It follows that we con- sider a sentence like I’ve been to Japan as ‘experiential’ in the first of the following two examples only: [I know a bit about Japanese culture.] I’ve been to Japan three times. (indefinite perfect; the speaker wants to say that a visit to Japan forms part of his present ex- perience.) [“How many times have you been to Japan?”] Ϫ “I’ve been to Japan three times.” (up-to-now reading of the ‘quantificational constitution’ kind Ϫ see 5.19.1; the pur- pose of the sentence is not to say that a visit to Japan forms part of the speaker’s present experience.) This means that within the indefinite reading and the up-to-now reading (which are temporal W-readings) we can distinguish several functional types. Each of these functional types is a use of a present perfect clause which is meant to convey a particular interpretation (reading). This means that the terms ‘interpretation’ (or ‘W-interpretation’) and ‘reading’ (or W-reading’ will be applied not only to the three temporal W-interpretations (W-readings) of the present perfect (viz. ‘indefinite’, ‘up-to-now’ and ‘continuative’), but also to readings produced by a particular functional use. So, the functional use of the indefinite perfect to convey ‘hot news’ (see 5.14) will be said to give rise to 11. The term ‘perfect of experience’ is sometimes used in a wider sense, viz. as a synonym of what we call ‘indefinite perfect’. Even examples of ‘constitution perfects’ are some- times treated as experiential perfects. We will use the term exclusively in the way it is defined in this section. IV. More on the indefinite reading of the perfect 247 a ‘hot news reading’, and we will similarly speak of an ‘experiential reading’ and a ‘resultative reading’ in connection with some uses of the indefinite per- fect. In 5.17.2 we will see that the temporal up-to-now reading too is compati- ble with various functional readings. 5.13.2 Have gone cannot be interpreted as a perfect of experience when go is understood as a more or less literal verb of motion. We use have been in- stead. Compare: That man has been to Japan. (ϭ ‘That man has visited Japan at least once in his life so far.’) (This allows various pragmatically determined W-readings, e. g. ‘That man may know something about Japanese culture.’ The sentence anyhow implies that the man has returned.) He has gone to Japan. (The implicated resultative meaning is: ‘He is in Japan or on his way to Japan’. The sentence implies that he has not returned yet from Japan.) 5.14 The indefinite perfect used to express ‘hot news’ Because it links a bygone situation to the present (thus expressing ‘current relevance’ Ϫ see 5.36), the indefinite perfect is the tense that is used in sentences presenting the bygone actualization of a situation as news. This means that the indefinite present perfect can have a function similar to that of an indefinite NP: as is well-known, we use indefinite NPs to introduce referents into the discourse, because definite NPs usually presuppose an already existing familiar- ity with their referents (or at least with their existence Ϫ see the ‘attributive’ use of definite NPs pointed out by Donnellan (1966)). 12 An American oil tanker has been attacked by an Iraqi fighter in the Gulf of Oman. Robert has failed his exam. [He’s feeling depressed.] [I’m glad to inform you that] the referees have advised me to accept your manuscript for publication. One of the puppies that were born this morning has died. In such examples the situation lying before the terminal point of the pre-present and reported as ‘hot news’ is naturally a recent situation. Needless to say, the reason why an indefinite perfect can be used to express ‘hot news’ is the implication of current relevance which forms an essential part of the interpretation of clauses in the present perfect Ϫ see section 5.35 below. 12. A definite NP is used in an ‘atrributive’ way if the hearer is assumed to be familiar with the existence of the referent of the NP, but without being able to identify (e. g. pick out from a set) the referent in question. Thus, if the speaker assumes that the addressee knows that a murder has been committed, he can speak of the murderer even if he knows that the identity of the murderer is still unknown to the hearer (and possibly to himself too). 248 5. The absolute use of the present perfect 5.15 The resultative reading of the indefinite present perfect 5.15.1 The resultative reading of the indefinite present perfect is again a functional reading: a clause with an indefinite present perfect can be used to draw attention to a present ‘direct result’. I’ve locked up the shop. (resultative reading: ‘The shop is locked up.’) As explained in 5.37, a direct result is the resultant state that inevitably comes about when a situation is completed. For example, the completion of the action of locking up a shop automatically (and immediately) produces the state of the shop being locked up. (This need not be a lasting result, but it is there immediately after the locking up.) 5.15.2 Only present perfect sentences that receive an indefinite reading can implicate a present direct result, and even then the ‘experiential use’ of the indefinite perfect (see 5.13.1) forms an exception. Thus, none of the following examples implicates the persistence of a direct result: Have you ever been to Greece? (indefinite reading of the experiential usage type) I’ve been standing here for the last ten minutes. (continuative reading) [“What have you been doing?”] Ϫ “I’ve been digging the flower beds.” (nonquantifi- cational constitution reading; note that, out of context, I’ve dug the flower beds would be interpreted as nonexperiential indefinite and hence as referring to a di- rect result.) Four years have passed since then. (duration-quantifying constitution reading) So far I’ve had three jobs [and none of them lasted a month]. (number-quantifying constitution reading) 5.15.3 In sum, a present perfect sentence yielding a (non-experiential) indefi- nite reading implicates the persistence of the direct result. This entails that such a sentence can be used as an indirect way of conveying a message about the present. A letter has arrived for you. (message: ‘There is a letter for you.’) He has learnt to swim. (message: ‘He can swim.’) They’ve cut off the electricity. (message: ‘We don’t have any electricity.’) I’ve been to the hairdresser’s. (message: ‘My hair is done.’) I’ve finished my poem. (message: ‘My poem is finished.’) She’s been bitten by a snake. (This implicates that the injury is current, i. e. that it is not healed yet.) (Compare with She was bitten by a snake, which implicates that the injury is healed or in some other way no longer exists Ϫ perhaps she is dead Ϫ or that even if the injury is not healed it is no longer causing trouble.) IV. More on the indefinite reading of the perfect 249 5.16 The ‘recency reading’ of the indefinite present perfect 5.16.1 In the ‘hot news’ use (see 5.14) of the indefinite perfect the situation time is always represented as lying close to t 0 . The reading produced by the ‘hot news’ use of the indefinite present perfect is therefore automatically a recency reading. A recency reading can also arise in some cases where the indefinite perfect does not have the function of conveying hot news. For exam- ple, an indefinite perfect reading is also a recency reading if the present perfect combines with an adverb like just, recently or this minute, which establishes a recent indefinite bygone Adv-time. For example: I’ve just met John in the street. I have this minute heard that the deal is off. This kind of present perfect sentence is rather special because of the nature of the adverbial. Adverbs like just refer to an Adv-time which would seem to be anchored to t 0 by virtue of lying ‘just before t 0 ’. This means that the time of the situation (‘contained’ by the Adv-time Ϫ see 2.23.1) would seem to be ‘semi-definite’ rather than indefinite. The important thing, however, is that the time is not definite, because it is impossible to say what time exactly is specified by just, recently or this minute: all that we know is that there is only a short interval of time between the Adv-time and t 0 . However, the interpretation of ‘short’ is largely pragmatic, and may differ considerably in different contexts. Compare: He’s crying because he’s just fallen off the swing. [You can’t expect her to look happy.] She’s still grieving over her husband who’s just died. (Her husband may have died several months ago.) [If we consider the time that has elapsed since the earth was formed,] man has only just come into being. Because of this semi-definite meaning, just can collocate either with an indefi- nite perfect (especially in British English) or with the past tense (especially in American English). By convention, just now, which has a similar ‘recent indefi- nite past’ meaning combines with the past tense only (except when it means ‘only just’ Ϫ see 12.17.6). If just combines with the present perfect, the resulting temporal interpreta- tion is always an indefinite one. From a functional point of view, such a sen- tence (e. g. I’ve just seen Sharon) can be used to express ‘hot news’ (see 5.14) or a present result (see 5.27), but not to convey an ‘experiential reading’ (see 5.13). This means that an indefinite perfect combining with just always receives a ‘recency reading’ (since, unlike the experiential reading, the hot news reading and the present result reading are recency readings). 250 5. The absolute use of the present perfect 5.16.2 The fact that the indefinite present perfect has a recency use is not surprising, given that the location of the bygone situation time in the present time-sphere emphasizes that the speaker, in talking about the situation, is con- cerned with NOW, and given that (perhaps because of this) the default tempo- ral location of a present perfect situation is the most recent one that makes sense in the context in question. In Br. E., the recency use of the indefinite perfect is normally signalled by an adverbial such as just or recently,orbya context which invokes a special ‘hot news’ use interpretation, such as Run! The river has burst its banks. In American English and increasingly in British English, the past tense can be used for a very similar recency meaning: Did you wash your hands? (In both Am. E. and Br. E., just and recently may occur with either the past tense or the present perfect, with little or no difference in mean- ing. This is probably because these recency adverbs are both semi-definite, in that the time that they indicate closely precedes t 0 and semi-indefinite, in that the time is nevertheless not precisely identifiable. It is possible that in Am. E. a similar duality applies when a recent situation is referred to in the absence of these adverbials, so that the past tense is possible for any situation whose proximity to speech time is evident, as in Did you wash your hands?). 5.16.3 As we will see in 5.25.5, a recency reading of the indefinite perfect easily allows the verb form to be progressive, except if the recency reading in question is a hot news reading, in which case the progressive cannot be used at all. Compare: Who’s the man you have just {spoken / been speaking} to? (recency reading which is not a hot news reading) [Have you heard?] An American oil tanker has {sunk /*been sinking} in the Suez Canal. (hot news reading) I’ve never {read /*been reading} a financial newspaper (in my life). (experiential reading; an experiential reading is never a recency reading Ϫ see 5.16.1) V. More on the up-to-now reading of the perfect 251 V. More on the up-to-now reading of the perfect In this section we go into a number of characteristics of the use of the present perfect conveying an up-to-now reading: (a) There are two types of up-to-now interpretation, viz. the ‘unmarked up-to-now reading’ and the ‘constitution reading’. The latter may be of two kinds, viz. the ‘nonquantificational’ kind and the ‘quantificational’ one (which is either ‘duration- specifying’ or ‘number-specifying’) Ϫ see 5.17Ϫ9. (b) One of the functions of a present perfect situation with an unmarked up-to-now reading is to convey an ‘explanatory-resultative’ message Ϫ see 5.18.3. (c) Sentences with a constitution reading typically have a ‘specificational’ function Ϫ see 5.20. (d) There is a hybrid type of present perfect sentence, which receives an interpretation that is a combination of a constitution reading and a continuative reading Ϫ see 5.21.3. 5.17 Functional types of up-to-now reading 5.17.1 The temporal differences between this W-reading and the other two (viz. the continuative and indefinite interpretations) have been explained in 5.4.1 and 5.4.5, where the temporal characteristics of the three readings were summarized in Figure 5.5 (repeated here). Figure 5.5. The features of the W-interpretations of the present perfect. . just met John in the street. I have this minute heard that the deal is off. This kind of present perfect sentence is rather special because of the nature of the adverbial. Adverbs like just refer. 5.16.1) V. More on the up-to-now reading of the perfect 251 V. More on the up-to-now reading of the perfect In this section we go into a number of characteristics of the use of the present perfect conveying. possibly to himself too). 248 5. The absolute use of the present perfect 5.15 The resultative reading of the indefinite present perfect 5.15.1 The resultative reading of the indefinite present perfect