Universal and existencial perfects in Brazilian Portuguese

Abstract

The present work deals with the Portuguese Present Perfect
(‘pretérito perfeito composto’) and the possibility of Universal
and Existential readings. Much of the literature on the Present
Perfect of more studied languages (e.g. English, German, Greek,
Turkish, etc.) describes the ambiguities that arise between
these two types of readings which are often defined in terms
of the Extended Now framework (RATHERT, 2003; IATRIDOU
et al., 2003; MCCOARD, 1978). This framework’s
characterization of the Present Perfect runs into some problems even when dealing with phenomena of the more studied
languages and incurs some new problems when the Brazilian
Portuguese Present Perfect is given a closer look. Given that
previous analyses have only dealt with the Present Perfect in
contexts with durative adverbs, the nature of the Universal
and Existential labels have yet to be tested, with for example,
frequency adverbs. Moreover, the few references made to the
Portuguese Present Perfect have characterized it as having
only a Universal reading (SQUARTINI; BERTINETTO, 2000).
It is known, however, that the Portuguese Present Perfect has
two types of readings, durative (e.g. ‘A Maria tem sido feliz’)
and iterative (e.g. ‘A Maria tem visitado os pais’). These
limitations of Extended Now frameworks will be discussed
and adjustments will be proposed in order to accommodate the
unique iterative reading of the Portuguese Present Perfect as
well as the more common readings of repetition in other
languages.