Some observations on the expression of temporal relations in future time relative clauses

Ilse Depraetere (1)

1 STL - Savoirs, Textes, Langage (STL) - UMR 8163

This paper deals with the question whether the syntactic diffrence between restrictive relative clauses (RRC) and nonrestrictive relative clauses (NRRC) results in different tense systems determining the choice of verb forms to indicate future time. It is shown that future-time NRRCs only allow the use of absolute tenses to express temporal relations, whereas in RRCs, relative tenses can be used as well. However, there are a number of constraints on the use of relative tenses even in RRCs, a phenomenon that has escaped most linguists' attention. In this paper, a survey is made of factors that determine whether or not it is possible to use relative tenses to refer to future-time situations in RRCs.

Mots clés: tense; relative clauses

Domaines: Linguistique

Ilse Depraetere. Some observations on the expression of temporal relations in future time relative clauses. Linguistics, 1994, 32 (3), pp.459-473. ⟨halshs-00625759⟩