Power Point presentation created by Gislene Soares, Marcela Siqueira and Rafael Barufaldi. Course: Topics in Semantics Undergraduate course: English Language and Literature Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas/Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil.

1. PRESENT PERFECT
FOR BRAZILIAN
STUDENTS:
A COGNITIVE
APPROACH
Gislene Fernandes Soares
Marcela Prado Siqueira
Rafael Barufaldi

2. COGNITIVE GRAMMAR
Basis for language instruction of
grammar and its usage – based nature.
The importance of providing the
learner with sufficient exposure to the
uses of a given unit.

3. LANGUAGE A reflexion of a
general cognitive
process, not an
isolated system with
its own rules.
Grounded in human experience with real
world, reflecting human perpetual system
and understanding of the SPATIAL –
PHYSICAL – SOCIAL world we live in.

4. BUT...
“To what extent does
the particular
language we speak determine the
way we think about the world?”
In.: Saeed, J. I. Semantics, 2003, p. 42.

5. LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY
Cognitive structure differs depending on the
language of the speaker.
 The way we think about the world is
determined by our cultural and linguistic
background.

6. SAPIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS
 Centered on Linguistic Relativity.
 Our language acts to segment and
structure our world.
Therefore, our language predisposes us to
see both reality and other languages
through its own filter.

7. “But if speaking different languages mean
that we think in different ways, how could
we ever step outside our own language to
set up a neutral metalanguage
which does not privilege any particular
language or language family?”
In.: Saeed, J. I. Semantics, 2003, p. 43.
 That is the problem native speakers of
Portuguese face when learning the Present
Perfect tense...

8. MAIN USES OF THE PRESENT
PERFECT
(Comrie, 1976; apud Fonseca, 2006, p. 44)
Current state of a past event – result
o She has lost her key.
Experiencial past - event happened at least once
in the person’s life.
I have been to England.

9.  A situation that persists – “mais que um
evento passado com consequência presente, um
estado presente, o evento pode incluir o momento
presente.” (Fonseca, 2006, p. 45)
 I have lived in São Paulo since I was born.
Time markers - since, for, throughout.

10. IN PORTUGUESE...
 I have lost my key. = Eu perdi minha chave.
 I lost my key = Eu perdi minha chave.
 both of them in Pretérito perfeito.
We do not have a perfect equivalent to the Present
Perfect, unless the structure changes, which
would confuse the students.
 When we want the past moment to have a
present result, or “present tense nature”, we tend
to use Pretérito Perfeito:
Você já comeu feijoada?

11.  “Como vemos, em português o Pretérito
Perfeito engloba o tempo simples e o
composto do espanhol e do inglês. O
Pretérito Perfeito do indicativo do
português não faz, portanto, distinção entre
um evento acabado e outra que continua no
momento da enunciação. Não distingue se
ela tem relevância presente ou é estado-
resultativa. O português vai valer-se de
outros recursos e outras perífrases para
expressar esses valores e, muitas vezes,
utiliza-se o Presente simples do indicativo
nas proposições onde em inglês e espanhol
usaríamos o Perfeito.” (Fonseca, 2001, p. 69;
apud Fonseca, 2006, p. 70)

12. So how can native speakers of the
Portuguese language have a more
effective approach to the Present Perfect
Tense?

13. TIME-TENSE TABLE

14. TIME-TENSE TABLE: PORT. AND
ENG.

15. EASIER LEARNING FOR BRAZILIANS
 Pragmatics: the choice for the use
 Past event + Present state
The idea of the consequence
 Narrator’s point of view
M. da Enunciação vs. M. do Acontecimento
 Momento de Referência

16. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
 FIORIN, José Luiz. “Pragmática”. In: _____ (org.). Introdução à Linguística II:
princípios de análise. São Paulo: Contexto, 2008. pp. 161-185.
 FONSECA, Maria Cristina Micelli. A semântica e a pragmática na
compreensão das oposições Present Perfect x Past Simple do Inglês e
Pretérito Perfecto x Pretérito Indefinido do Espanhol. Tese de Doutorado.
São Paulo: USP, 2006.
 ___________________________________. Um estudo das formas verbais de
pretérito nas interlínguas de brasileiros aprendizes do inglês e do espanhol:
Past Simple/Present Perfect e Pretérito Perfecto/Pretérito indefinido do
espanhol. Dissertação de Mestrado. São Paulo: USP, 2001.
 LANGACKER, R.W. Cognitive Grammar as a Basis for Language Instruction. In.:
ROBINSON, P; ELLIS, N.C. Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics and Second
Language Acquisition, New York: Routledge, 2008, p. 66 – 88.
 LUST, B. Child Language: Acquisition and Growth, New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2006.
 MICHAELIS, Laura A. Aspectual Grammar and Past-Time Reference. New
York: Routledge, 1998.
 SAEED, J. I. Chapter 2: Meaning, Thought and Reality. In.: Semantics, 2 ed,
Blackwell Publishing, 2003, p.23 – 50.
 TYLER, A. Cognitive Linguistics and Second Language Instruction. In.:
ROBINSON, P; ELLIS, N.C. Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics and Second
Language Acquisition, New York: Rotledge, 2008, p. 456 – 488.