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This chapter explores the connection between past tense and modality in English and French. After arguing for a temporal definition of past tenses, I reinterpret the classical opposition between temporal uses and modal uses in terms of the speakers's referential or subjective intentionality. I further distinguish between the epistemic uses - which express the speaker's assessment of the probability of the denoted situation - and the illocutory uses - which express the speaker's degree of commitment in her speech act. I finally suggest an analysis of two epistemic uses of the English simple past and the French imperfect, namely their conditional use and optative use, thanks to the notion of dialogism, which refers to the heterogeneity of the enunciative sources of a given utterance.

Psycholinguistics --- Grammar --- Cognitive grammar --- Grammar, Comparative and general --- Tense --- Modularity --- Cognitive grammar. --- Psycholinguistics. --- Tense. --- Modularity. --- #KVHA:Taalkunde --- #KVHA:Vergelijkende linguïstiek --- #KVHA:Cognitieve linguïstiek --- #KVHA:Modaliteit --- #KVHA:Aspect --- 801.56 --- Syntaxis. Semantiek --- Languages & Literatures --- Philology & Linguistics --- Grammaire cognitive --- Temps (Linguistique) --- Modularité (Linguistique) --- Psycholinguistique --- 801.56 Syntaxis. Semantiek --- Modularité (Linguistique) --- Language, Psychology of --- Language and languages --- Psychology of language --- Speech --- Modularity (Grammar) --- Module (Grammar) --- Tense (Grammar) --- Cognitive linguistics --- Psychological aspects --- Psychology --- Linguistics --- Thought and thinking --- Temporal constructions --- Linguistique cognitive --- Philology --- Grammar, Comparative and general - Tense --- Grammar, Comparative and general - Modularity

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Linguistic variation is a topic of ongoing interest to the field. Its description and its explanations continue to intrigue scholars from many different backgrounds. By taking a deliberately broad perspective on the matter, covering not only crosslinguistic and diachronic but also intralinguistic and interspeaker variation and examining phenomena ranging from negation over connectives to definite articles in well- and lesser-known languages, the volume furthers our understanding of variation in general. The papers offer new insights into, among other things, the theoretical notion of comparative concepts, the social or mental nature of language structure, the areal factor in lexical typology and the diachronic implications of semantic maps. The collection will thus be of relevance to typologists and historical linguists, as well as to people studying variation within the areas of cognitive and functional linguistics.

Grammar, Comparative and general. --- Cognitive grammar. --- Typology (Linguistics) --- Language and languages --- Variation. --- Grammar, Comparative and general --- Linguistic typology --- Linguistics --- Linguistic universals --- Cognitive linguistics --- Psycholinguistics --- Comparative grammar --- Grammar --- Grammar, Philosophical --- Grammar, Universal --- Philosophical grammar --- Philology --- Typology --- Classification --- Grammar, Comparative --- Diachrony. --- Typology.