<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Recent research in syntax and corpus linguistics has shown how the German <italic>Perfekt</italic> (present perfect) and <italic>Präteritum</italic> (simple past) are widely used in written language—even though these tenses are commonly described in DAF (German as a foreign language) materials as used respectively in the spoken and written forms. While these analyses only focus on written corpora, an extensive study on the use of tenses in spoken interaction is still missing. In this paper, I try to fill this gap in the literature by exploring the use of <italic>Perfekt</italic> and <italic>Präteritum</italic> in the recordings of the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials, held in Frankfurt am Main, from December 20, 1963, to August 19, 1965, and available on the web page of the Fritz Bauer Institute. Textual analyses of the depositions of five former German prisoners of the Polish concentration camp show that German native speakers use both tenses in their spoken interactions. These results widely contradict their depiction in DAF materials, textbooks, and grammars. Furthermore, the types of <italic>Präteritum</italic> found are far more diverse than is traditionally held by scholars, who claimed that the use of this tense in spoken language is limited to verbs such as <italic>sein</italic> (to be), <italic>haben</italic> (to have) and modals, such as <italic>können</italic> (can), <italic>müssen</italic> (must), <italic>sollen</italic> (should), etc. The outcome of this study shows how the difference between <italic>Perfekt</italic> and <italic>Präteritum</italic> is determined by the subjective attitude of the speakers in relation to the information they want to convey.</p>
</abstract>

Recent research in syntax and corpus linguistics has shown how the German Perfekt (present perfect) and Präteritum (simple past) are widely used in written language—even though these tenses are commonly described in DAF (German as a foreign language) materials as used respectively in the spoken and written forms. While these analyses only focus on written corpora, an extensive study on the use of tenses in spoken interaction is still missing. In this paper, I try to fill this gap in the literature by exploring the use of Perfekt and Präteritum in the recordings of the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials, held in Frankfurt am Main, from December 20, 1963, to August 19, 1965, and available on the web page of the Fritz Bauer Institute. Textual analyses of the depositions of five former German prisoners of the Polish concentration camp show that German native speakers use both tenses in their spoken interactions. These results widely contradict their depiction in DAF materials, textbooks, and grammars. Furthermore, the types of Präteritum found are far more diverse than is traditionally held by scholars, who claimed that the use of this tense in spoken language is limited to verbs such as sein (to be), haben (to have) and modals, such as können (can), müssen (must), sollen (should), etc. The outcome of this study shows how the difference between Perfekt and Präteritum is determined by the subjective attitude of the speakers in relation to the information they want to convey.

Grammatical Tenses and Communicative Intentions: A case study of the German Perfekt and Präteritum

Assistant Professor. Universidad del Norte

Linguistic Frontiers

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Recent research in syntax and corpus linguistics has shown how the German Perfekt (present perfect) and Präteritum (simple past) are widely used in written...

Grammatical Tenses and Communicative Intentions: A case study of the German Perfekt and Präteritum

Published Online: Oct 14, 2021

Page range: 31 - 37

Received: Jul 01, 2020

Accepted: Feb 01, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/lf-2021-0015

Keywords
Pragmatics, Tenses, Perfect, Preterite, German

© 2021 Valentina Concu, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Grammatical Tenses and Communicative Intentions: A case study of the German Perfekt and Präteritum

Published Online: Oct 14, 2021

Page range: 31 - 37

Received: Jul 01, 2020

Accepted: Feb 01, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/lf-2021-0015

KeywordsPragmatics, Tenses, Perfect, Preterite, German

© 2021 Valentina Concu, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Pragmatics, Tenses, Perfect, Preterite, German