In this paper, I propose a systematic account of the semantics of English present perfect (PresPerf) from both empirical and formal perspectives. I incorporate the insights of an extended now (XN) analysis ([1]) into the dynamic semantics framework, DRT ([2]). I demonstrate that PresPerf is licensed by its relation to an XN interval and that different readings are attributed to the specific way that the embedded eventuality interacts with an XN. I provide the semantics of PresPerf compositionally in terms of a general component attributed to have + en and specific conditions attributed to adverbials and verb semantics. In addition, I characterize PresPerf as a tense by showing that the XN interval serves as "temporal location" ([3]), a determinant of tense. An alleged connection between PresPerf and a perfect state is only entailed in the case of events.
展开▼
