Conceptualizations of time in French depuis 'since, for' constructions

Abstract

The two most common constructions with the French preposition depuis 'since, for' represent alternate temporal conceptualizations of events. The temporal point (tp) construction situates events with respect to a starting point in the past from which mental scanning tracks to the present. The temporal duration (td) construction situates events by reference to their duration. Adoption of the Cognitive Grammar framework leads to the insight that all other depuis constructions are variations of the tp construction, while the td construction is distinct in its construal of situations. This corpus study gives an account of how the td construction developed as an extension of the tp construction starting in the fourteenth century, as well as a pragmatic analysis of the contexts that favor use of the td construction in modern French. The findings show that the td construction is nearly always used to emphasize duration for some communicative purpose.