Sequentiality

Abstract

This paper examines a hitherto unreported use of the Gã Perfect gram termed the ‘sequential perfect’. The sequential perfect represents a late stage of grammaticalization as it no longer conveys any aspectual information on its own, instead deriving its semantics from verbal categories in the prior discourse. It is primarily modal, being used for irrealis, habitual and iterative situations. It occurs in the non-initial clause of multiclausal constructions and signals that the event it marks is temporally posterior to another event. It also imparts the epistemic modal meanings of inevitability and certainty. I propose that these newer functions are developed from the core semantic components of change-of-state and completion. This involves grammaticalization via domain extension, where change-of-state within an event is extended to change between events. The investigation introduces a new pathway for grammaticalization of the perfect, which has implications for studies of the perfect and grammaticalization generally.