The Pluperfect and its discourse potential in contrast

Abstract

Abstract This paper intends to compare the functions of the Pluperfect in discourse from a comparative perspective, taking into account the use of this particular tense form in three different Romance languages, namely French, Italian and Spanish. In particular, it tries to elucidate in what way the Pluperfect contributes to the building and structuring of discourse segments or, to put it differently, how it helps to create coherent units of discourse and interacts with other units on a more comprehensive structural level. The analysis also focuses on the interplay of the Pluperfect with competing past tense forms, the perfective Simple Past and the Perfect. The account put forward in this article tries to present a unified analysis by resorting to the tense-in-discourse framework developed by Becker & Egetenmeyer (2018) .