The Temporal Relationships between the Pluscuamperfecto and mientras + Imperfecto

Abstract This paper analyzes the temporal relationship between a pluperfect verb in a main clause and a following subordinate clause introduced by mientras (‘while’) with an imperfect verb. The specific lexical and aspectual properties of the components lead to clashing expectations concerning the temporal relationship within the structure. The issues are three-fold. First, the subordinating conjunction lexically expresses the co-temporality of the subordinate clause with regard to another eventuality. Second, this may be possible when the pluperfect verb has an eventive reading, but what happens if it asserts a post-state? Third, the widely recognized discourse structural description (coming from DRT) of an imperfect verb is that its location time includes a previously introduced reference time. However, in traditional terms, the reference time involved in the meaning of a pluperfect verb is posterior to the event the pluperfect verb expresses. We address these issues and present a dataset collected from various corpora which underlines that the temporal relationships within the structure show a surprising variability. We discuss the different possibilities in depth, taking Aktionsart and subject reference into account. We also focus on the theoretical issue of the concept of reference time. On the basis of our data, and counter to the traditional approach, we argue that a temporal discourse structure should account for pluperfect verbs by means of secondary reference times.