Réalisé et non réalisé dans l’imparfait
Accomplished and unaccomplished in "l'imparfait"

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, we study to what extent the unaccomplished part of the French ‘imparfait’ can become accomplished and situations when the part that appears to be accomplished (due to inferences), is in fact unaccomplished. We focus on elements such us anaphora, essential properties of the ‘imparfait’ and ellipsis to show that this French tense allows the reference to an internal phase of a situation without providing information about the part that is not described. In this respect, considering the relation ‘passé simple – imparfait’ as a background for our study, we argue that the unaccomplished part of the ‘imparfait’ is in direct relation with the phenomenon of ellipsis.

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