QUADERNI DEL LABORATORIO DI LINGUISTICA – VOL. 9,2/2010“Perkektschwund”, concerning <strong>the</strong> shift <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> present-perfect to a purely perfective(aoristic) tense. As far as German is concerned, this is certainly true about <strong>the</strong>Sou<strong>the</strong>rn varieties, like <strong>the</strong> Austrian one used by Thomas Bernhard. The question thatimmediately suggests itself is whe<strong>the</strong>r this development is also to be observed inlanguages like English, which so far appear to have been practically immune from <strong>the</strong>“Perkektschwund” drift. The prediction that one is invited to put forth is thatlanguages like English might not be equally prone to undergo such a development. Itis to be hoped that this question will soon receive an answer.24
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