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The conversational historical present alternation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2026

Nessa Wolfson
Nessa Wolfson*
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
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Abstract

The conversational historical present tense (CHP) occurs only in a specific type of narrative, here labeled a ‘performed story.’ In contrast to previous analyses of this feature, it is the thesis of this paper that CHP in itself has no significance. Rather, it is the switching between CHP and the past tenses which is the relevant feature. Two important constraints—that of sequence of tenses in coördinated sentences, and that of nonoccurrence of CHP in subordinate clauses beginning with when—support the theory that CHP alternation operates to separate events from one another. The fact that alternation is, in itself, an expressive feature, leads to speculation about the nature of other types of linguistic variation.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 55 , Issue 1 , March 1979, pp. 168 - 182
Copyright
Copyright © 1979 by Linguistic Society of America

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