LE PRÉSENT ANAPHORIQUE – UNE ‘BIZARRERIE’ DU ROUMAIN ?

IS THE ANAPHORIC PRESENT TENSE A ROMANIAN ODDITY?

Abstract

In Romanian linguistics, the so-called ‘anaphoric’ present tense is considered a typical feature of this language, as well as proof that there is no concordance of tenses, their use being left to the free choice of the speakers. The article shows that this type of usage also exists in English and French, in the transition from direct to reported speech. The use of a diverse terminology and of a different theoretical framework has helped to mask the general nature of the phenomenon: “non-retroceded” or “non-transposed” present tense, “biding” present tense, present tense backshifted in the past (in English), “présent du dire d'origine” (« present of original saying »), “de rechange” (« replacement present ») (in French), “anaphoric” present tense (in Romanian).
In Romanian, as in English and French, this sub-phrasal present most often has a dual interpretation: deictic, if the designated interval contains in some form the moment of discourse t0, and anaphoric, if this lapse of time is situated entirely in the past. The sub-phrasal present with only an anaphoric interpretation is rare in English, but it is found in French and Romanian, in literary and journalistic texts as well as in political speeches and in everyday spoken language. 
Romanian has extended the use of the sub-phrasal present, in both variants (deictic and anaphoric), well beyond reported speech. Its use is limited only by the type of subordinate: while it is relatively frequent in the completive type, it does not appear in the relative type. So, it seems that in Romanian there are two types of tense concordance, with different spheres of application.