| Contents | 6 |
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| Acknowledgements | 13 |
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| 1. Introduction | 16 |
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| 1.1. General background | 16 |
| 1.2. Research questions and goals | 19 |
| 1.3. Previous studies on the present perfect | 21 |
| 1.4. Principal definitions of the study | 22 |
| 1.4.1. Working terminology | 22 |
| 1.4.2. Native speaker vs. non-native speaker | 23 |
| 1.4.3. Second language vs. foreign language | 24 |
| 1.4.4. Language acquisition vs. language learning | 24 |
| 1.4.5. Simplification | 26 |
| 1.4.6. Avoidance strategies | 27 |
| 1.4.7. Transfer | 27 |
| 1.4.8. Varieties vs. interlanguage | 29 |
| 1.4.9. Acrolect, mesolect, basilect | 30 |
| 1.5. Outline of the book | 31 |
| 2. Non-native varieties of English | 33 |
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| 2.1. Foreign-speaker varieties of English | 33 |
| 2.1.1. Case study: English in Russia | 38 |
| 2.1.1.1. History | 38 |
| 2.1.1.2. English in Russia: some social aspects | 39 |
| 2.1.1.3. Essential characteristics of the English spoken in Russia: from acrolect to basilect | 41 |
| 2.2. Second-language varieties of English | 44 |
| 2.2.1. Case study: Indian English | 44 |
| 2.2.1.1. History | 44 |
| 2.2.1.2. Indian English: some social aspects | 47 |
| 2.2.1.3. Essential characteristics of Indian English | 49 |
| 2.2.1.3.1. Acrolectal varieties of Indian English | 50 |
| 2.2.1.3.2. Basilectal varieties of Indian English | 54 |
| 2.3. Summary | 55 |
| 3. Some theoretical preliminaries | 57 |
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| 3.1. The category of tense | 57 |
| 3.2. The category of aspect | 60 |
| 3.2.1. Aktionsart | 62 |
| 3.3. The present perfect: tense or aspect? | 64 |
| 3.4. Summary | 65 |
| 4. Towards a theoretical explanation for variation between the present perfect and preterite | 67 |
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| 4.1. Thepretente | 67 |
| 4.2. The present perfect | 69 |
| 4.2.1. The meaning of the present perfect | 71 |
| 4.2.1.1. The resultative perfect | 72 |
| 4.2.1.2. The extended-now perfect | 73 |
| 4.2.1.3. The experiential perfect | 75 |
| 4.2.1.4. The perfect of recent past | 76 |
| 4.3. Semantics of the perfect and preterite: Contrastive analysis | 77 |
| 4.4. Limitations of the semantic analysis of the perfect and preterite | 81 |
| 4.4.1. Analysis of the collocation of the perfect and preterite with other elements in the sentence | 82 |
| 4.4.2. Pragmatic analysis of the perfect and preterite | 85 |
| 4.4.2.1. The preterite and pragmatic discourse | 86 |
| 4.4.2.2. The perfect and pragmatic discourse | 87 |
| 4.5. Summary | 88 |
| 5. The notion of complexity and the English present perfect | 90 |
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| 5.1. Complexity in the history of linguistics | 91 |
| 5.1.1. Absolute approach vs. relative approach to measuring complexity | 93 |
| 5.2. Complexity in language | 95 |
| 5.2.1. Phonology | 95 |
| 5.2.2. Grammar | 95 |
| 5.2.2.1. Syntax | 96 |
| 5.2.2.2. Inflectional Morphology | 96 |
| 5.3. Definitions of complexity adopted in this study for evaluating the linguistic status of the English present perfect | 97 |
| 5.3.1. Complexity in morphology | 97 |
| 5.3.2. Complexity as a function of strategies employed in structure formation | 98 |
| 5.3.3. Complexity of temporal relations | 99 |
| 5.3.4. Complexity in semantics | 99 |
| 5.3.5. Learners’ complexity | 99 |
| 5.3.6. Complexity and frequency | 100 |
| 5.4. The English present perfect as a complex category | 100 |
| 5.4.1. Structural make-up ofthe English present perfect | 102 |
| 5.4.2. Expression of temporal relations by the English present perfect | 103 |
| 5.4.3. Semantic composition and polysemy of the English present perfect | 104 |
| 5.4.4. The order of acquisition of the English present perfect | 105 |
| 5.4.5. The English present perfect and frequency | 112 |
| 5.4.6. The English present perfect as a complex category: Some additional arguments | 114 |
| 6. Metrics of complexity | 116 |
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| 6.1. Complexity as a degree of language-internal variation | 117 |
| 6.2. Complexity as L2 acquisition difficulty | 122 |
| 6.3. Summary | 124 |
| 7. Empirical design of the study and methodology | 125 |
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| 7.1. Data: Some general comments | 125 |
| 7.1.1. Large-scale corpora | 126 |
| 7.1.2. Small-scale corpora | 127 |
| 7.1.2.1. Small-scale corpora: sample design and sociolinguistic hypotheses | 127 |
| 7.1.3. Large-scale and small-scale corpora: hypotheses concerning language-internal variation | 130 |
| 7.2. Collecting data | 133 |
| 7.3. Identifying the variable context and coding the data | 134 |
| 7.3.1. Classifying tokens according to semantic context | 139 |
| 7.3.1.1. Identifying extended-now contexts | 140 |
| 7.3.1.2. Identifying resultative contexts | 141 |
| 7.3.1.3. Identifying experiential contexts | 143 |
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