Abstract
This paper reexamines in diachronic perspective two complex verb structures in Romance and English, the so-called ‘perfect’ (Fr. j'ai fait, Eng. I have done) and the ‘go-future’ (Fr. je vais faire, Eng. I'm going to do), with a view toward demonstrating the striking parallelism in their development from exponents of ASPECT, whose principal function was to identify the situation described by the verb as being of ‘present relevance’, to exponents of TENSE. In the process, the complex structures both moved into the functional territory of existing simplex tense forms, which in certain dialects they ultimately supplanted or are in the process of so doing. These developments in the verbal system are ultimately brought to bear on the topical question of the pragmatic origins of grammar.
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