Reference, Deixis and Perspective.Aspectual Readings of Italian Ecco- and French Voilà-Constructions

Abstract

This paper provides an analysis of the aspectual properties of deictic-presentative constructions headed by It. ecco and Fr. voici/voilà. It will be shown that even though deictic pointing elements do not constitute verbs, they exhibit verb-like characteristics in some regards. As is the case with certain tense forms, the use of these elements anchors the situation pointed out at the moment of speech and at the same time imposes a perspective of simultaneity, which presents it as temporally unbounded and thus imperfective. Furthermore, it will be demonstrated that, based on this temporal-aspectual profile, the different types of subconstructions headed by ecco and voilà also impose aspectual readings that go beyond this internal perspective by highlighting events such as resultative states or inchoative events.