Abstract

This paper examines the notions of anteriority and current relevance in the Thai grammatical perfect marker lέεw (grammaticalized from the lexical verb ‘finish’). Cross-linguistic studies of the grammatical category perfect or anterior have raised uncertainties about the importance of the notion of current relevance in characterizing this category (Klein 1992). This study examines the use of the Thai perfect in natural spoken discourse in order to determine its relation to the cross-linguistic prototype “prior action currently relevant” (Dahl 1985; Bybee et al. 1994). The use of the perfect is analyzed in relation to the Aktionsart of the predicate, its use in narrative grounding, and semantic and pragmatic uses in context. The notion of current relevance is found to be crucial in characterizing the basic meaning of this morpheme, while the notion of anteriority is found to be a reflex of the use of the perfect in context. Findings are discussed in terms of the cross-linguistic prototype category perfect or anterior, and a new typology of the category perfect in the languages of the world is suggested.