El Spanish in Contact with European Portuguese: Production and Perception of the Past Simple and the Present Perfect

Abstract

Time is the key concept in the traditional theories that aim to describe past tenses in Spanish. Regarding the Past Simple (PS) and the Present Perfect (PP), defining the core meaning of both tenses has proven to be a complex task, especially due to the evolution that the PP is experiencing, not only in Spanish, but also in other romance languages. The goal of this study is to delve into the differences of PS and PP in a situation of linguistic contact between Peninsular Spanish and European Portuguese. In order to achieve this, an experiment was designed with a focus on the analysis of production and psycholinguistic perception. This double approach constitutes an innovation in this field. The data obtained was subjected to statystical analysis. This study confirmed that, indeed, there are significant differences between the production of PS and PP in Spanish depending on informants’ sex and country of residence. Said differences also affect psycholinguistic perception and they are especially notable in prehodiernal contexts as well as in situations closely linked to the Moment of Speech (MS).