‘Flash Forward’

The Referential and Discursive Operation of Certain Verbal Paradigms in European Portuguese

Abstract

This contribution analyses the referential and the discursive function of the future indicative, present indicative, future subjunctive and the periphrastic future construction haver de + infinitive in the narrative text Memorial do Convento (MdC) and seeks to confirm the hypothesis that these verbal forms in European Portuguese can, in addition to their various temporal and modal functions, have certain discursive roles that contribute to the creation of an autonomous discourse time of narration, including performing the narrative strategy of ‘flash forward’. However, such a narrative and discourse function only presents the perspective of an omniscient third person narrator. It can thus further be argued that all such events expressed by the verbal forms in question are realized outside the focus of the narrative or outside of the lead story action. The analysis also confirms the hypothesis that the ‘flash forward’, marked by the future indicative, the present indicative, the future subjunctive and the verbal periphrasis haver de + infinitive is a narrative strategy that seems to present another perspective in the narrative, that is the narrator’s perspective as opposed to that of the protagonist of the story.