On the informational status of the Bulgarian tenses

The paper addresses the category of informational status in Bulgarian, which indicates the origin or veracity of the message with three possible values: confirmative, neutral and nonconfirmative. Most scholars agree that Present, Perfect and Future are neutral, and that Aorist and Imperfect are confirmative. However, the Imperfect also occurs in irreal contexts without confirmativity. To resolve this contradiction, a proposal is put forward in which the Imperfect yields varying interpretations depending on ir/reality. Authors disagree, however, as to the status of Pluperfect and Past Future, describing them either as neutral or confirmative. It turns out that both views are correct but relate to different component parts of the two periphrases. Ultimately, confirmativity is identified as a pragmatic effect of the Bulgarian preterit that came into being as a consequence of the emergence of markedly nonconfirmative forms.

The article is written in German.