Contrasting English and Italian simultaneity subordinators as/come, while/mentre, when/quando: A preliminary investigation

This paper investigates the English subordinators as, while, and when and the Italian subordinators come, mentre, and quando used as markers of simultaneity. It shows that the two triads carve up different simultaneity networks. English relies heavily on as with ‘change’ events, while Italian come, which is also ‘dynamic’ in nature, has a very limited distribution. Consequently, mentre covers the territory of both English as and while. Instead, when and quando appear to be very similar and, in both languages, are typically used in cases of ‘inverted’ simultaneity. The interaction between the subordinators and tense and aspect is also paid some attention and it is speculated that the use of the English progressive with simultaneity subordinators may be more common in translated than in original texts.