The Use of Tense and Aspect in the Holocaust Survivors Interviews: A Corpus-Based Approach

Abstract

In the realm of Holocaust research, understanding the memories and experience of survivors has been a vital pursuit. Scholars have sought to explore which aspects of their traumatic past survivors choose the share, and how language and discourse play a role in their willingness to reveal hidden memories. Over the past four decades, the Holocaust has emerged as a significant field of culture and history research, with survivors testimonies forming a cornerstone of investigation. One such testimony archive, the Voice and Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive, provides a platform for witnessing survivors struggles to recount their experiences of violence during the genocide. Through their own words, survivors deliver their powerful emotions to readers and audience, captured in recorded and written testimonies. Of particular interest is the examination of linguistic cues, such as verb tenses and aspects, which survivors use overtly to express their narratives more effectively. This linguistic tool serves as a valuable resource for further linguistic research. This article delves into the intersection of trauma and language use in surviving memories, specifically focusing on interviewees whose second language is American English, as they immigrated after their liberation. By analyzing a corpus of collected interviews, this study aims to investigate the forms and aspects of verbs uttered by non-English native interviewees, uncovering the types of verbs buried deep within their underlying memory repository. The insights gained from this research will shed light on the intricacies of survivor testimonies and contribute to deeper understanding of the enduring impact of the Holocaust.