present perfect

[Ronhool]

Please, could anyone comment on the sentence in bold type:

This phenomenon, called the historical present, has a long history in English and is found in numerous other languages, both ancient and modern. Linguists have sometimes suggested that historical present makes stories more vivid primarily by bringing past actions into the immediate present.

Why do they use Present perfect in this sentence?

Thank you in advance for your comments!

Link to the source - http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Historic+present

[MDanova]

What other tense can one use here? Linguists started to suggest that historical present makes stories <...> in the past (but we don't know when). And they still suggest that. So this isn't Past Simple.
It might be Present Simple: Linguists sometimes suggest that... but that doesn't show that their 'suggestion' has a connection with the past. That's only my opinion, for sure.

[Ronhool]

Я понимаю это предложение так: Лингвисты считают, что в некоторых случаях настоящее историческое время придает рассказу....

Т.о. we talk about things in general, it happens repeatedly

Am I wrong?

[MDanova]

Well, what matters in this sentence is not that it happens repeatedly, but that there have been such suggestions.

[sept]

 Там еще есть продолжение:
Linguists have sometimes suggested that historical present makes stories more vivid primarily by bringing past actions into the immediate present. However, it has been noted that, no matter how exciting stories are, the speakers never use present tense verbs exclusively even when relating the most crucial events. In addition, past and present tense alternations tend to occur only between events that are markedly different.
 Два раза употребляют настоящее время, т.к. две точки зрения существуют до сих пор. И существуют они одновременно. "Конфликт" важен для нас именно сейчас.
 Present perfect выбран вместо Present Simple, т.к. важно не само действие (то, что кто-то "высказывает"), а его результат (существуют две точки зрения на проблему).

[Ronhool]

MDanova and septentrionalis, thanks a lot! I've gotten the point.