Demostrativos y posesivos

Abstract

This chapter presents an overview of Spanish demonstrative and possessive forms and their usage in discourse. Both demonstratives and possessives function as determiners in noun phrases. Demonstratives also function as pronouns and can grammaticalize into discourse markers. The semantic and pragmatic meanings of demonstratives and possessives are discoverable by examining patterns that emerge from language use. Demonstrative forms situate referents in space, expressing how near or far a referent is. By extension, demonstrative forms can also express temporal and interpersonal distance. Possessives can also express multiple meanings. Besides denoting possession in a prototypical sense, possessives also express semantic relations such as association and spatial distance. This chapter also reviews regional variation and phenomena associated with language contact. For example, in regions where Spanish is in contact with other languages, demonstratives do not always match the gender of their referent (esta/este gallina, la gallina … esa/eso vendíamos). Possessive constructions in language contact areas include double possession (su canoa de ellos), genitive fronting (de ellos su canoa), article and possessive combinations (una mi tacita de café) and lack of number agreement between possessor and possessed item (sus canoa). In summary, examining form, function, discourse context and language contact scenarios reveals the meanings conveyed by demonstratives and possessives as well as ongoing changes in how these forms are used.