Las ventanas de la gramática: Discurso y futuro distanciador

Abstract

The windows of grammar: discourse and future of distance in Spanish. This paper deals with the so-called concessive use of the Spanish future tense. Specifically, it is explained as the result of the projection of a deictic value −distance− over the illocutive level. The paper examines the proper circumstances in which the concessive use is triggered: when it works as the first segment in a pero structure and when the information that it conveys has been previously activated. As a consequence, the future is involved in the counterargumentative strategy invoked by pero; furthermore, the future may participate in discourse strategies of a wider scope. The discursive behavior of the structure future + pero is also contrasted with that of the structure aunque + subjunctive. More generally, the analysis of the concessive future serves as an example of how certain categories may pass directly from grammar to discourse.