Obliqueness in Spanish Imperative Utterances

Abstract

alto, although the more negatively characterized un gordo, un flaco, etc. are acceptable, thus pointing to the possibility of predominantly negative traits. Once again, these discrepancies suggest that each culture selects a particular set of linguistic configurations to reflect its own individualizing characteristics. The last word has yet to be uttered with regard to the usage of indefinite articles in Spanish, and indeed, given the highly fluid and constantly evolving nature of the living language, it is unlikely that trained observation will ever completely catch up with spoken usage. Nonetheless, a search for semantic and cultural features, rather than merely superficial syntactic configurations, may ultimately lead to a more fundamental grasp of language behavior, with obvious benefits both for linguistic theory and for language pedagogy.