Propuesta de un prototipo participial con base en cuatro perífrasis verbales

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to propose a definition of the category ‘participle’ grounded on the cognitive theory of prototype by means of a quantitative approach. Thus, we firstly address the main issues affecting the determination of the dual nature of the participle, namely, its verbal and adjectival status. Then, we will explain how to solve such problems on the basis of the theory of prototype so that the category participle may be understood in a continuum whose ends are the full verb and the full adjective –depending on the specific language use where a past participle form is present, it will tend to be closer to one end or the other. Finally, as an attempt to search for empirical arguments, we will analyze a corpus based on the assumption that its main prototypical characteristic (which is, at the same time, the key to apprehend its dual nature) is the fact that it can be part of four verbal periphrases (with tener, haber, ser y estar). These periphrases enables the analyst to determine the degree of ‘verbality’ or ‘adjectivity’ of the non-personal participle form on the basis of the semantic nature of the auxiliary verbs –especially, if such a form belongs to the third group of participles, namely, perfective adjectives. The main conclusion of the study, insofar as the relations holding between participle forms and the auxiliary verbs listed above are concerned, is the claim that the creation of a ‘quantitatively-based prototype’ enabling the measurement of the degrees of (a)grammaticality of the relevant utterances collected in a corpus, can give rise to new powerful descriptive trends within linguistic research.