Ser, estar y los verbos semicopulativos

Abstract

Copulative verbs are verbs of little semantic content that establish a relationship (identity, attribution, location) between the subject and predicate of the clause. The main copulative verbs in Spanish are ser and estar, but there are other verbs with a heavier semantic load such as volverse (loco) “go (mad)” which are subsumed under the term semi-copulative. Formal approaches account for the difference between copulative verbs by means of semantic oppositions. For example, ser is associated with individual-level predicates, which express permanent properties, whereas estar occurs with stage-level predicates, which express transient properties. However, these differences cannot account for the variable contexts of use of these verbs. In this chapter, we describe the contrast between ser and estar from a wider perspective that takes into account the history of Spanish, geographic and social variation and contact varieties of Spanish. We determine the probabilistic grammar of ser and estar on the basis of the results of variationist studies on monolingual and bilingual varieties, and we examine the hypothesis of contact-induced acceleration of change. In addition, we account for the processes of variation and change that concern copulative and semi-copulative verbs by means of the exemplar model, through which their distribution is conditioned by usage patterns based on frequency and semantic similarity.