Spanish Periphrases Research Articles

The contribution of aspectual auxiliary verbs to the factual value of verb periphrases in Spanish: An empirical study

This paper presents the results of a corpus-based study on the contribution of Spanish aspectual auxiliary verbs to the factual interpretation of the predicates they modify and with which they constitute the verb complex (a verb periphrasis, VP). The study was carried out as part of a project that, based on linguistic knowledge, aimed at automatizing the annotation of the factual status of texts in this language. We analyzed 674 sentences in European Spanish extracted from four corpora, where 28 VPs were represented, considering only indicative tenses. Interestingly, the results show that, although one of the most important aspects that affects the factual interpretation in sentences with VPs is the verb tense of the auxiliary, in a few VPs, the type of auxiliary changes the factual value expected for the VP taking into account the tense used. Finally, based on the data under analysis, the study concludes that it is feasible to state general rules to automate the annotation of factuality for most of the aspectual VPs studied.

La preposición en las perífrasis discursivas del español. Un reto para el armenio

La investigaciĂłn realiza un estudio contrastivo de las perĂ­frasis verbales discursivas en español y sus traducciones equivalentes en armenio. Dicha comparaciĂłn estĂĄ enfocada a los paralelismos entre las construcciones formales y sus significados lĂŠxicos y gramaticales en dos lenguas de la misma familia, la indoeuropea, pero de ramas distintas, la romĂĄnica y la armenia. Cabe destacar que, aunque sĂ­ se dan casos de tales construcciones a la hora de traducir del español al armenio, no se dedica ningĂşn apartado al concepto de perĂ­frasis verbal en su corpus gramatical. El enfoque es fundamentalmente semĂĄntico a partir de las formalizaciones lĂŠxicas que adoptan en la traducciĂłn al armenio las estructuras gramaticales correspondientes a las perĂ­frasis verbales en español. Dicho enfoque se acompaña de la perspectiva cognitiva y pragmĂĄtica cuando es necesario explicar un determinado fenĂłmeno en funciĂłn no solo del cĂłdigo, sino del origen mental y contexto comunicativo. En las traducciones equivalentes de las perĂ­frasis verbales españolas con preposiciĂłn, esta no aparece en armenio; ello supone un reto a la hora de traducirlas. Los resultados obtenidos del anĂĄlisis reflejan ejemplos donde la perĂ­frasis verbal española desaparece, convirtiĂŠndose en armenio en verbo pleno + marcador discursivo o + sustantivo isosĂŠmico de la forma verbal elidida, y ejemplos donde se conserva la perĂ­frasis verbal española, con flexiĂłn casual del infinitivo.

Periphrases in Spanish: properties, diagnostics and research questions

This article provides an overview of the main facts and analytical problems that relate to verbal periphrases. The article is structured as follows. In §1 I provide an overview of the main criteria for being a periphrasis, and the constructions that it should be differentiated from. §2 is devoted to the nature of the auxiliary verb, and its limits with other types of verbs. In §3 I talk about the auxiliated verb, and the linking element that sometimes appears in connection to it. §4 briefly discusses the main structure of a periphrasis, and is followed by a few sections about the syntactic behaviour of these linguistic objects. §5 discusses the behaviour of clitics within periphrases; §6 talks about the selectional restrictions; §7 talks about the behaviour of passives with these structures. §8 discusses the semantic classification of periphrases and some of the research problems that they trigger. §9 talks about sequences of periphrases, and their additional restrictions.

On the position of subjects in Spanish periphrases: Subjecthood left and right

Chains of auxiliary verbs in Spanish allow for the reconceptualization of well-known grammatical problems under the light of understudied structures. In this paper we will deal with issues regarding the position of subjects in declarative and interrogative sentences featuring auxiliary chains. It will become immediately evident that the dichotomy between pre- and post-verbal subjects results inadequate to provide adequate characterisations for the Spanish cases, in contrast to the situation in English. This is so because post-verbal subjects may appear, a priori, to the right of each auxiliary in a chain. These new data, which have received little attention, constitute a challenge for standard hypotheses about the position of subjects in Spanish.

El desarrollo de perífrasis incoativas cuasi-sinónimas: entre construccionalización y lexicalización

Este estudio se concentra en la evolución de las perífrasis incoativas en español. En estas construcciones, verbos de colocación (ponerse), de cambio (romper) o de movimiento (echarse) funcionan como auxiliar, combinándose con un infinitivo subordinado al que añade significado aspectual. El artículo pretende (i) analizar el origen y la evolución funcional y formal de una variante poco estudiada, romper a + infinitivo, (ii) fijar con más precisión el tipo de cambio lingüístico que ilustra, lexicalización o construccionalización, y (iii) contestar a la pregunta de hasta qué punto perífrasis cuasi-sinónimas se han desarrollado en paralelo. Se exponen los resultados de un análisis comparativo diacrónico de tres perífrasis incoativas entre los siglos XIII y XXI. Está demostrado que el esquema incoativo se ha desarrollado a partir de verbos de colocación y que posteriormente se abre a incluir otros tipos léxicos. Para explicar el proceso de cambio, ambos modelos, construccionalización y lexicalización, son imprescindibles.

Competing modal periphrases in Spanish between the 16th and the 18th centuries

AbstractThe history of Spanish modal constructions has been widely discussed in the literature, focusing primarily on the semantic differences between the available alternatives. This paper offers an innovative analysis of the evolution of these constructions by adopting a diachronic variationist approach that takes into account a wider range of semantic, syntactic, morphological and stylistic factors that influence the choice between the competing modal periphrases during two key stages in the evolution of Spanish. The data is drawn from a diachronic corpus of personal correspondence, reflecting actual language usage during the respective periods as closely as possible. Particular attention is paid to the question of whether the influence of different factor groups remains stable over time or not, and it is shown that the most frequent form – context pairings are particularly resistant to innovation. This can be explained by cognitive entrenchment of the respective variant in specific linguistic environments.

Lexical auxiliaries in Spanish: How and why?

AbstractDeparting from a proposal by Keizer on how to bridge the gap between the grammar and the lexicon in Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG), this article deals with three aspectual verbal periphrases in Spanish, which are, in the order of their degrees of grammaticalization, (i) weakly grammaticalized resultative

Negation of resultative and progressive periphrases

This paper focuses on resultative and progressive periphrases in Spanish: <<em>estar</em> ‘to be’ + participle> and <<em>estar</em> ‘to be’ + gerund>, respectively. These periphrases have been associated with several negated constructions. On the one hand, the negative particle <em>no</em> ‘not’ can precede the auxiliary verb (<<em>no estar</em> ‘not to be’ + participle> and <<em>no estar</em> ‘not to be’ + gerund>); on the other hand, we have the structure <<em>estar sin</em> ‘to be without’ + infinitive>. Contrary to what has been suggested in the literature, I will show that these negative constructions have a different interpretation and develop a semantic analysis of them. Furthermore, I will offer new evidence in favor of the existence of negative events.