Una relación temporal de “simultaneidad coextensiva delimitada” en las variedades contemporáneas del español: dialectología y análisis de por mientras / para mientras

Abstract

This paper examines a Spanish temporal connective that has been paid no attention in grammatical studies: por mientras / para mientras. The study has two main goals. The first one aims at establishing the geographical distribution of these expressions in contemporary Spanish varieties. The second objective attempts to advance a first preliminary description of the functions and uses of this connective. The starting point of the analysis deals with the hypothesis that theses essentially synonymous temporal expressions convey a relationship of “delimited coextensive simultaneity”. According to this hypotesis, the connective combines the durative properties of mientras (‘while’) and the delimitative characteristic feature of hasta (‘until’). These mixed properties collocates the connective in an intermediate zone. Tha analysys is based on data drawn from Corpus del español, although samples extracted from other databases will contribute to complete the sociodialectal distribution