A note on repetition in Spanish: volver a + VInf, re-prefixation, and adverbs of repetition.

In this paper, we describe the semantics of three types of expressions of repetition that constitute presupposition triggers in Spanish, a verbal periphrasis, adverbs of repetition, and prefixation. We show that the main difficulty in their semantic analysis is that of formulating the minimal presupposition they trigger, and we assume that, in the case of the periphrasis, Ramchand's first-phase syntax templates are better predictors of this minimal presupposition than analyses relying on less fine-grained structures for the VP (such as those merely distinguishing adjuncts from arguments and internal from external arguments). As for the differences between the three types of expression, the periphrasis shows a clearly temporal nature, since it both modifies temporal structure and relies exclusively on temporal orders. Adverbs of repetition do not modify temporal structure and may rely on other types of order. Re1-prefixation in Spanish is confined to expressing the restitution (with or without modification) of a previously holding state

Variación y semántica de los tiempos verbales: el caso del futuro

Este artículo pretende dar una visión de conjunto de lo que sabemos acerca de la semántica de la morfología de futuro en español contemporáneo. Comenzaré por presentar las características de un cambio lingüístico panhispánico en curso y sus tendencias. La segunda sección estará dedicada al análisis del Futuro Sintético en una variedad, la del español coloquial del Río de la Plata, en la que el cambio parece haber avanzado hasta su conclusión. Por último, en la tercera sección evaluaré algunas hipótesis formuladas recientemente para el español y para otras lenguas que presentan una situación análog

Whatever happened to Sequence of Tense?

This paper addresses apparent violations of Sequence of Tense in subjunctive clauses in some Spanish varieties. We show that the coexistence of simultaneous interpretations for the past and the present subjunctive under a matrix past invalidates a crucial prediction of some theories of Sequence of Tense. We then conduct a corpus-based investigation of the [present under past]- pattern in indicative and subjunctive complement clauses in Argentinian Spanish, whose results indicate that there are two distributionally and semantically distinct manifestations of this pattern, one involving indicative and polarity subjunctive clauses, the other involving intensional and factive subjunctive clauses. This provides further evidence in favor of Quer's (1998, 2006, 2016) hypothesis as to the central relevance of the divide between intensional and polarity subjunctives

Modals and perfect morphology

This paper argues for a correlation between the distribution and interpretation of sequences in which perfect morphology is realized on a modal verb, on the one hand, and the semantics of perfect morphology, more precisely the stage reached by present perfects on the aoristic drift, on the other. Contemporary French, which shows a neat preference for higher perfects, is contrasted with European Spanish, which regularly exhibits epistemic readings for modals bearing perfect morphology without a general preference for higher perfects. Confirmation for the initial correlation is derived from an examination of Classical French and Latin American Spanish varieties

A note on repetition in Spanish: volver a + VInf, re-prefixation, and adverbs of repetition

International audienc

Les catégories aspectuelles à expression périphrastique: une interprétation des apparentes "lacunes" du français

National audienc

Subjuntivos intensionales y orientación temporal

International audienc

Subjuntivo y concordancia temporal: hacia una estructura de la variación

We analyze sequence of tense violations in subjunctive clauses in Río de la Plata Spanish, which we interpret as a weakening of the indexical nature of the present subjunctive. The phenomenon can be detected by the frequency of attested [[PASTMATRIX [NON-­‐PASTCOMPLEMENT CLAUSE] configurations not giving rise to double access effects. Our main working hypothesis is that the phenomenon arises in intensional subjunctive clauses, which are the source of a process of linguistic change

Progressives, pluractionals, and the domains of aspect

The Romance languages are rich in monoclausal verbal constructions traditionally classified as "aspectual periphrases". Those consisting of the locative copula or a motion verb with the gerund of the "main predicator" are frequently treated as expressions of progressive aspect. The aim of this paper is twofold. It will be shown that periphrases with motion verbs belong to the realm of "lower" aspect, whereas those containing STARE are genuine expressions of the progressive as a "higher" time-relational aspect. On the other hand, I will claim that periphrases with motion verbs can be analysed as pluractional operators on VPs along the lines recently proposed by Van Geenhoven (2003, 2004) for V operators. Their scope interactions with participants differ, however, crucially from those of adverbs with similar meanings