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In:Constructions in Spanish
Edited by Inga Hennecke and Evelyn Wiesinger
[Constructional Approaches to Language 34] 2023
► pp. 280–308

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Chapter 11
From he aquí to aquí está

A case of constructional substitution and syntactic regularization

 | University of Marburg
Published online: 18 July 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.34.11tac
Abstract
This study provides a construction grammar account in line with Lakoff (1987) and Goldberg (2006) of two types of deictic-presentative constructions in Spanish, [he aquí NP] and [aquí está NP]. Following up on Lakoff’s (1987, pp. 462–585) seminal analysis of English there-constructions and drawing on the findings of Bergen & Plauché (e.g. 2005) on French voilà-constructions, it will be shown how the formal properties of both structures are not only linked to the same function but also motivated by it. This synchronic constructional analysis is meant to lay the groundwork for a subsequent diachronic account of the historical origins of these constructions, that is, their constructionalization from Indo-European and Semitic deictic particles (he aquí NP) and from presentational adverb-verb-subject constructions (aquí está NP). It will be argued that the substitution of he aquí-constructions by aquí está-constructions can be described in terms of syntactic regularization. Depending on the matter in question, this study relies on both qualitative and quantitative analyses of corpus data.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous accounts
  • 3.Synchronic constructional analysis
    • 3.1Functional properties: The pointing-out ICM
    • 3.2Formal properties
      • 3.2.1[He aquí NP]
      • 3.2.2[Aquí está/viene NP]
  • 4.Historical and constructional origins
    • 4.1He aquí constructions
    • 4.2Aquí está constructions
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (76)
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