In:Constructions in Spanish
Edited by Inga Hennecke and Evelyn Wiesinger
[Constructional Approaches to Language 34] 2023
► pp. 309–339
Chapter 12On the role of verb-particle constructions in Old Spanish
Onomasiological networks and typological change
Published online: 18 July 2023
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.34.12wie
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.34.12wie
Abstract
The present contribution investigates
verb-particle constructions formed with atras ‘back(wards)’ in
Old Spanish, against the background of the typological change from
(mostly) satellite-framed patterns in Latin to the predominantly
verb-framed strategies in the Romance languages. The study
innovatively combines diachronic Construction Grammar with a
functional-onomasiological perspective. This means that VPCs are
studied relative to “competing” strategies of motion
encoding such as instantiations of the prefix-construction
[re-V] ‘V back’ and newly formed path verbs
such as tornar/volver
‘turn/go back’.
The diachronic study shows that VPCs are in
principle available at all language stages of Spanish. Moreover, the
onomasiological perspective suggests that the observed “rise” of
VPCs in Old Spanish could in fact be related to constructional
micro-changes occurring among path verbs and instantiations of
[re-V]. Within this network of functionally
related constructions, VPCs prove to form a transparent and
potentially expressive, mostly intransitive pattern to encode
directed motion meanings.
Keywords: verb-particle construction, atrás, prefixation, path verbs, motion encoding
Article outline
- 1.Motion encoding in Romance and the role of verb-particle constructions
- 2.Theoretical and methodological premises
- 3.Diachronic case study
- 3.1Diachronic corpus data from CORDE
- 3.2Constructional properties of VPCs formed with (P) atras
- 3.3Prefixation and simple path verbs
- 3.3.1Prefixation pattern [re-V]
- 3.3.2Path verbs
- 3.3.3Competing strategies?
- 4.Discussion and implications of the findings
Notes References
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