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Part of
Hispanic Linguistics at the Crossroads: Theoretical linguistics, language acquisition and language contact
Edited by Rachel Klassen, Juana M. Liceras and Elena Valenzuela
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 4] 2015
► pp. 49–68

The semantics and pragmatics of andar and venir + gerund

| The Ohio State University
| The Ohio State University

This study builds on existing research regarding the characterization of Spanish aspectual periphrases, such as vivir + gerund or ir + gerund, and explores and compares the distribution of the periphrases andar + gerund and venir + gerund in Peninsular Spanish. We propose that a complete analysis requires both semantic and pragmatic considerations. First, although both andar + gerund and venir + gerund behave as frequentative pluractional operators, we show that they differ with respect to the nature of the frequency of event repetitions. Second, we posit that these periphrastic constructions differ pragmatically as a result of two generalized conversational implicatures from which differing meanings involving the agent’s intention towards the accomplishment of a goal and the agent’s level of engagement arise.

Keywords: aspectual periphrases, conversational implicatures, Peninsular Spanish, pluractionality
Published online: 30 July 2015
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.4.03sai
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