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Changes in Meaning and Function: Studies in historical linguistics with a focus on Spanish
Edited by Jorge Fernández Jaén and Herminia Provencio Garrigós
[IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature 25] 2020
► pp. 195–220

Something seems to have changed

Diachronic evidence for the semantic shift of parecer + infinitive

| Utrecht University

This paper examines the claim that when a full verb is grammaticalized and becomes an auxiliary it is subjected to a process of desemanticization or semantic bleaching. For this matter, the Spanish periphrasis parecer + infinitive (‘to seem’) is analysed on the basis of the three semantic-pragmatic tendencies proposed by Traugott (1989). It is shown how in the course of time the original meaning of physical appearance of the periphrasis developed into the current epistemic and evidential meaning, shifting from a concrete to a more abstract meaning. The semantic shift, so it is argued, does not involve a loss of meaning but constitutes a case of generalization, allowing for the use of the periphrasis with all six grammatical persons.

Keywords: Spanish, verbal periphrases, parecer + infinitive, epistemic modality, evidentially, semantic bleaching, subjectification, speaker-oriented
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The periphrastic nature of parecer + infinitive
  • 3.The origin of parecer + infinitive
  • 4.The semantic evolution of parecer + infinitive
  • 5.Epistemic and evidential meaning
  • 6. Parecer + infinitive in first person singular
  • 7.Summary and conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 2 April 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.25.09nie
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