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Verb and Context: The impact of shared knowledge on TAME categories
Edited by Susana Rodríguez Rosique and Jordi M. Antolí Martínez
[IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature 34] 2023
► pp. 263–290

Time after time

The mirative construction <no irFut. a + infinitive> in Spanish

| University of Alicante

This paper analyzes the construction <No irFut. a + infinitive> in Spanish. At first sight, the construction is made up of two futures: the so-called periphrastic future <ir a + infinitive> [going to + infinitive] and the morphological future (Fut.) in which the auxiliary of the periphrasis occurs. However, neither of them seems to denote posteriority. The construction is rather used to convey the speaker’s surprise towards a contextually activated situation that is considered inappropriate, which falls under the umbrella of mirativity. Both the deictic instruction of ‘distance forward’ invoked by the morphological future and the lexical characterization of the verb ir [‘to go’] are acknowledged as productive mechanisms in the creation of meaning. The uses of their respective spatial configurations, in the relevant contextual environment, explain the interaction between future and mirativity in Spanish.

Article outline
  • 1.<No irFut. a + infinitive>: Two futures with no future interpretation
  • 2.A deictic reformulation of Spanish morphological future
  • 3.Following the path of mirativity
  • 4.Going back to <No irFut. a + infinitive>
    • 4.1The interpretation of distance in the construction <No irFut. a + infinitive>: The contribution of the morphological future
    • 4.2The contribution of the periphrasis: <Ir a + infinitive> and mirativity
  • 5.Conclusion: A productive template in the creation of (discourse) grammar
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 4 January 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.34.11rod
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