The generalization of preposition para via fusion and ensuing loss of compositionality
This study traces two shifts in the distribution of the Spanish preposition para ‘for, in order to’: first, a drop in its allative uses and second, its replacement of the older preposition por ‘for’ with purposive infinitives. These distributional changes of the innovative para—across its own contexts of occurrence as well as in its variation with the older por—demonstrate the crosslinguistic allative-to-purposive grammaticalization path. Frequent co-occurrence of the source elements, por and a, foments their coalescence, reflected in changes in the orthographic/phonological form of the fused preposition as it loses structural analyzability. Semantic compositionality, whereby there was a discernable semantic contribution of the allative a component, is also lost as early prepositional objects designating persons decline. We find this account of the rise of para, based on gradual loss of analyzability and compositionality, to be more compatible with the quantitative patterns and insightful than an opaque and implicitly abrupt notion of reanalysis.
References (43)
Corpus of texts (in chronological order, except for DLNE)
[
Cid] Anonymous,
Cantar de mio Cid. Texto, gramática y vocabulario, volume 3: Texto, paleographic edition of Ramón Menéndez Pidal. Madrid: Espasa Calpe
1944-1945.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
[
Calila] Anonymous,
Calila e Dimna,
edition of Juan Manuel Cacho Blecua and María Jesús Lacarra. Madrid: Castalia
1984.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
[
GEI] Alfonso X,
General estoria. Primera parte, edition of Lloyd Kasten, John Nitti and Wilhelmina Jonxis-Henkemans, The Electronic Texts and Concordances of the Prose Works of Alfonso X, El Sabio. Madison: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies
1997.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
[Zifar] Anonymous,
El libro del cavallero Zifar, edition of Charles Ph. Wagner. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press
1929.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
[
Lucanor
]
Don Juan Manuel,
El conde Lucanor o Libro de los enxiemplos del conde Lucanor et de Patronio, edition of José Manuel Blecua. Madrid: Castalia
1969/1971.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
[
Corbacho
]
Alfonso Martínez de Toledo,
Arcipreste de Talavera o Corbacho, edition of Michael Gerli. Madrid: Cátedra
1979/1992.
[
Celestina
]
Fernando de Rojas,
La Celestina, edition of Dorothy S. Severin. Madrid: Cátedra
1993.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
[
LT] Anónimo,
Tri-linear edition of Lazarillo de Tormes of 1554 (Burgos, Alcalá de Henares, Amberes), edition of Joseph V. Ricapito. Madison: The Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies
1987.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
[
Quijote
]
Miguel de Cervantes,
Don Quijote de la Mancha, in Obras completas, volume 2, edition of Francisco Sevilla Arroyo and Antonio Rey Hazas. Madrid: Alianza Editorial-Centro de Estudios Cervantinos
1996.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
[
CN/
Sí
]
Leandro Fernández de Moratín,
La comedia nueva. El sí de las niñas, edition of John Dowling and René Andioc. Madrid: Castalia
1968.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
[
Regenta
]
Leopoldo Alas «Clarín»,
La Regenta, edition of Gonzalo Sobejano. Madrid: Castalia
1981/1982.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
[
Bandidos
]
Manuel Payno,
Los bandidos de Río Frío, in Obras completas, edition of Manuel Sol. México: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes
2000.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
[
Madrid
]
Manuel Esgueva y
Margarita Cantarero (eds.) El habla de la ciudad de Madrid: materiales para su estudio. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
1981.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
[
México
]
Juan M. Lope Blanch (coord.),
El habla de la ciudad de México. Materiales para su estudio. México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
1971.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
[
DLNE
] Concepción Company Company,
Documentos lingüísticos de la Nueva España. Altiplano central. México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
1994.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Aaron, Jessi Elana, and Rena Torres Cacoullos
2005 “
Quantitative Measures of Subjectification: A Variationist Study of Spanish salir(se)
.”
Cognitive Linguistics 16(4): 607-633.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Beckner, Clay, and Joan Bybee
2009 “
A Usage-based Account of Constituency and Reanalysis.”
Language Learning 59: 27-46.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bolinger, Dwight L
1945 “
Purpose with Por and Para.”
Modern Language Journal 28(1): 15-22.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bybee, Joan L
2010 Language, Usage and Cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Campbell, Lyle
1998 Historical Linguistics: An Introduction. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cappelli, Adriano
1889/1990
Lexicon Abbreviaturarum: Dizionario di abbreviature latine
ed
italiane. Sexta edición. Trento: Ulrico Hoepli Editore.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Company Company, Concepción
Company Company, Concepción
1994 “Introducción”, in Documentos lingüísticos de la Nueva España, Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1-19.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Corominas, Joan
1980-1991 Diccionario crítico-etimológico castellano e hispánico, con la colaboración de José Antonio Pascual. Madrid: Gredos.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Croft, William and D. Alan Cruse
2004 Cognitive Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Davies, Mark
2002-
Corpus del Español: 100 million words, 1200s-1900s. Available online at
[URL].
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
García de Diego, Vicente
1951 Gramática histórica española. Madrid: Gredos.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hanssen, Federico
1945 Gramática histórica de la lengua castellana. Buenos Aires: El Ateneo.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haspelmath, Martin
2011 “
The Gradual Coalescence into ‘Words’ in Grammaticalization.” In
The Oxford Handbook of Grammaticalization, ed. by
Bernd Heine and
Heiko Narrog, 342-355. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Heine, Benrd and Tania Kuteva
2002 World Lexicon of Grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Langacker, Ronald
1987 Foundations of Cognitive Grammar: Theoretical Prerequisites, Vol 1. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Maldonado, Ricardo
1999 A media voz: problemas conecptuales del clítico se. México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Myhill, John
1995 “
Change and Continuity in the Functions of the American English Modals.”
Linguistics 33(2): 157-211.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rice, Sally and Kaori Kabata
2007 “
Crosslinguistic Grammaticalization Patterns of the allative.”
Linguistic Typology 11: 451-514.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Riiho, Timo
1979 Por y para. Estudio sobre los orígenes y la evolución de una oposición prepositiva iberorrománica. Helsinki: Societas Scientiarum Fennica.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Solalinde, Antonio
1930 Alfonso el Sabio: General Estoria, primera parte. Madrid: Centro de Estudios Históricos.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Torres Cacoullos, Rena
2006 “
Relative Frequency in the Grammaticization of Collocations: Nominal to Concessive a pesar de
.” In
Selected Proceedings of the 8th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, ed. by
Timothy A. Face and
Carol E. Klee, 37-49. Somerville: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Torres Cacoullos, Rena and Joseph Bauman
2014 (in press).
“Preposiciones III: Por, pora, para.” Sintaxis histórica de la lengua española, part III: Adverbios, preposiciones y conjunciones, Concepción Company Company (director). Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica y Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Torres Cacoullos, Rena and Scott A. Schwenter
2005 “
Towards an Operational Notion of Subjectification.” In
Proceedings of the 31st Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Prosodic Variation and Change, ed. by
Rebecca T. Cover and
Yuni Kim, 347-358. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Linguistics Society.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Weinreich, Uriel, William Labov, and Marvin Herzog
1968 “Empirical Foundations for a Theoryof Language Change. In
Directions for Historical Linguistics, ed. by
Winfred P. Lehmann and
Yakov Malkiel, 95-195. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (3)
Cited by 3 other publications
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 24 june 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.