Cognitive underpinnings of the meaning of Spanish estar
Implications for its diachronic change
The Spanish copula verb
estar is currently taking part in two of the most well-known paths of
semantic change across different dialectal varieties of Spanish: (a) as a main copula verb, in its encroachment on the domain of
ser, and (b) as the auxiliary in the Present Progressive marker, as it encroaches in the domain of the Simple
Present form (i.e.,
Sánchez-Alonso 2018;
Fuchs
2020). Here we argue for the hypothesis that
estar’s participation in both paths of change is not
coincidental. Focusing on the copular use, we present arguments for the proposal that
estar’s encroachment is
connected to its lexico-conceptual structure, which, under specific communicative pressures, is afforded greater conversational
informativity, thus systematically expanding its licensing contexts and, as a result, bolstering its use. Evidence consistent with
this analysis emerges from use variation for
estar across several dialects of Spanish, both in its copular and
auxiliary uses.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.The lexical meaning of estar
- 3.The conceptual underpinnings of estar
- 4.The readings of estar sentences through the lens of estar’s conceptual structure
- 5.The diachrony of copular estar and its conceptual basis
- 6.One communicative mechanism of estar’s expansion: Perspective alignment
- 7.Conclusions
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
References
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