Cover not available
Part of
Argument Realisation in Complex Predicates and Complex Events: Verb-verb constructions at the syntax-semantic interface
Edited by Brian Nolan and Elke Diedrichsen
[Studies in Language Companion Series 180] 2017
► pp. 348–373

Chapter 12
Feelings as emotion, attitude, and viewpoints

| IIFL-Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
| Dirección de Educación Superior, Instituto Politécnico Nacional

This chapter examines the syntax and semantics of sentir ‘to feel’ in simple and complex structures. Based on data from Mexican Spanish, we corroborate the polysemy of this verb, and we point out that different complement types (and verb forms) denote particular subjective connotations (emotions, attitudes, thoughts, evaluations, viewpoints). We propose that nominal complements correlate with an unmediated physical and emotional perception of an object, while clausal complements report a thought towards a proposition. What we called predicative elements (mainly adjectives and past participles) describe the state, quality, or property of the perceived object. In the last structure, the verb form is sentirse, and both the verb and the perceived state form a complex predicate.

Keywords: perception, emotions, attitude, predicative elements, sentir ‘to feel’
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The semantics of sentir ‘to feel’
  • 3.The corpus under analysis
  • 4. Sentir taking nominal complements
  • 5. Sentir taking clausal complements
  • 6. Sentir taking predicative elements
  • 7.Final discussion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 26 January 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.180.12gue
References
Alarcos Llorach, Emilio
2005 Gramática de la lengua española. Madrid: Gredos.Google Scholar
Boye, Kasper
2010 Reference and clausal perception-verb complements. Linguistics 48(2): 391–430. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cano Aguilar, Rafael
1987 Estructuras Sintácticas Transitivas en el Español Actual. Madrid: Gredos.Google Scholar
Cinque, Guglielmo
1992 The pseudo-relative and acc-ing constructions after verbs of perception. Working Papers in Linguistics 2: 1–31. University of VeniceGoogle Scholar
Ciutescu, Elena
2013 Remarks on the infinitival subject of perception verb complements: Evidence for two syntactic configurations. RRL LVIII (3): 299–312.Google Scholar
Cristofaro, Sonia
2003 Subordination. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Cruz Domínguez, Irasema
2014 Caracterización semántica-sintáctica del verbo de percepción sentir. MA dissertation, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Google Scholar
Demonte, Violeta & Masullo, Pascual J.
1999 La predicación: Los complementos predicativos. In Gramática Descriptiva de la Lengua Española, Vol. II, Ignacio Bosque & Violeta Demonte (eds), 2461–2523. Madrid: Espasa Calpe.Google Scholar
Dik, Simon & Hengeveld, Kees
1991 The hierarchical structure of the clause and the typology of perception-verb complements. Linguistics 29: 231–259. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Di Tullio, Ángela
1998 Complementos no-flexivos de verbos de percepción física en español. Verba 25: 197–221.Google Scholar
Enghels, Renata
2007 Les modalités de perception visuelle et auditive: Différences conceptuelles et répercussions sémantico-syntaxiques en espagnol et en français. Tübingen: Niemeyer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013 Transitivity of Spanish perception verbs: A gradual category? Borealis. An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics 2(1): 36–26. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Enghels, Renata & Jansegers, Marlies
2012 Sentir: Un verbo en la intersección de las lenguas románicas. XXVI Congrès International de Linguistique et de Philologie Romanes, Valencia, 6–11 September 2010.Google Scholar
2013 On the cross-linguistic equivalence of sentir(e) in Romance languages: a contrastive study in semantics. Linguistics 51(5): 957–991. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Evans, Nicholas & Wilkins, David P.
2000 In the mind’s ear: The semantic extensions of perception verbs in Australian languages. Language 76(3): 546–592. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Faber, Pamela & Mairal Usón, Ricardo
1998 The paradigmatic and the syntagmatic structure of the lexical field of feeling and its extensions to other domains. In Cuadernos de Investigación Filológica XXIII-XXIV: 35–60. Logroño: Universidad de La Rioja.Google Scholar
Fernández Jaén, Jorge
2006 Verbos de percepción sensorial en español: Una clasificación cognitiva. Interlingüística 16: 1–14.Google Scholar
2012 Semántica cognitiva diacrónica de los verbos de percepción física del español. PhD dissertation, University of Alicante.Google Scholar
Guasti, María Teresa
1989 Romance infinitive complements of perception verbs. MIT Working papers in Linguistics 11: 31–45.Google Scholar
Gumiel Molina, Silvia
2005 Los complementos predicativos. Madrid: Arco/Libros.Google Scholar
Hanegreefs, Hilde
2008 Los verbos de percepción visual. Un análisis de corpus en un marco cognitivo. Leuven: KU Leuven.Google Scholar
Hernanz Carbó, María Lluïsa
1988 En torno a la sintaxis de los complementos predicativos en español. Estudi General 8: 7–29.Google Scholar
Himmelmann, Nikolaus & Schultze-Berndt, Eva
2005 Issues in the syntax and semantics of participant-oriented adjuncts: An introduction. In Secondary Predication and Adverbial Modification. The Typology of Depictives. Nikolaus P. Himmelmann & Eva Schultze-Berndt (eds), 285–308. Oxford: OUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hornstein, Norbert, Martins, Ana María & Nunes, Jairo
2006 Infinitival complements of perception and causative verbs: A case study on agreement and intervention effects in English and European Portuguese. University of Maryland Working Papers in Linguistics 14: 81–110. [URL]
Ibarretxe Antuñano, Iraide
1999 Polysemy and Metaphor in Perception Verbs: A Cross Linguistic Study. PhD dissertation, The University of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Jansegers, Marlies & Enghels, Renata
2013 De verbo de percepción a marcador de disculpa: La evolución diacrónica del verbo sentir en español. Revue de Linguistique Romane 305–306: 139–166.Google Scholar
Jansegers, Marlies & Cruz Domínguez, Irasema
2016. La polisemia del verbo sentir: Estudio contrastivo de las variantes peninsular y mexicana. Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 305: 924–947.
Jansegers, Marlies, Enghels, Renta & Cruz Domínguez, Irasema
In press. El carácter multimodal del verbo sentir: Polisemia y transitividad. Zeitschrift für Romanische Philologie.
Kirsner, Robert & Thompson, Sandra
1976 The role of pragmatic inference in semantics: A study of sensory verb complements in English. Glossa 10(2): 200–240.Google Scholar
Lozano Jaén, Ginés & Valero Cifuentes, María Lucía
2012 En torno a las oraciones subordinadas de complemento predicativo. Revista de Electrónica de Estudios Filológicos 22. [URL]
Martín Butragueño, Pedro & Lastra, Yolanda
1997 Corpus Sociolingüístico de la Ciudad de México. El Colegio de México. [URL]
Martínez, José Antonio
2005 La oración compuesta y compleja. Madrid: Arco/ Libros.Google Scholar
Moore, John
1996 Reduced Constructions in Spanish. New York NY: Garland.Google Scholar
Morimoto, Yuko
2006 Análisis comparativo de encontrarse y sentirse: Entre la predicación y la atribución. Actas del XXXV Simposio Internacional de la Sociedad Española de Lingüística, 1331–134. [URL]
Sweetser, Eve
1990 Semantic structure and semantic change: English perception verbs in an Indo-European Context. In From Etymology to Pragmatics. Metaphorical and Cultural Aspects of Semantic Structure. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Suñer, Margarita
1978 Perception verb complements in Spanish: Same or different. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 23: 107–127.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Real Academia Española: Banco de datos (CREA)
[on line]. Corpus de referencia del español actual. [URL]
Van der Auwera, Johan
1985 The predicative relatives of French perception verbs. In Predicates and Terms in Functional Grammar, A. Machtelt Bolkestein, Casper Groot & J. Lachlan Mackenzie (eds), 219–234. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Van Valin Jr., Robert D. & LaPolla, Randy
1997 Syntax: Structure, Meaning and Function. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vanhove, Martine
2008 Semantic associations between sensory modalities, prehension and mental perceptions: A crosslinguistic perspective. In From Polysemy to Semantic Change. Towards a Typology of Lexical Semantic Associations [Studies in Language Companion Series 106], Martine Vanhove (ed.), 341–370. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vázquez Rojas, Violeta
2005 La interpretación del subjuntivo español como marca de integración entre eventos. In Sintaxis del español e interfase sintaxis-semántica, Martha Islas & Cynthia Ramírez (eds), 139–154. Toluca: UAEM.Google Scholar
Verbeke, Charlotte
2011 Sentir: ¿un verbo de percepción o un verbo de emoción? MA dissertation, Ghent University.Google Scholar
Vesterinen, Rainer
2010 The relation between iconicity and subjectification in Portuguese complementation: Complements of perception and causation Verbs. Cognitive Linguistics 21(3): 573–600. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Viberg, Åke
1984 The verbs of perception: A typological study. Linguistics 21: 123–162.Google Scholar
Whitt, Richard Jason
2010 Evidentiality and Perception Verbs in English and German. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 16 other publications

Fendel, Victoria Beatrix Maria
2022. Summary and Conclusion. In Coptic Interference in the Syntax of Greek Letters from Egypt, ► pp. 445 ff. DOI logo
Fendel, Victoria Beatrix Maria
2022. Coptic Interference in the Syntax of Greek Letters from Egypt, DOI logo
Fendel, Victoria Beatrix Maria
2022. Concepts, Contexts, Corpora. In Coptic Interference in the Syntax of Greek Letters from Egypt, ► pp. 23 ff. DOI logo
Fendel, Victoria Beatrix Maria
2022. Discourse Markers. In Coptic Interference in the Syntax of Greek Letters from Egypt, ► pp. 323 ff. DOI logo
Fendel, Victoria Beatrix Maria
2022. Formulaic Language. In Coptic Interference in the Syntax of Greek Letters from Egypt, ► pp. 365 ff. DOI logo
Fendel, Victoria Beatrix Maria
2022. Semi-formulaic Phrases. In Coptic Interference in the Syntax of Greek Letters from Egypt, ► pp. 413 ff. DOI logo
Fendel, Victoria Beatrix Maria
2022. Verb Phrases. In Coptic Interference in the Syntax of Greek Letters from Egypt, ► pp. 237 ff. DOI logo
Fendel, Victoria Beatrix Maria
2022. The Basics of Coptic Grammar. In Coptic Interference in the Syntax of Greek Letters from Egypt, ► pp. 99 ff. DOI logo
Fendel, Victoria Beatrix Maria
2022. Adverbial Phrases. In Coptic Interference in the Syntax of Greek Letters from Egypt, ► pp. 295 ff. DOI logo
Fendel, Victoria Beatrix Maria
2022. The Grammar of the Corpus (Standard and Variation). In Coptic Interference in the Syntax of Greek Letters from Egypt, ► pp. 131 ff. DOI logo
Fendel, Victoria Beatrix Maria
2022. Corpus of Texts. In Coptic Interference in the Syntax of Greek Letters from Egypt, ► pp. 485 ff. DOI logo
Fendel, Victoria Beatrix Maria
2022. Introduction. In Coptic Interference in the Syntax of Greek Letters from Egypt, ► pp. 3 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2022. Copyright Page. In Coptic Interference in the Syntax of Greek Letters from Egypt, ► pp. iv ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2022. List of Abbreviations. In Coptic Interference in the Syntax of Greek Letters from Egypt, ► pp. xi ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2022. Sigla. In Coptic Interference in the Syntax of Greek Letters from Egypt, ► pp. xiii ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2022. Dedication. In Coptic Interference in the Syntax of Greek Letters from Egypt, ► pp. v ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 april 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.