Making discourse-dependent decisions: The case of the copulas ser and estar in Spanish

Genericity and the Interpretation of the Copulas by Spanish-Speaking Children

“…Traditionally, the use of ser is associated with stable and inherent properties of predicates (2a, c) while the use of estar is associated with temporary or noninherent properties (2b, d) (Gaya, 1955;Vaño-Cerdá, 1982 There are innumerable accounts of the distribution of ser and estar (see Clements, 1988;Diesing, 1990Diesing, , 1992Falk, 1979;Holtheuer et al, 2011;Holtheuer, 2011;Kratzer, 1995;Luján, 1981;Maienborn, 2005;Marín, 2004;Marín (in press); Roby, 2007;Schmitt & Miller, 2007;Schmitt, 2005;Zagona, 2010). We focus on Schmitt's (2005) analysis of the copulas in which ser is an atemporal copula that can be interpreted as a state by default and therefore implies permanence in contrast with estar.…”

“…Children's acquisition of the Spanish copulas ser and estar has been the focus of a number of recent studies (Alonqueo & Soto, 2011;Alonqueo, 2007;Holtheuer et al, 2011;Holtheuer & Rendle-Short, 2013;Holtheuer, 2009;Holtheuer, 2013;Liceras, Fernández-Fuertes & Alba de la Fuente, 2012;Requena et al, 2014;Schmitt & Miller, 2007;Silva-Corvalán & Montanari, 2008). The primary aim of this previous research has been to determine the age at which children show adultlike distributions of the copulas in production and the age at which they make the temporary v. inherent distinction of certain copula + adjective combinations in comprehension.…”

“…The-PL grapes-PL are.SER sweet-PL 'Grapes are sweet/ The grapes are sweet ' (generic & specific) b. Las uvas están dulces. The-PL grapes-PL are.ESTAR sweet-PL 'The grapes are sweet' (specific only) Several experimental studies indicate that Spanish-speaking children associate stable and inherent properties with ser and unstable and temporary properties with estar; although there is disagreement on the age at which children do so (Alonqueo & Soto, 2011;Alonqueo, 2007;Heyman & Diesendruk, 2002;Holtheuer, Miller & Schmitt, 2011;Requena, Román-Hernández & Miller, 2014;Schmitt & Miller, 2007;Sera, 1992). Given that stable and inherent properties are more prone to be generalized as representative of a kind, one question is whether children interpret the copulas as expressing generic and/or existential interpretations.…”

“…In particular, studies indicate that children's interpretation of the Spanish copulas may depend on the adjective with which they occur. It has been reported that children more readily assign inherent interpretations to copula + color adjectives combinations than they do to copula + scalar adjectives combinations (Schmitt, Holtheuer & Miller, 2004;Schmitt & Miller, 2007); although, the authors are hesitant to argue that adjective type plays a role given the large differences in their various experiments -some experiments used elicitation tasks while others used comprehension tasks. Moreover, their later work found that adjective type had no impact in children's interpretation of the copulas .…”

Aspectual composition in "ser/estar + adjective" structures: adjectival scalarity and verbal aspect in copular constructions

“…It has also been analysed as an event-related difference: IL predicates lack an (Davidsonian) eventive argument in their thematic grid (or have a special one), whilst SL predicates have an event argument (Kratzer 1995, Chierchia 1995. The characterization of ser and estar predications in these terms has also been challenged by many authors (see Maienborn 2003, Schmitt & Miller 2007, Roby 2009, Camacho 2012. If SL estar-predicates have an eventive argument, they should be able to occur with locative modifiers (assuming that these modifiers are sensitive to the presence of such an eventive argument), but cases like (10) are ungrammatical.…”