Temporal prepositions and intervals in Spanish. Variation in the grammar of "hasta" and "desde"

Abstract

In some varieties of American Spanish, the temporal preposition hasta 'until' is able to modify telic predicates in the absence of negation. Previous analyses argue for either a hidden negation or a special punctual reading of this preposition. We show that these analyses make a number of wrong predictions, and must be abandoned. Our account hinges on the idea that hasta licenses a temporal phase previous to the telic predicate, somehow similar to the one that in PP adjuncts (in one hour) create in English and many other languages in similar structures. We also show that desde ('since') is able to behave in a parallel way in some varieties of American Spanish, thus licensing intervals subsequent to temporal points. Several arguments are presented favouring compositional analyses of these (and some other) temporal prepositions subject to Aktionsart restrictions, as opposed to approaches which introduce lexical multiplication of senses.

Levels of Variation in Subordinates of Immediate Succession in Current Spanish

“…This approach is consistent with the generally accepted idea that temporal subordinators are two-place predicates, as convincingly shown by Heinamaki (1978), Hitzeman (1991), García Fernández (2000), Dermidache and Uribe-Etxebarría (2004), Bosque and Bravo (2015), and others. According to this idea, the subordinator of immediate succession en cuanto 'as soon as' in (2) selects the subordinate event as its internal argument (IA) while the main event is the external argument (EA) selected by the predicate (subordinator + subordinate event).…”

Interpretaciones de la redundancia en la gramática y en el léxico

“…Coincide con los casos examinados en los apartados anteriores en que es un componente de evitar "hacer que no..." el que los hablantes sacan ocasionalmente a la luz. Sobre las variantes de la negación expletiva, fenómeno sumamente estudiado, solo me es posible remitir aquí a Morera (1986), Haegeman (1995), Vázquez Molina (2002) y Espinal (2007Espinal ( , 2017.…”

The grammatical properties of 'since'

“…The grammatical properties of since PPs are known to differ across languages (see, for example, Mittwoch 1988;Móia 2000aMóia , 2001Iatridou et al 2001;von Stechow 2002;Schaden 2005aSchaden , 2005bSchaden , 2007Martínez-Atienza 2006Bosque & Bravo 2015, among others). I take into consideration the grammatical restrictions imposed by since and des de PPs to examine whether the available readings of PrP sentences can be derived from a single preposition (see Hitzeman 1995Hitzeman , 1997aHitzeman , 1997bvon Fintel & Iatridou 2005;Schaden 2005aSchaden , 2005bSchaden , 2007Bosque & Bravo 2015). I show that a compositional account that takes into consideration some properties of paths, namely, the property of delimitation, the relation between the figure and the ground and the nature of the right boundary determine the available readings of PrP sentences modified by desde or since.…”

“…(24) Móia (2000aMóia ( , 2001 and Martínez-Atienza (2006, PrP sentences can combine with telic eventualities when they appear with indefinite phrases or numerically quantified phrases. (25) Even though (24d) is ungrammatical, it is important to note that there are Spanish varieties, such as Mexican and Caribbean Spanish, which allow for punctual verbal predicates with desde (Kany 1945;García Fernández 2000;Bosque and Bravo 2015). According to Bosque & Bravo (2015: 6), desde el lunes 'since Monday' in (26) refers to an interval that is subsequent to the event time.…”