Table Of ContentVerbal Periphrases in a
Functional Grammar of Spanish
w
DE
G
Functional Grammar Series 22
Editors
A. Machtelt Bolkestein
Casper de Groot
J. Lachlan Mackenzie
Mouton de Gruyter
Berlin · New York
Verbal Periphrases in a
Functional Grammar of Spanish
by
Hella Olbertz
Mouton de Gruyter
Berlin · New York 1998
Mouton de Gruyter (formerly Mouton, The Hague)
is a Division of Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co., Berlin.
© Printed on acid-free paper which falls within the guidelines of the
ANSI to ensure permanence and durability.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication-Data
Olbertz, Hella, 1953-
Verbal periphrases in a functional grammar of Spanish /
by Hella Olbertz.
p. cm. - (Functional grammar series ; 22)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and indexes.
ISBN 3-11-015402-1 (alk. paper)
1. Spanish language - Verb. 2. Funktionalism (Linguis-
tics) I. Title. II. Series.
PC4315.P4063 1998
465-dc21 98-4782
CIP
Die Deutsche Bibliothek — Cataloging-in-Publication-Data
Olbertz, Hella:
Verbal periphrases in a functional grammar of Spanish / by
Hella Olbertz. - Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter, 1998
(Functional grammar series ; 22)
ISBN 3-11-015402-1
© Copyright 1998 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co., D-10785 Berlin
All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this
book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publisher.
Printing: Arthur Collignon GmbH, Berlin. - Binding: Lüderitz & Bauer-GmbH, Berlin.
Printed in Germany.
To
Ysolde
Paul
Rob
Herman
Ton
and Leo
Acknowledgem ents
My decision to start working on this book is probably largely attributable to
Simon Dik's very best efforts to convince me that I was capable of doing
linguistic research. Sadly, he has not lived to see the outcome of his en-
couragement.
This book reflects the supervision I received from Kees Hengeveld for
more than six years. During our many lengthy meetings, he taught me a lot
about linguistics in general and about Functional Grammar in particular, and
helped me to order my ideas, which were sometimes quite disorganized.
Nevertheless, he took me and my plans seriously from the very beginning,
which made me feel that I was his colleague rather than his student. He
provided countless ideas and suggestions that I incorporated into this study.
I would like to express my deeply felt gratitude to him for all he did for me,
which certainly was much more than he was obliged to.
I am also very grateful to Henk Haverkate, who devoted much of his
time to discussing each major step in the process of writing this book with
me. Due to his unbiased view as a relative outsider with respect to the theory
of Functional Grammar, he often came up with unexpected criticism, which
considerably enhanced the quality and the readability of the final text.
I have received invaluable contributions to my investigation from the
people who I have been questioning for years about their mother-tongue.
Most of them, in addition to scrupulously answering my questions, took
great pains to find possible explanations for the linguistic data they supplied.
All I can do in return is express my profound gratitude to Choni Alonso,
Ana Alvarez, Silvia Berniell, Gema Casino Pardos, Amapola Cabrera, Vicky
Escandell, Daniel Garcia Velasco, Joaquin Garrido, Pilar Guerrero, Manuel
Leonetti, Juan Carlos Moreno, Ms Carmen Portero, Encarni Sanchez Gala,
Esperanza Torrego, and Jesus de la Villa.
Important support in preparing this study came from the people I
encountered in the Functional Grammar working group at the University of
Amsterdam. There I learned about other people's work and had the oppor-
tunity to present and discuss my own research in a friendly and informal
environment. In particular, I would like to thank Inge Genee, a member of
this group and my closest colleague, with whom I had discussions that were
very valuable to me. For commonsense advice, which helped me in the fre-
quent moments of utter despair, caused by seemingly unsurmountable prob-
lems posed by the data or the theory, I am most grateful to Leo Lemmers.
I am also indebted to Inge Genee, Casper de Groot, Brenda Laca,
Lachlan Mackenzie, Harm Pinkster, M* Carmen Portero, Jesus de la Villa,
and Gerry Wanders, who, at various stages of its completion, made com-
viii Acknowledgements
ments on parts of the manuscript that improved both its content and its style.
Furthermore, I am grateful to Evelien Keizer for correcting my English and
to Ysolde Bentvelsen for proofreading the final draft, thus helping me to
eliminate a considerable number of textual inconsistencies. Finally, I would
like to thank Casper de Groot, Kees Hengeveld, Lachlan Mackenzie and
Yvonne Sanders for their moral and practical support in the months that
preceded the publication of this book.
The research for this study was financed by the Linguistic Research
Foundation, which is funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific
Research (NWO). Ν WO also granted generous financial support for three
stays in Madrid (spanning a total of four months), where I collected a large
part of my data.
Amsterdam, November 1997 Hella Olbertz
Contents
List of tables and figures xix
List of abbreviations and symbols xxi
0. Introduction 1
1. Some basic concepts of Functional Grammar 5
1.0. Introduction 5
1.1. Basic and derived predicates 6
1.2. Basic and derived terms 7
1.3. Nuclear predications and the typology of SoAs 8
1.4. Semantic, syntactic and pragmatic functions 11
1.5. The hierarchical structure of the clause 13
1.6. Terms, entities and subordination 18
1.7. Expression rules 19
1.8. Two recent proposals: predicates and places 21
1.9. Notational conventions 24
2. The data 27
2.0. Introduction 27
2.1. The corpus 27
2.2. The informants 28
2.3. Matters of presentation 29
3. What are verbal periphrases? 31
3.0. Introduction 31
3.1. Definition and criteria 32
3.1.0. Introduction 32
3.1.1. Definition 32
3.1.2. Non-periphrastic constructions 33
3.1.3. Tests 38
3.2. Preview of chapters 4-6 44
