Sentences as predicates
the Spanish construction ser <muy de + infinitive>
The construction <muy de + infinitive> is interpreted as a gradable individuallevel
predicate (IL-predicate), compatible with the copula ser but not with
the copula estar. This supports the idea that the ser and estar distinction is a
particular manifestation of Carlson’s (1977) distinction between individuallevel
and stage-level predicates (SL-predicates). We propose that the habitual
reading of the imperfective aspect of the infinitive in this construction is crucial
to interpret the non-finite sentence as a characterizing property. Specifically,
we distinguish two cases: animate subjects admit copular predicates containing
infinitive sentences with an actualized habitual aspect; inanimate subjects are
admitted in constructions with imperfective predicates interpreted as gnomic or
deontic habituals. We propose two different syntactic structures for each of these
cases and explain the contribution of the preposition de ‘of ’ to the licensing of
the non-finite clause as a characterizing predicate.
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Portero-Muñoz, Carmen
2022.
“It’s way too intriguing!” The fuzzy status of emergent intensifiers: A Functional Discourse Grammar account.
Open Linguistics 8:1
► pp. 618 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Silvagni, Federico
2022.
Whenestaris not there: A cross-linguistic analysis of individual/stage-level copular sentences in Romance.
Open Linguistics 8:1
► pp. 108 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
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