Cover not available
Part of
New Perspectives on the Study of Ser and Estar
Edited by Isabel Pérez-Jiménez, Manuel Leonetti and Silvia Gumiel-Molina
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 5] 2015
► pp. 119–146

The inference of temporal persistence and the individual/stage level distinction

the case of ser vs. estar in Spanish

| Universidad de Alcalá
| ILLA-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
| ILLA-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas

In this paper we propose that the differences between ser ‘beSER’ and estar ‘beESTAR’ predications traditionally associated with the individual-level/stagelevel (IL/SL) distinction (having to do with their differing combinations with adverbs quantifying over situations, locative and temporal modifiers, etc.) can be explained without arguing that ser ‘beSER’ and estar ‘beESTAR’ sentences have different event/aspect/Aktionsart-related properties. Specifically, we claim that in copular sentences with adjectival complements, the different kinds of elements that build up the comparison class needed to evaluate adjectival properties can account for the IL/SL character of the predication and that, specifically, the IL/SL distinction is linked to the relative/absolute distinction. This proposal, together with the hypothesis that relative adjectives trigger by default an inference of temporal persistence, can account for all the aforementioned differences between ser ‘beSER’ and estar ‘beESTAR’ sentences. We thus argue for an extension of the explanatory value of the individual/stage-level distinction to the domain of gradability.

Keywords: comparison-class, degree, estar, individual-level, inference of temporal persistence, ser, stage-level
Published online: 28 October 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.5.05gum
References
Abney, S.P
(1987) The English noun phrase in its sentential aspect. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. Cambridge, MA: MIT.Google Scholar
Arche, M.J
(2006) Individuals in time: Tense, aspect and the individual/stage distinction. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Asher, N., & Morreau, M
(1995) What generic sentences mean. In G.N. Carlson & F.J. Pelletier (Eds.), The generic book (pp. 300–338). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Baker, M.C
(2003) Lexical categories. Verbs, nouns and adjectives (Cambridge Studies in Linguistic 102). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bolinger, D
(1947) Still more on ser and estar . Hispania, 30, 361–366. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Borer, H
(2005) Structuring sense. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bosque, I
(1990) Sobre el aspecto en los participios y los adjetivos. In I. Bosque (Ed.), Tiempo y aspecto en español (pp. 177–210). Madrid, Spain: Cátedra.Google Scholar
Bowers, J
(1993) The syntax of predication. Linguistic Inquiry, 24, 591–656.Google Scholar
Brucart, J.M
(2010) La alternancia ser y estar y las construcciones atributivas de localización. In A. Avellana (Ed.), Actas del V Encuentro de Gramática Generativa (pp. 115–152). Neuquén, Argentina: Editorial Universitaria del Comahue.Google Scholar
Camacho, J
(2012)  Ser and estar: Individual/stage level predicates or aspect? In J.I. Hualde, A. Olarrea & E. O’Rourke (Eds.), The handbook of hispanic linguistics (Blackwell handbooks in linguistics) (pp. 453–476). Oxford, England: Wiley-Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carlson, G
(1977) Reference to kinds in English (Doctoral Dissertation). Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Amherst.Google Scholar
Chierchia, G
(1995) Individual level predicates as inherent generics. In G.N. Carlson & F.J. Pelletier (Eds.), The generic book (pp. 176–223). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Clements, J.C
(1988) The semantics and pragmatics of Spanish <COPULA+ADJECTIVE> construction. Linguistics, 26, 779–822. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Condoravdi, C
(1992) Individual-level predicates in conditional clauses. Talk given at the Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting. Philadelphia, PA: January 9–12, 1992.
Contreras, H
(1993) On null operator structures. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 11, 1–30. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Corver, N
(1991) Evidence for DegP. In NELS 22 Proceedings of the North East Linguistic Society (pp. 33–47). Amherst, MA: GLSA Publications.
Crespo, L
(1946) Los verbos ser y estar explicados por un nativo. Hispania, 29, 45–55. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Diesing, M
(1992) Indefinites. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Fábregas, A
(2012) A guide to IL and SL in Spanish: Properties, problems and proposals. Borealis. An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics, 1(2), 1–71. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Falk, J
(1979) Visión de norma general vs. norma individual. Ensayo de explicación de la oposición ser/estar en unión con adjetivos que denotan belleza y corpulencia. Studia Neophilologica, 51, 275–293. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fernald, T
(1999) Evidential coercion: Using individual-level predicates in stage-level environments. Studies in the Linguistic Sciences, 29(1), 43–64.Google Scholar
Fernández Leborans, M.J
(1999) La predicación: las oraciones copulativas. In I. Bosque & V. Demonte (Dir.), Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española (pp. 2357–2460). Madrid, Spain: RAE/Espasa.Google Scholar
Franco, F., & Steinmetz, D
(1986) Taming ser and estar with predicate adjectives. Hispania, 69, 379–386. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1983)  Ser y estar+adjetivo calificativo en español. Hispania, 66, 176–184. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fults, S
(2006) The structure of comparison: An investigation of gradable adjectives. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. College Park, MD: University of Maryland.Google Scholar
Gallego, Á., & Uriagereka, J
(2009)  Estar=Ser+P. Paper presented at the XIX Colloquium on Generative Grammar. Universidad del País Vasco, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain: April 1–3, 2009.
Gumiel-Molina, S., Moreno-Quibén, N., & Pérez-Jiménez, I
(2015a) Comparison classes and the relative/absolute distinction: A degree-based compositional account of the ser/estar alternation in Spanish. To appear in B. Gehrke & E. Castroviejo (Eds.), Degree and manner modification across categories, special volume of Natural Language and Linguistic Theory. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2015b) Depictive secondary predicates in Spanish and the relative/absolute distinction >To appear in C. Tortora, M. den Dikken, I. Montoya & T. O’Neill (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 43th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages Conference (held at New York, CUNY).Google Scholar
Gumiel-Molina, S., & Pérez-Jiménez, I
(2012) Aspectual composition in <ser/estar+adjective> structures: Adjectival scalarity and verbal aspect in copular constructions. Borealis: An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics, 1, 33–62. Retrieved from [URL] DOI: DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Husband, M
(2012) On the compositional nature of states. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jiménez-Fernández, Á
(2012) What information structure tells us about individual/stage-level predicates. Borealis. An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics, 1, 1–32. Retrieved from [URL] DOI: DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, C
(2007) Vagueness and grammar: The semantics of relative and absolute gradable adjectives. Linguistics and Philosophy, 30, 1–45. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1999) Projecting the adjective: The syntax and semantics of gradability and comparison (Outstanding dissertations in linguistics). New York, NY: Garland.Google Scholar
Kratzer, A
(1989/1995) Stage-level and individual-level predicates. In G.N. Carlson & F.J. Pelletier (Eds.), The generic book (pp. 125–175). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
(1989) An investigation of the lumps of thought. Linguistics and Philosophy, 12, 607–653. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Krifka, M., Pelletier, F.J., Carlson, G.N., ter Meulen, A., Chierchia, G., & Link, G
(1995) Genericity: An introduction. In G.N. Carlson & F.J. Pelletier (Eds.), The generic book (pp. 1–124). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Lema, J
(1996) Aspectual parametric effects in Spanish. In C. Parodi, C. Quicoli, M. Saltarelli & M.L. Zubizarreta (Eds.), Aspects of Romance linguistics (pp. 279–292). Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Leonetti, M
(1999) El artículo. In I. Bosque & V. Demonte (Dir.), Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española (pp. 787–890). Madrid, Spain: RAE/Espasa.Google Scholar
Ludlow, P
(1989) Implicit comparison classes. Linguistics and Philosophy, 12, 519–533. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Luján, M
(1981) The Spanish copulas as aspectual indicators. Lingua, 54, 165–210. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Magri, G
(2009) A theory of individual-level predicates based on blind mandatory scalar implicatures. Natural Language Semantics, 17, 245–297. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Maienborn, C
(2005) A discourse-based account of Spanish ser/estar . Linguistics, 43(1), 155–180. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2003) Against a davidsonian analysis of copula sentences. In NELS 33 Proceedings of the North East Linguistic Society (pp. 167–186). Amherst, MA: GLSA Publications.
Marín, R
(2010) Spanish adjectives within bounds. In P. Cabredo-Hofherr & O. Matushansky (Eds.), Adjectives: Formal analyses in syntax and semantics (pp. 307–332). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2004) Entre ser y estar. Madrid, Spain: Arco/Libros.Google Scholar
(2000) El componente aspectual de la predicación. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. Barcelona, Spain. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.Google Scholar
McNally, L
(1994) Adjunct predicates and the individual/stage distinction. In E. Duncan, D. Farkas & P. Spaelti (Eds.), The Proceedings of the Twelfth West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (pp. 561–576). Stanford, CA: Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University.Google Scholar
Mikkelsen, L
(2005) Copular clauses: Specification, predication and equation (Linguistic Aktuell 85). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Percus, O.J
(1997) Aspects of A. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. Cambridge, MA: MIT.Google Scholar
Roby, D.B
(2009)  Aspect and the categorization of states: The case of ser and estar in Spanish . Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Roldán, M
(1974) Toward a semantic characterization of ser and estar . Hispania, 57, 68–75. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Roy, I
(2013) Non-verbal predication. Copular sentences at the syntax-semantics interface. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schmitt, C., & Miller, K
(2007) Making discourse-dependent decisions: The case of the copulas ser and estar in Spanish. Lingua, 117, 1907–1929. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stanley, J
(2000) Context and logical form. Linguistics and Philosophy, 23(4), 391–434. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
de Swart, H
(1991) Adverbs of quantification: A generalized quantifier approach. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. Groningen, The Netherlands: Groningen University.Google Scholar
Toledo, A., & Sasoon, G
(2011) Absolute vs. relative adjectives – variance within vs. between individuals. In N. Ashton, A. Chereches & D. Lutz (Eds.), Proceedings of Semantic and Linguistic Theory 21. ELanguage, 135–154. Retrieved from [URL] Google Scholar
Zagona, K
(2012)  Ser and estar: Phrase structure and aspect. In C. Nishida & C. Russi (Eds.), Building a bridge between linguistic communities of the Old and the New World, Cahiers Chronos, 25 (pp. 303–327). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Rodopi.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Guijarro-Fuentes, Pedro, José Amenós-Pons & Aoife Ahern
2023. Acquisition of estar + adjective in L2 Spanish by L1 French and Portuguese speakers. Spanish in Context 20:2 ► pp. 282 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 20 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.