Autor según el artículo: Castroviejo, Elena; Oltra-Massuet, Isabel;

Departamento: Estudis Anglesos i Alemanys

Autor/es de la URV: Oltra Massuet, Maria Isabel

Palabras clave: Teoría lingüística Semántica

Resumen: This paper is concerned with the semantics of Spanish ser capaz 'be capable' (henceforth SC). Specifically, it aims to account for the distribution SC displays and the range of meanings it expresses in the realm of abilities, viewed as kinds of dispositions. We put forth the following generalization: Whenever imperfective aspect interacts with SC, two possible readings arise, one that is purely abilitative and another one that expresses an accidental or unpredictable state of affairs. Our claim is that both interpretations derive from a circumstantial modal base that includes the subject's inner circumstances, albeit with a different ordering source that is brought about via the interaction of imperfective aspect and the syntax-semantics of the modal. Thus, we propose that the purely abilitative SC contains an ordering source that ranks as better worlds those in which the subject appeals to her strength of the body, intellect or character; the accidental reading is the result of covert movement of the adjective capaz 'capable' over the imperfective-bearing copula ser 'be', which triggers a change of ordering source in the modal.

Áreas temáticas: Linguistics and language Linguistics Language and linguistics Language & linguistics Filologia, lingüística i sociolingüística

ISSN: 23971835

Direcció de correo del autor: isabel.oltra@urv.cat

Identificador del autor: 0000-0003-2802-3856

Fecha de alta del registro: 2023-02-22

Versión del articulo depositado: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Enlace a la fuente original: https://www.glossa-journal.org/articles/10.5334/gjgl.495/

URL Documento de licencia: http://repositori.urv.cat/ca/proteccio-de-dades/

Referencia al articulo segun fuente origial: Glossa. An Ambilingual Interdisciplinary Journal. 3 (1):

Referencia de l'ítem segons les normes APA: Castroviejo, Elena; Oltra-Massuet, Isabel; (2018). Generic and action-dependent abilities in Spanish 'Be capable'. Glossa. An Ambilingual Interdisciplinary Journal, 3(1), -. DOI: 10.5334/gjgl.495

DOI del artículo: 10.5334/gjgl.495

Entidad: Universitat Rovira i Virgili

Año de publicación de la revista: 2018

Tipo de publicación: Journal Publications