Imperfective periphrasis of past and of imperfect of indicative tense in short stories by Spanish writers: a sociofunctional perspective

• Main Author: Valdecy de Oliveira Pontes
• Publication Date: 2012
• Format: Doctoral thesis
• Language: por
• Source: Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da UFC
• Download full: http://www.teses.ufc.br/tde_busca/arquivo.php?codArquivo=7706
• topic: LÃngua Espanhola; Passado imperfectivo; Sociofuncionalismo; The Spanish Language; The Imperfective Past; Sociofunctionalism; LINGUISTICA

This dissertation studied the multifunctionality in a sociofunctional perspective of the imperfective past in the Spanish language in the contexts of use of imperfective periphrasis of past and of imperfect of indicative tense. It was also investigated the variation among these forms in the descriptive, habitual, desiderative and narrative functions. The objectives of the research were: a) to map out the encoded functions by the imperfective aspectual forms of past (imperfect of indicative tense and verbal periphrases) in literary short stories written in Spanish; b) to describe the phenomenon of linguistic variation in the functions performed by imperfective aspectual forms of past; c) to examine linguistic and extra-linguistic contexts, prototypical to each function and the factors that constrained the analyzed forms. As theoretical backgrounds, we used principles of Sociofunctionalism by Tavares (2003), as a result of a theoretical connection of the North American approach Linguistic Functionalism (HOPPER; TRAUGOTT, 1993; GIVÃN, 1995), and some assumptions of the Theory of Change and Variation (LABOV, 1972, 1978, 1994 and 2001). The research analyzed data of written language from 24 short stories by Spanish writers, selected based on extra-linguistic parameters (the linguistic zone of Spanish, the narratives and the writers). The results were the following: from 2093 cases, 1803 are in the imperfect past tense of indicative, 86,15% of the total, and 290 in imperfective periphrasis of past in Spanish, which is 13,85% of the total. These data were analyzed according to parameters of transitivity by Hopper and Thompson (1980); types of verbs by Vendler (1957,1967); types of aspectual modifiers; the foreground and background relationship by Hopper e Thompson (1980); narrative unities by Labov (1972); types of discourse; linguistic zones; short stories and selected writers; types of report and voices of the literary narrative. In addition to that, functions were mapped out, and those, which had variation, it was investigated linguistic and extra-linguistic factors, which influenced the use of variants, by subjecting these data to a statistical analysis through the computer program GOLDVARB. Concerning the multifunctionality of imperfective forms of past, it was found, in our research, the following results: descriptive (33,84%), narrative (32,07%), habitual (6%), interactive (1,53%), present (3,07%), future (1,53%), simultaneity (3,07%), courtesy (0,28%), desiderative (8,08%), contrariety (1,53%) and playful (9%). In four of these functions, the analyzed forms vary (according to Labovâs concept, 1978). The imperfect tense is more frequent in the descriptive function (constrained by the presence of two or more arguments in the sentence, discursive level background 2, object not affected by the verbal action, the style of the writers Virgilio PiÃera and Roberto BolaÃo, the absence of volitivity, and dynamic and durative verbs), and in the narrative one (constrained by modality irrealis, discursive level foreground, object not affected by the verbal action, dynamic verbs, sentences whose polarity is negative, and the evaluation of the narrative. Periphrases occur more frequently in the desiderative function (motivated by the absence of agentive subject and of individuated object in the sentence, discursive levels background 1 and 2, and durative verbs), and in the habitual function (motivated by agentive subject, the style of the writers Gabriel GarcÃa MÃrquez and Virgilio PiÃera, dynamic and durative verbs and the presence of the aspectual modifier.