Abstract:
The goal of this paper is to explore how temporal relations are encoded in gerund absolute constructions in Spanish, and at the same time, to present a semantic model that accounts for this phenomenon in an explicit way. Specifically, the central purpose of this work is to present evidence in favor of the hypothesis that the aspectual information contained in the absolute constructions “resolves” the temporal relation between the absolute construction and the main clause. Inspired by Portner’s (1992) central hypothesis for the study of absolute constructions in English, which assumes a relationship R that allows establishing temporal relationships between the gerund construction and the main clause, we maintain that this temporal relation is specified from the lexical aspect of the predicate of the absolute construction (i.e., it is independent of the main clause). Thus, whenever the gerund construction presents an atelic predicate we will obtain a simultaneous interpretation, while in cases in which the construction presents a telic predicate we will obtain an anteriority interpretation.
Keywords:
Gerunds; Absolute constructions; Rioplatense Spanish