Reflexiones sobre la posesivización en español. Una aproximación cognitiva a las construcciones nominales con posesivo antepuesto
- 1 Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
- Barrios Rodríguez, María Auxiliadora (coord.)
ISSN: 0212-7636, 2171-6692
Year of publication: 2021
Issue Title: De la palabra y las palabras. Trabajos de Lexicología y Fraseología
Issue: 36
Pages: 13-25
Type: Article
More publications in: ELUA: Estudios de Lingüística. Universidad de Alicante
Sustainable development goals
Abstract
The pivotal objective of this research is to propose a new explanation of a nominal construction with a preceding possessive adjective in the Spanish language. Therefore, the starting point is the review of the theoretical background of this concept in earlier works: the Gramática Descriptiva de la Lengua Española and the handbooks that mark the standard explanatory line, such as Cuadernos de Lengua Española and Enciclopedia de Lingüística Hispánica. After the analysis of the general linguistic concept that supports the classical explanation of the role of the preceding possessive in the nominal constructions of the Spanish language, this study proposes a compendious characterization of the phenomenon of possessivization. Both grammatical judgements (proposed as endorsement of the traditional hypotheses) and the canonically enunciated conditions for possessivization are examined. A compilation of the problems regarding traditional explanations, and a perspective through the principles of Cognitive Linguistics is offered. Essentially, we resort to the theoretical tools of experiential frames (Fillmore 1985), ontological and cognitive prominence (Anderson 1983: 86-125; Deane 1992: 34-35; Collins and Quillian 1969; Collins and Loftus 1975; Schmid 2007), as well as the reference points and mentally sequenced access to reference (Langacker 2009). Commencing from this analytical viewpoint we propose a new explanation of these constructions with the timely and brief incorporation of the theory of metaphor (Lakoff and Johnson 1980), mainly of the ontological metaphor. This new perspective incorporates as a central example the cases of possession stricto sensu, that is, the relationship of ‘belonging or property’ (which are displaced from the explanatory centre in most canonical works), and it also accommodates those contexts where the judgments of grammaticality are complex and not evident in the first reading.
Funding information
Este trabajo se ha realizado gracias a la beca de Formación de Profesorado Universitario (FPU19/02293), del Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional, y al proyecto Diretes: Diccionario Reticular Español. Diccionario analógico y relacional con acceso en red desde el sentido y desde la forma” (FFI-2017-83293).Funders
Bibliographic References
- Anderson, J. R. (1983). The architecture of cognition. Cambridgem MA: Harvard University Press.
- Chafe, W. (1994). Discourse, consciousness and time: the flow and displacement of conscious experience in speaking and writing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Cifuentes Honrubia, J. L. (2015). Construcciones posesivas en español. Leiden/Boston: Brill-Rodopi.
- Collins, A. M. y E. Loftus (1975). "A spreading-activation theory of semantic processing", Psychological Review, 82, pp. 407-428.
- Collins, A. M. y M. R. Quillian (1969). "Retrieval time for semantic memory", Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 8, pp. 240-247.
- Croft, W. y D. A. Cruse (2008). Lingüística cognitiva. (A. Benítez Burraco, Trad.). Madrid: Akal. (Obra original publicada en 2004).
- Deane, P. D. (1992). Grammar in mind and brain: Explorations in cognitive syntax. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
- Eguren Gutiérrez, L. (2016). "Pronombres personales". En: Gutiérrez-Rexach, J. (coord.). Enciclopedia de Lingüística Hispánica, Vol. 1. Reino Unido: Routledge, pp. 859-869.
- Escandell Vidal, M. V. (1997). Los complementos del nombre. Madrid: Arco Libros.
- Escandell Vidal, M. V. (1999). "Notas sobre la gramática de los posesivos". En Gómez Manzano, P., Carbonero P. y M. Casado (eds.). Lengua y discurso: Estudios dedicados al profesor Vidal Lamíquiz. Madrid: Arco Libros, pp. 265-278.
- Fillmore, C. J. (1985). "Frames and the semantics of understanding", Quaderni di semántica, 6, pp. 222-254.
- Heine, B. (2001). "Ways of explaining possession". En: Baron, I., Herslund, M. y F. Sørensen (eds.). Dimensions of possession. Ámsterdam/Filadelfia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 311-328.
- Higginbotham, J. (1983). "Logical Form, Binding and Nominals", LI, 14, pp. 395-420.
- Lakoff, G. y M. Johnson (1980). Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
- Langacker, R. W. (1991). Foundations of Cognitive Grammar, Vol. 1 Theoretical Prerequisites. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
- Langacker, R. W. (2009). Investigations in Cognitive Grammar. Berlín: Mouton de Gruyter.
- Picallo i Soler, M. C., y G. Rigau i Oliver (1999). "El posesivo y las relaciones posesivas". En Bosque, I. y V. Demonte (eds.). Gramática Descriptiva de la Lengua Española. Madrid: Espasa, pp. 973-1023.
- Real Academia Española (2009). Nueva gramática de la lengua española. Madrid: Espasa.
- Schmid, H.-J. (2007). "Entrenchment, salience, and basic levels". En Geeraerts, D. y H. Cuyckens (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 117-138.
- Seiler, H. (1983). Possession as an operational dimension of language. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.