IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/epw/ejlang/v3y2024i3id4123.html

On the Semantics of the Structure Estar para + infinitive in European Portuguese: From Aspect to Modality

Author

Listed:
  • Luís Filipe Cunha

    (Faculty of Arts, Center for Linguistics, University of Porto)

Abstract

In contrast to most aspectual operators whose meaning remains unchanged regardless of their context of occurrence, the structureestar para + infinitive reveals a great deal of variability in this respect. Thus, in addition to the primary prospective aspect value, this construction also conveys modal meanings that can express uncertainty, counterfactuality, or volition/intention. Factors such as the tenses in which the sentence appears (in particular, the pretérito imperfeito (past imperfect) and the pretérito perfeito (terminative past tense)) and the presence of sentential negation contribute decisively to bringing about this kind of variation. However, there seems to be a shared semantic profile underlying the construction estar para + infinitive, namely the presence of a stative predication that induces a prospective projection.

Suggested Citation

Handle: RePEc:epw:ejlang:v:3:y:2024:i:3:id:4123
DOI: 10.24018/ejlang.2024.3.3.123
as

Download full text from publisher

File URL: https://eu-opensci.org/index.php/ejlang/article/view/4123
File Function: Abstract page
Download Restriction: no
File URL: https://eu-opensci.org/index.php/ejlang/article/download/4123/733
File Function: Full text
Download Restriction: no
File URL: https://libkey.io/10.24018/ejlang.2024.3.3.123?utm_source=ideas
LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
---><---

More about this item

Keywords

;
;
;
;

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:epw:ejlang:v:3:y:2024:i:3:id:4123. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://eu-opensci.org/index.php/ejlang .

Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.