Nominal Infinitives in Spanish: An Aspectual Constraint

1996/03/01 by Elena De Miguel, Elena de Miguel
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · #Phonetics and Phonology Research #Spanish Linguistics and Language Studies #Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

paper · doi:10.1017/s0008413100020247

openalex publication_date 1996/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this article is to provide an analysis of two types of Spanish infinitival constructions headed by a determiner. In an attempt to define the categorial status of the infinitive morpheme, it is proposed that there are two homophonous infinitival morphemes which project two different structures: one of them is inflectional in nature and projects clausal configurations; the other one is derivational in nature and projects nominal structures. This latter suffix carries an activity aspect and attaches only to aspectually compatible verbal stems. This proposal explains the different properties and contexts for the two structures analysed, and, more interestingly, provides an account for a number of data that remained unexplained in previous analyses.

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