On Temporal and Causal Infinitive Constructions in Catalan Dialects

• Autores: Gemma Rigau Oliver
• Localización: Catalan working papers in linguistics, ISSN 1132-256X, Nº 6, 1998, págs. 95-114
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The paper offers a descriptive account of the syntactic properties of some temporal and causal adjuncts belonging to different Catalan dialects. These constructions are headed by a temporal or causal preposition that selects an infinitive clause as a complement. The nature of the adjunct is, thus, prepositional. It is a complex prepositional phrase.

    The prepositions analyzed -a 'at/in', en 'in', and amb 'with'- are coincidence prepositions. They are prepositions that express a relation of coincidence, or contiguity, in a place or time. The paper deals with the conditions under which the coincidence preposition can act as a causal operator. Such conditions vary in their application depending on the dialect.