Ignacio Bosque’s research while affiliated with Complutense University of Madrid and other places

This book showcases the pedagogical potential of theoretical linguistics in remaking encounters with the workings of language in pre-university classrooms. Theoretical linguistics reorients the pursuit of linguistic understanding by moving beyond instrumental skills acquisition towards intellectual discovery. It offers an untapped medium for promoting STEM education ( science through language ) and can engage a wider student demographic in languages study ( language through science ). Building on a groundswell of collaborative activity between schoolteachers and university linguists at national and international scales, this volume weaves together an up-to-date panorama of impact-focused research and grassroots practice emerging from the educational movement of Linguistics in Schools as it enters its 70 th decade. Centred around three regional hives of activity—North America, the UK and Spain—, the collection advances a pluralistic vision of theoretical linguistics as a means of expanding the possibilities of what it means to think about, or engage with, language and its workings in non-university settings. With an eclectic and international audience in mind, it includes sample classroom activities, learning materials, and a user-friendly ‘how to’ guide and targeted bibliography for readers seeking to put the ideas from the book into practice.

This article analyzes four interpretations of the adverb siempre ‘always’ that do not belong to general Spanish. The continuative and the progressive-comparative interpretations are argued to be calques of Italian, often attested in Rioplatense Spanish. In the first one, siempre is equivalent to Eng. still or ‘continue to + infinitive’, while in the second one it admits paraphrases with more and more, less and less, and the adverbs gradually and progressively. The third interpretation, in which siempre is roughly equivalent to after all, finally, and ‘end up + gerund’, will be argued to be concessive-adversative. This reading is more frequent in Mexico and Central America, but it is also attested in other American countries. The fourth reading is the attenuated interpretation, registered in part of the Andean area. In this meaning, siempre is equivalent to roughly or so so. It is argued that, with the possible exception of the last reading (whose origin is insecure), these different meanings of siempre coincide in the interpretation of this adverb as a universal quantifier, while they differ in the semantic nature of the quantified variable.

This book showcases the pedagogical potential of theoretical linguistics in remaking encounters with the workings of language in pre-university classrooms. Theoretical linguistics reorients the pursuit of linguistic understanding by moving beyond instrumental skills acquisition towards intellectual discovery. It offers an untapped medium for promoting STEM education (science through language) and can engage a wider student demographic in languages study (language through science). Building on a groundswell of collaborative activity between schoolteachers and university linguists at national and international scales, this volume weaves together an up-to-date panorama of impact-focused research and grassroots practice emerging from the educational movement of Linguistics in Schools as it enters its 70th decade. Centred around three regional hives of activity—North America, the UK and Spain—, the collection advances a pluralistic vision of theoretical linguistics as a means of expanding the possibilities of what it means to think about, or engage with, language and its workings in non-university settings. With an eclectic and international audience in mind, it includes sample classroom activities, learning materials, and a user-friendly ‘how to’ guide and targeted bibliography for readers seeking to put the ideas from the book into practice.

Analyses of secondary predication based on the aspectual properties of predicative complements are almost standard today. This paper shows that these approaches are not restrictive enough and make a large number of incorrect predictions. It also shows that the meaning of the main (or primary) predicate is essential to restrict the secondary one. Throughout the text, a pragmatically based analysis of the necessary restrictions is compared with one grounded on semantic paradigms, and several examples are proposed of how the latter may be articulated and developed. Event-related states in secondary predication are shown to be necessary, and are claimed to follow from a series if fine-grained semantic notions crucially related to the meaning of the primary verb.

Este trabajo aborda la utilidad, la validez y el uso de varias nociones gramaticales, casi todas sintácticas. Nuestro objetivo es evaluar si algunos conceptos frecuentes en las asignaturas de lengua de secundaria y bachillerato deberían ser reemplazados por otros, o bien debería modificarse en alguna medida el contenido que actualmente se les otorga. Defendemos tales posibilidades, que justificamos con el argumento principal de que el análisis gramatical debe relacionar las formas con los significados y ha de favorecer la reflexión sobre el conocimiento inconsciente que cada hablante tiene de su propia lengua, además de sobre el uso que los hablantes hacen de las expresiones lingüísticas. Por motivos expositivos, consideraremos cuatro tipos de nociones gramaticales: aquellas que se aplican y son útiles; aquellas que también son útiles, pero que apenas se aplican; aquellas que se suelen aplicar, pese a ser poco útiles; y, finalmente, aquellas que podrían resultar útiles y que raramente se aplican. Planteamos esta discusión para defender la necesidad de establecer un perímetro terminológico estable para secundaria y bachillerato, basado en gran medida en el reciente Glosario de términos gramaticales (2019).

En este artículo se analiza la Gramática de Construcciones como marco teórico, así como algunas de sus conexiones con otros enfoques, sean antiguos o modernos. El objetivo del trabajo no es oponerse a este modelo en su conjunto o defender una teoría alternativa a él, sino valorar sus aspectos positivos y destacar a la vez aquellos que no lo son tanto, examinados por un lingüista no constructivista. Entre los aciertos de ese marco teórico se resalta especialmente la concepción escalar o gradual de la composicionalidad, con notables consecuencias para la relación léxico-sintaxis. Entre los aspectos menos positivos se menciona la atribución de significado a las construcciones mismas, así como las dificultades que el modelo presenta para incorporar las relaciones sintácticas que se establecen a distancia.

Interpretaciones de la redundancia en la gramática y en el léxico La redundancia en el lenguaje se ha analizado desde hace años en la teoría de la información sin utilizar recursos propiamente gramaticales. También se ha censurado en la lengua común, a la vez que se ha admitido tradicionalmente como privilegio de los escritores. En este artículo se muestra que la redundancia está incardinada en el sistema gramatical del español, en el que adquiere diversas interpretaciones. Se explica en estas páginas la relación que existe entre la redundancia y la estructura informativa de la oración, así como las diversas formas en que laprimera puede reinterpretarse como una forma de concordancia léxica. Se prestaespecial atención a la redundancia que se observa en los procesos de incorporaciónde preposiciones como prefijos, así como a la que existe en ciertas estructuras queexpresan sintácticamente el pasado. También se analizan los numerosos epítetosque admite la lengua no literaria en estructuras adjetivales y adverbiales, y seinterpretan como estructuras en las que la sintaxis puede hacer visibles ciertoscomponentes semánticos de las piezas léxicas que los hablantes desean resaltar.

Definiteness effects have been attested in the literature for some DPs complementing HAVE (= English have and their counterparts in other languages). In this paper, which focuses on English and Spanish, demonstrative DPs are shown to be affected by the type-token distinction in HAVE contexts: the internal argument of HAVE receives a type reading in these cases and rejects a to-ken interpretation. The “type restriction on demonstrative DPs” (TRD) is shown to follow from the need for narrow focus NPs complementing HAVE to receive a hearer-new reading, a well-known property of presentational structures. Type readings of demonstrative DPs are shown to meet this condition. Apparent exceptions to the TRD effect include (i) DPs in so-called “remainder contexts”; (ii) structures in which the relevant DP is the subject of a small clause (sometimes with a non-overt predicate); and (iii) structures containing a number of anti-assertive operators. The contexts in (i) are shown to be hearer-new, in spite of being definite. Those in (ii) and (iii) provide DPs which escape the narrow focus interpretation that gives ride to this variety of the definiteness effect.

En este trabajo planteamos una discusión sobre las unidades de análisis sintáctico y su adecuación a la enseñanza de la gramática en los niveles de educación preuniversitaria, intentando subrayar las limitaciones de enfoques meramente rotulistas. Dividiremos esas unidades en cuatro grupos, todos referidos a su papel en tales estadios educativos en la actualidad: a) conceptos gramaticales tradicionales que se aplican y resultan útiles, b) conceptos gramaticales tradicionales que resultan útiles, pero que apenas se aplican, c) conceptos gramaticales tradicionales que se suelen aplicar, aun cuando resultan escasamente útiles, d) conceptos gramaticales modernos que podrían resultar útiles, y que raramente se aplican.