Home A conceptual perspective of the evolution of Spanish frente from body part to locative/spatial concept and beyond
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

A conceptual perspective of the evolution of Spanish frente from body part to locative/spatial concept and beyond

  • Mark Waltermire EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: November 10, 2017
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Abstract

The Spanish word frente (O.Sp. fruente<Lat. frōns), meaning ‘forehead’, has changed gradually over time to be incorporated into a wide variety of modern forms that convey locative meanings and spatial relations as well as personal qualities. The purpose of the current study is to determine approximately when these new forms incorporating frente developed, the mechanisms for these various changes, and the cognitive ramifications of such developments. A total of 725 tokens of frente from works of fiction spanning three time periods (1200–1450; 1451–1750; 1751–2000) are analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively according to collocation, meaning, and syntactic phrase. Each of these analyses, when viewed holistically, shows that the original source lexeme has largely decategorialized as a noun and has been abstracted of its locative/spatial characteristics to be gradually incorporated into prepositional and adverbial forms. It is shown that, conceptually, prepositions profile spatial relations between a trajector and a landmark whereas adverbs profile the location of a trajector alone. These grammatical uses of frente as well as other even more abstract uses denoting personal qualities have developed over time due to cognitive processes such as abstraction, synecdoche, metaphor, and inference. Cases such as the evolution of frente from concrete noun to uses in locative/spatial forms as well as forms with even more abstract meanings give further justification for the need of a linguistic model that is cognitive-based.

References

Alonso, Martín. 1986. Diccionario medieval español. Tomo II. Salamanca: Universidad Pontífica de Salamanca.Search in Google Scholar

Bybee, Joan. 2003. Cognitive processes in grammaticalization. The New Psychology of Language 2. 145–167.Search in Google Scholar

Bybee, Joan. 2011. Usage-based theory and grammaticalization. In Heiko Narrog & Bernd Heine (eds.), The Oxford handbook of grammaticalization, 69–78. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199586783.013.0006Search in Google Scholar

Bybee, Joan, Revere Perkins & William Pagliuca. 1994. The evolution of grammar: Tense, aspect and modality in the languages of the world. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Search in Google Scholar

CdE=Davies, Mark. 2002. Corpus del Español (100 million words, 1200s–1900s). http://www.corpusdelespanol.org/ (accessed 30 September 2014).Search in Google Scholar

CORDE=Real Academia Española: Banco de datos [en línea]. Corpus diacrónico del español. http://corpus.rae.es/cordenet.html (accessed 13 August 2015).Search in Google Scholar

Corominas, Joan & José A. Pascual. 1996. Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, Vol. 2. Madrid: Gredos.Search in Google Scholar

Dahl, Östen. 1985. Tense and aspect systems. Oxford: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar

DRAE=Real Academia Española. 2014. Diccionario de la lengua española. 23rd ed. Madrid: Real Academia. http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=frente (accessed 9 December 2014).Search in Google Scholar

García, Erica & Floriman van Putte. 1989. Forms are silver, nothing is gold. Folia Linguistica Historica 8(1/2). 365–384.10.1515/flih.1989.8.1-2.365Search in Google Scholar

Harder, Peter & Kasper Boye. 2011. Grammaticalization and functional linguistics. In Heiko Narrog & Bernd Heine (eds.), The Oxford handbook of grammaticalization, 56–68. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199586783.013.0005Search in Google Scholar

Heine, Bernd. 1997. Cognitive foundations of grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780195102512.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Heine, Bernd & Tania Kuteva. 2007. The genesis of grammar: A reform. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780199227761.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Heine, Bernd, Ulrike Claudi & Friederike Hünnemeyer. 1991a. From cognition to grammar: Evidence from African languages. In Elizabeth Traugott & Bernd Heine (eds.), Approaches to grammaticalization, Vol. 1, 149–187. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.10.1075/tsl.19.1.09heiSearch in Google Scholar

Heine, Bernd, Ulrike Claudi & Friederike Hünnemeyer. 1991b. Grammaticalization: A conceptual framework. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Search in Google Scholar

Hopper, Paul J. & Sandra Thompson. 1984. The discourse basis for lexical categories in universal grammar. Language 60. 703–752.10.1353/lan.1984.0020Search in Google Scholar

Hopper, Paul J. & Sandra Thompson. 1985. The iconicity of universal categories ‘noun’ and ‘verb’. In John Haiman (ed.), Iconicity in syntax, 151–183. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.10.1075/tsl.6.08hopSearch in Google Scholar

Hopper, Paul & Elizabeth Traugott. 2003. Grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139165525Search in Google Scholar

Langacker, Ronald. 1987a. Foundations of cognitive grammar: Theoretical prerequisites, Vol. 1. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.10.1515/9780804764469Search in Google Scholar

Langacker, Ronald. 1987b. Nouns and verbs. Language 63. 53–94.10.1515/9783110857733.59Search in Google Scholar

Lyons, John. 1968. Introduction to theoretical linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139165570Search in Google Scholar

Penny, Ralph. 1991. A history of the Spanish language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Rosal, Francisco del. 1992. Diccionario etimológico. Ed. by Enrique Gómez Aguado. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.Search in Google Scholar

Smith, Andrew D. 2011. Grammaticalization and language evolution. In Heiko Narrog & Bernd Heine (eds.), The Oxford handbook of grammaticalization, 142–152. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199586783.013.0012Search in Google Scholar

Svorou, Soteria. 1986. On the evolutionary paths of locative expressions. Berkeley Linguistics Society 12. 515–527.10.3765/bls.v12i0.1861Search in Google Scholar

Svorou, Soteria. 1994. The grammar of space. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.10.1075/tsl.25Search in Google Scholar

Talmy, Leonard. 1983. How language structures space. In Herbert L. Pick & Linda P. Acredolo (eds.), Spatial orientation: Theory, research and application, 225–282. New York: Plenum.10.1007/978-1-4615-9325-6_11Search in Google Scholar

Toledo, Álvaro S. Octavio de. 2016. Los relacionantes locativos en la historia del español. Munich: Walter de Gruyter.Search in Google Scholar

Traugott, Elizabeth. 1989. On the rise of epistemic meaning: An example of subjectification in semantic change. Language 65. 31–55.10.2307/414841Search in Google Scholar

Electronic Literary Texts

Acevedo Díaz, Eduardo. 1890. Nativa. http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/nativa–0/html/ (accessed 13 October 2014).Search in Google Scholar

Alfonso X. 1260. Estoria de España. http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra/estoria-de-espana/ (accessed 4 October 2014).Search in Google Scholar

Alfonso X. 1265. Siete partidas, Tomo III. http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/las-siete-partidas-del-rey-don-alfonso-el-sabio-cotejadas-con-varios-codices-antiguos-por-la-real-academia-de-la-historia-tomo-3-partida-quarta-quinta-sexta-y-septima–0/html/ (accessed 4 October 2014).Search in Google Scholar

Anonymous. 1300. El libro del Cauallero Zifar. http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra/el-libro-del-cauallero-zifar-el-libro-del-cauallero-de-dios-i-text–0/ (accessed 4 October 2014).Search in Google Scholar

Cervantes, Miguel de. 1605. Don Quixote de la Mancha, Tomo I. http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/el-ingenioso-hidalgo-don-quixote-de-la-mancha-tomo-i–0/html/ (accessed 15 October 2014).Search in Google Scholar

Cervantes, Miguel de. 1615. Don Quixote de la Mancha, Tomo II. http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/el-ingenioso-hidalgo-don-quijote-de-la-mancha-reproduccion-de-la-edicion-de-la-real-academia-espanola-1862-vol-ii–0/html/003e978c-82b2-11df-acc7-002185ce6064.htm (accessed 15 October 2014).Search in Google Scholar

Feijoo, Fray Benito Jerónimo. Early 1700s. Obras escogidas. http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/obras-escogidas-del-padre-fray-benito-jeronimo-feijoo-y-montenegro-con-una-noticia-de-su-vida-y-juicio-critico-de-sus-escritos–0/html/ (accessed 4 October 2014).Search in Google Scholar

Güiraldes, Ricardo. 1922. Rosaura. http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/rosaura–0/html/ff2ace56-82b1-11df-acc7002185ce6064_2.html/marca/confluencia#192 (accessed 4 October 2014).Search in Google Scholar

Rojas, Fernando de. 1499. Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea. http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/tragicomedia-de-calisto-y-melibea-nuevamente-revisada-y-enmendada-con-adicion-de-los-argumentos-de-0/html/ffe3b10a-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064.html (accessed 21 October 2014).Search in Google Scholar

Rojas, Juan Fernández de. 1792. El triunfo de las castañuelas ó Mi viaje a Crotalópalis. http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/el-triunfo-de-las-castanuelas-o-mi-viaje-a-crotalopolis–0/html/ (accessed 22 October 2014).Search in Google Scholar

Sawa, Alejandro. 1885. La mujer de todo el mundo. http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/la-mujer-de-todo-el-mundo–0/html/ (accessed 4 October 2014).Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2017-11-10
Published in Print: 2017-11-27

© 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 20.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/flih-2017-0011/html?lang=en
Scroll to top button