The future tense in Spanish

Linguistic theories emphasize either the inner point of view that explains linguistic phenomena starting from universal structures of the human mind, or the outer point of view that relies on the structure of communication. Enaction is a cognitive approach that locates halfway between formal and functional linguistics. This paper shows how the principles of perceptual interchange can help to explain the evolution and the main uses of the Spanish future tense. The current paradigm consists of four forms, voy a amar, amaré, amaría, amare, respectively temporal, modal, past, and rhetoric. Since none of them proceeds from the classic Latin future amabo, it is concluded that they originate in the adjustment of neural networks to the requirements of communication.

Published online: 02 April 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.25.07lop