Chapter 10. Tenses in interactionBeyond evidentiality
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Universitat d'Alacant
info
- Carolina Figueras Bates (coord.)
- Adrián Cabedo (coord.)
Publisher: John Benjamins
ISBN: 978-90-272-6397-1, 978-90-272-0088-4
Year of publication: 2018
Pages: 223-250
Type: Book chapter
Abstract
This chapter analyzes the discursive functions performed by the future in Spanish. In order to do so, it departs from a definition of the future based on the deictic ‘distance forward’ instruction, which may be projected along a subjectivity axle and cross different levels of meaning. When distance is projected upon the utterance, the future plays several discursive roles and traverses a variety of categories that go beyond evidentiality. More specifically, the future in Spanish can be a powerful tool to persuade and convince (persuasive future); it can also help control disagreement as part of a counter-argumentation strategy (concessive future); or it can participate in an assessment process (mirative future). Information occurring in the future must have been previously activated for these values to arise, which naturally happens in the context of interaction.