Acostumar (a/de)+INFFrom the habitual aspect to genericity aspect. An approach for contemporary Catala

Resumen

This study is part of a project that aims to offer a complete analysis of aspectual verbal periphrases in Catalan from the Middle Ages to the present day. Using data provided by current grammatical studies, lexicographical works and corpora, we analyse the periphrasis acostumar (a/de) + inf in contemporary Catalan as a prelude to research on its uses in early (9th–13 centuries) and late medieval (13th–15th centuries) Catalan, which present various difficulties. The purpose is to determine the current meanings of the construction. We propose that the periphrasis fundamentally expresses habituality, frequency, and generality. To analyse this periphrasis, we apply a methodology based on the semantics of cognitive orientation. Specifically, we suggest a possible path of grammaticalization marked by the process of (inter) subjectification, which is one of the regularities of semantic change described by Traugott and Dasher (2002), Traugott (2010a, 2010b, 2012), and Nuyts (2001, 2005, 2012). and 2014) and is based on invited inferences from the communicative context (Invited Inferencing Theory of Semantic Change, TCSII)