The grammaticalization of perception verbs in evidential uses in the Spanish language

Abstract

This article investigates the grammaticalization process of perception verbs (PVs) in evidential usage contexts in the Spanish language (SL). According to Hengeveld (2017), this process is understood as the functional expansion of linguistic items across different layers and hierarchical levels of grammar. Based on Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG), from a functionalist perspective, we analyze four PVs, selected from the set of the five most prototypical in the SL: ‘ver’, ‘oír’, ‘notar’, and ‘sentir’. The data were extracted from the Corpus de Referencia del Español (CREA), considering the layers and levels of FDG’s Grammatical Component. With the aid of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), we conducted a qualitative-quantitative analysis. We found that: (i) ‘ver’ demonstrates a broader grammaticalization process, operating at the Communicated Content layer of the Interpersonal Level, as well as at the Propositional Content, Episode, and State-of-Affairs layers of the Representational Level; (ii) ‘oír’ occurs at the Communicated Content, Episode, and State-of-Affairs layers of the Representational Level; (iii) ‘notar’ operates at the Propositional Content, Episode, and State-of-Affairs layers; and (iv) ‘sentir’, although also undergoing grammaticalization, shows more limited expansion, restricted to the Propositional Content and Episode layers of the Representational Level.