El valor aspectual de los verbos reversativos: Claves para un proceso de verbalización

Abstract

The reversative value is a kind of opposition between verbs which may manifest lexical or morphologically. In the case of Spanish, the reversative is one of the most productive values of the prefix des- when it joins to verbal bases in order to create new verbs. Traditionally it has been assumed that this value is triggered when the prefix is adhered to telic bases, and as consequence the reversative is also conceived as telic. The aim of this paper is to explain the behavior of reversative verbs in terms of their “marked” nature, in the sense that they allude to a previous state. The kind of opposition between the base verb and the derived verb is in a way reflected in the verbal image of the reversative. More generally, this paper highlights the importance of pragmatic principles in the analysis of grammatical categories.