Gramaticalización y estado latente

Abstract

In the f irst part of this paper our purpose is to argue out the adequacy of the concept of latent state for the grammaticalization. Grammaticalization.is the process by which full lexical items become grammatical morphemes, or grammatical items become more grammatical items. Latent state is a methodological concept minted by Menéndez Pidal in order to def ine the hidden existence of an item in a traditional activity (linguistic, literary, folkloric, etc.) Latent state explains well enough the coexistence and overlapping of different mor phosyntactic values in the item that undergoes grammaticalization, and also its paradigmatic layering. In a second part, there is an attempt to apply this theoretical synthesis to the history of compound relative pronoun «el que», so that its syntactical history is better understood.