EL PAPEL DEL ASPECTO GRAMATICAL EN LAS CONSTRUCCIONES CON ESTAR Y ADJETIVOS DE PROPIEDADES.

This paper investigates the interaction between viewpoint aspect and the semantics of adjectives in combinations of the Spanish copula estar with various classes of individual-level adjectives. The basic data are subtle contrasts in the use of perfective and imperfective past tenses, like the one in Estuvo inteligente vs #Estaba inteligente. The analysis we put forward assumes that a mismatch arises between the copula and the adjective that must be solved in interpreting the construction; we claim that the effects of viewpoint aspect are due to its role in the inferential process of mismatch resolution. The peculiar properties of evaluative adjectives make perfective aspect favour such processes, whereas with other lexical classes of individual-level adjectives, the preferred option is imperfective aspect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]