Comparative study of the verb forms ending in -ra and -re in Asturian and Castilian Spanish

Abstract

This study attempts to offer an analysis of the functional behaviour displayed by the verb forms including the inflectional suffixes -ra and -re in Asturian, which occur in the verb tenses pretéritu pluscuamperfeutu d’indicativu, pretéritu imperfeutu de suxuntivu and futuru de suxuntivu by comparing it with that shown by their counterpart verb forms in Spanish, which occur in the verb tenses pretérito imperfecto de subjuntivo and futuro de subjuntivo. The overall aim is to confirm whether or not the increase in the number of functions of these verb forms in Asturian is capable of compensating for the lack of complex verb tenses in this language. Firstly, after providing historical background about the origin and the diachronic development of verb tenses in both languages, this study offers a comparative analysis of the functional uses of the verb forms ending in -ra and -re in Asturian and Castilian Spanish in simple sentences and especially in complex sentences, in relation to the phenomenon of sequence of tenses, that is the temporal relationship between the matrix verb and the linked verb in complex sentences. Secondly, the paper seeks to identify the contexts where the use of these forms can be potentially ambiguous in this language, that is constructions where their use can express more than one temporal relationship (e. g. anteriority, simultaneity, posteriority). Finally, given Castilian Spanish makes use of complex verb forms in these contexts, this study offers an analysis of the frequency and uses of the verb forms ending in -ra and -re and the Latin periphrastic constructions haber + participiu and tener + participiu in a corpus consisting of a number of texts written in Asturian. The purpose here is to attempt to determine whether the use of complex verb forms implies a greater lexical and grammatical variety or, conversely, if in fact it serves as an attempt to convey uses that the verb tenses pretéritu pluscuamperfeutu d’indicativu, pretéritu imperfeutu de suxuntivu and futuru imperfeutu de suxuntivu are not able to express efficiently. This analysis consists of two different parts: the first part offers an examination of the use of the verb forms ending in -ra and -re in a number of literary works translated into Asturian and Castilian Spanish and the second provides an analysis and classification of the different functional uses that these verb forms have in a selection of novels originally written in the Asturian language —to avoid a possible influence of Castilian Spanish— with the aim of confirming the results achieved in the former stage.