Aspect and the Categorization of States. The Case of Ser and Estar in Spanish (review)

David Brian Roby's Aspect and the Categorization of States. The Case of Ser and Estar in Spanish is a compelling original analysis of Spanish copular sentences with ser or estar. The use of one or the other copula depends on the type of state that is referred to in a Spanish sentence, which is why those semantic properties of states that truly determine their relevant distinctions must be clearly defined—just what the author accomplishes. While most theoretical accounts thus far agree that predication with estar in always somehow temporarily limited and ser-predication is not, Roby effectively argues that the opposition of estar-predicates vs. ser-predicates represents a [1perfective]/[2perfective] distinction, the same one that is overtly expressed and marked elsewhere in the Spanish verbal paradigm (i.e., in the two Spanish past tense forms—the preterite and the imperfect).

Roby's analysis follows Luján's (1981) treatment of ser and estar as aspectual morphemes that have temporal reference: ser is [2perfective], and predicates with ser normally refer to periods of time that are unlimited, meaning that their beginning and end points are indefinite and are not implied. Ser-predication holds continually, and it may denote habitual states or states that hold on an on-and-off basis, because its reference may include stretches of time comprised of an indefinite number of time periods delimited in their duration (122). Thus, in Ricardo es feliz, the state of happiness refers to a stretch of time without any implication of when it began or when it may end (note the difference from the implication that Ricardo is always, inherently or permanently happy). Estar-predication, on the other hand, is [1perfective], and must thus be "interpreted as inherently referring to a delimited period of time" (121); that is, the speaker assumes that the predicated state has a beginning, an end, or both. The same sentence exemplified above—this time with estar: Ricardo está feliz—refers to a perfective, delimited state: Ricardo's happiness at the current stage in time (i.e., a good mood), whose beginning and/or end is clearly implied. It is important to observe that the core meaning of all adjectives in Roby's analysis remains constant (122). Crucially, if a speaker comments on something perceived (by one of the senses) for the first time, such as tasting paella or chilaquiles or feeling a sofa's hard surface, estar is used by default because a "usual state" logically cannot be assumed. The two aspectual copulas are then partially synonymous: ser 1 predicate implies estar 1 predicate, but not vice versa. They may therefore be considered allomorphs whose use depends on the kind of temporal reference expressed.

The author provides several credible and neatly argued justifications for his analysis: the aspectual distinction (perfective/imperfective) is part of universal grammar, and it represents simple and basic linguistic information—a grammatical feature that is "effortlessly cognitively internalized by all language speakers at a very young age" (120). Roby's theoretical solution is especially attractive in view of the fact that it successfully reflects a distinction that a native-speaker child is required and capable of acquiring with little effort. This makes the theory much more elegant and leaner, less "costly," as Roby says, than positing ad hoc explanations with imaginarily useful language concepts not encountered elsewhere in the system. The theoretical sophistication (and simplicity) of Roby's theory is based on the fact that it does not invoke a "nebulous cognitive division of the world" (136) and does not try to convince us, as most other theories almost exclusively presented in textbooks within the past decades, that Spanish-speakers (adults and children) have to and can decide whether a predication is temporary or permanent, or which type of implied comparison (with states holding for the same or different entity) it involves.

I highly recommend chapter 2 to the attention...