Bailando, me paso el día bailando y los vecinos mientras tanto no paran de molestar. Parar de+INF as an Interruptive Verbal Periphrasis in Spanish

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to describe the Spanish construction parar de + INF, an aspectual verbal periphrasis which expresses the interruption of the event referred to by the infinitive in affirmative clauses, and the continuity and repetition of this event in negative clauses. Parar de + INF is a verbal periphrasis whose consolidation in Spanish occurred in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The study on this structure is therefore associated with recent linguistic changes. Parar de + INF is a verbal periphrasis characteristic of the colloquial language, which has complicated the study of the real use of parar de + INF. The language used in situations of communicative proximity is under-represented in the corpora. Thus, estimates of the frequencies of use of linguistic forms associated with colloquial language forms should be taken with caution, as frequency of use may differ significantly across discourse traditions. In this regard, it is important to think about the role of frequency data in historical studies of language.