ENTRE en construcción de infinitivo adverbial

Abstract

As a novel kind of structure in Romance syntax, the infinitive with adverbial meaning introduced by a preposition has been showing an extension in its use, in type as well as in frequency. The semantic properties of "entre" (Morera Pérez, 1988: 127-130) -a preposition that establishes a relationship with two or more entities or events- are projected over a time scheme which, with nominal phrases, indicate a limited period of time where the verbal predicate is placed in relation to the subject; and as to the aspectual properties of the structure, it can indicate durative value ("Esta sala de fiestas no abre entre semana") or it can indicate limited indeterminacy of time ("Iremos a casa entre el quince y el veinte de enero") depending on whether the verbal process covers the entire time period expressed in the prepositional phrase or just a point during that time span. However, while analysing data illustrating the use of entre in the Río de la Plata area, we found there has been an extension in the use of adverbial infinitives, given the syntactic functions they are assigned (alternance phrases, circumstantial phrases of manner, or even causal clauses) and the coreferentiality of the subjects with the contents in the introductory predicate; the semantic relationship between them and with regard to the main verb; and the possibility of alternance with clauses introduced with entre que or by gerund clauses, as well as possible links with other prepositions of concomitance (like "con").