Constructions in Spanish is the first book-length English-language volume in the field of usage-based and Cognitive Construction Grammar dedicated exclusively to Spanish. The contributions investigate a wide range of constructions from both a synchronic and a diachronic perspective, cutting across morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. The constructionist perspective is also linked to comparative and typological research, to language learning and teaching and to multi-modal discourse analysis. The volume aims both at increasing the visibility of constructionist approaches to Spanish, and at offering data and analyses of Spanish for scholars working on constructional analyses of other languages. The volume thus addresses both scholars in Spanish and Romance linguistics, as it builds connections between more traditional approaches and constructionist approaches, and construction grammarians generally, especially scholars interested in comparative work.

Construction Job Site English-Spanish Translator Quick-CardA 6-page unique quick reference guide to translate English - Spanish words and some phrases that is commonly used on construction job site.Alphabetical order A-YPhrasesKey QuestionsDays of the Week,Week Ordermonth of the yearcardinal directiondirectionsordinal numbers

(abridged and revised) This reference grammar offers intermediate and advanced students a reason ably comprehensive guide to the morphology and syntax of educated speech and plain prose in Spain and Latin America at the end of the twentieth century. Spanish is the main, usually the sole official language of twenty-one countries,} and it is set fair to overtake English by the year 2000 in numbers 2 of native speakers. This vast geographical and political diversity ensures that Spanish is a good deal less unified than French, German or even English, the latter more or less internationally standardized according to either American or British norms. Until the 1960s, the criteria of internationally correct Spanish were dictated by the Real Academia Espanola, but the prestige of this institution has now sunk so low that its most solemn decrees are hardly taken seriously - witness the fate of the spelling reforms listed in the Nuevas normas de prosodia y ortograjia, which were supposed to come into force in all Spanish-speaking countries in 1959 and, nearly forty years later, are still selectively ignored by publishers and literate persons everywhere. The fact is that in Spanish 'correctness' is nowadays decided, as it is in all living languages, by the consensus of native speakers; but consensus about linguistic usage is obviously difficult to achieve between more than twenty independent, widely scattered and sometimes mutually hostile countries. Peninsular Spanish is itself in flux.

Learning the ins and outs of a new language can be a long and tedious process - especially when it comes to grammar. Yet good grammar is an essential aspect of fluency - one you cannot fake. With The Everything Spanish Grammar Book as your guide, you'll master the grammar essentials of this beautiful language in no time, thanks to expert step-by-step instruction. Invaluable tools include: Verb tables for fast sentence structuring Chapter-by-chapter linguistic breakdowns for quick reference Reinforcing exercises at the end of each section Usage and pronunciation tips for speakers of all levels English-Spanish and Spanish-English dictionaries to give you the right word Complete review of verb construction Vocabulary-building methods Speak like a native with The Everything Spanish Grammar Book - your key to understanding the grammar, syntax, and sentence structure of the Spanish language.

This book explores the syntactic and semantic change of three types of constructions in Spanish and Portuguese: (i) complex DPs with clausal adjunction (el hecho de, o facto de), (ii) complex prepositions/complementizers and complex connectives (sin embargo de/sem embargo de, so(b) pena de), and (iii) complex predicates containing light verbs (dar consejo/conselho de). While these constructions are syntactically different, they are all clause-taking complex expressions containing a noun followed by the functional preposition de ('of'). This book is the first work to examine them together through a systematic comparative corpus study. This makes it possible to tease apart individual from general changes and to focus on the chronological clustering of changes involving complex constructions in both languages. The development of these constructions has multiple causes related to the noun. Specifically, the reanalysis of the entire expression is affected both by the meaning of the noun and by changes in complementation patterns that systematically affected nouns (as well as verbs and adjectives) in the 16th-17th centuries in both languages. By studying mechanisms of language change and their outcomes in two sister languages, the book addresses questions like: How do complex constructions evolve? How does the meaning of the noun change when considered in isolation and when compared to the meaning of the whole construction? How do syntactic categories change over time? Studies of closely related languages, which can reveal distinct developments occurring in parallel over time, provide a crucial test case for theories of language change