The infinitive/subjunctive alternation in the causative constructions with motion verbs: A diachronic approach

Un acercamiento diacrónico

Abstract

This paper investigates the alternation between the causative-infinitive construction (e.g., El miedo llevó/trajo a los vecinos a huir ‘The fear led the neighbors to flee') and the causative construction with a subordinate clause with que and a verb in subjunctive (e.g., El miedo llevó/trajo a los vecinos a que huyesen ‘The fear led the neighbors to flee') with the verbs llevar (‘take’) and traer (‘bring’) in the history of Spanish. Through the study of a diachronic corpus (13th to 20th centuries), we analyze, on the one hand, the productivity of the two constructions and, on the other hand, the factors that determine their choice in the different stages of the language. The results highlight the singularity of the constructions with caused-accompanied-motion verbs in the system of causative constructions of Spanish.