The Aktionsart of Spanish Reflexive Psychological Verbs

Abstract

In this paper we argue that reflexive psychological verbs in Spanish (SRPVs), such as aburrirse ‘bore-REFL’ constitute a special subclass of stative predicate which we term BOUNDED STATE PREDICATES. Bounded state predicates entail that the onset of the state they denote falls within the reference time for the predicate. The analysis not only accounts for subtle differences between SRPVs and related estar+participle expressions but also lays the groundwork for explaining the otherwise puzzling fact that SRPVs are translated into English with phrases involving get in some cases and be in others.