Sobre la llamada oposición aspectual entre «he cantado» y «canté» en el español de América
On the so-called aspectual opposition between «he cantado» and «canté» in Latin American Spanish

Summary/Abstract: According to the majority of linguists, the opposition between the forms «he cantado» and «canté» in the American variety of Spanish is related to aspect, which may raise doubts if it is assumed that aspect is a grammatical category typical of Slavic languages and absent in Romance languages. Based on this assumption and on a precise distinction between aspect and Aktionsart, the author attempts to prove that aspect did not exist in Latin, nor does it exist in contemporary Spanish. Therefore the claim that the tenses antepresente («he cantado») and pretérito («canté») are carriers of aspectual features is hard to accept.

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