V-Doubling subordinates of immediate succession

Abstract

In this paper we study a case of diachronic and diaphasic variation consisting in a subordination strategy for expressing immediate succession present in the cultivated narrative language of Classical Spanish. This strategy is based on verbal doubling (V-doubling), a pattern also found in some contemporary Atlantic creole languages. We analyze the elements that constitute this type of sequences and examine the similarities and differences between the constructions of Classical Spanish and those of the Creoles. We also compare the constructions of Classical Spanish with similar structures without V-doubling, present in all periods of Spanish, in order to detail the link of V-doubling with focalization of the end of the first event. The strategy analyzed was a transitory way to cover the absence of subordinators expressing immediate succession in an unambiguous way during the chronological period in which it existed.