Resumen

ASRATIAN, Arucia. The semantic value of the verbal forms in -ra and in -se of past imperfect and pluscuamperfect of subjunctive in the Spanish of Venezuela. Núcleo [online]. 2005, vol.17, n.22, pp.41-62. ISSN 0798-9784.

Among the diverse factors that condition the election between the forms of the Spanish past imperfect and pluscuamperfect of subjunctive, -ra and -s e, the semantic factor has provoked the greatest controve r s y. The hypothesis of some linguists (among them Lamíquiz, 1971), according to which -se reflects situations less real than -ra, is rejected by others, like Pottier (1975), who attributes the value of non-reality to -ra and reality to -se. The analysis made in this article tries to demonstrate that in the written and oral Spanish of Venezuela the forms -ra and -se are semantically equivalent and the selection among them could be justified by the etimology of these forms: the subjunctive origin of -se (< lat. amavissem) favors its use in contexts that are associated to the characteristic values of this verbal mood, such as non-assertion, non-reality and doubt, in contrast to -ra (< lat. amaveram), the modal semantics of which has joined the values of the subjunctive and the indicative.

Palabras clave : past perfect of subjunctive; past pluscuamperfect of subjunctive; etimology; semantic value; Spanish of Venezuela.