Subcategorization and change: A diachronic analysis of sin embargo (de que)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the syntactic and semantic changes undergone by the PP sin embargo ‘without obstacle/impediment’ as it develops its clause-taking properties in Spanish from the 12th to the 16th centuries, essential for its further reanalysis as a concessive connective. We argue against an account that explains this change through a metaphor from the lack of a barrier in the sociophysical world to the epistemic world. Instead, we show that the syntactic and semantic change stems from the subcategorization properties of the noun embargo, which in the 1400s selects for the preposition de and later for the complementizer que, with scope over a proposition. The selection of a clausal complement, and hence the increase in scope of the original prepositional phrase, underlies the creation of the sentence connective.