por vs. de: agential prepositions?.pdf

8/13/2019 Por vs. De: Agential Prepositions?.pdf

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Por vs. De: Agential Prepositions?

Author(s): Margarita SuerSource: Hispania, Vol. 64, No. 2 (May, 1981), pp. 278-283Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and PortugueseStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/341864.

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278 Hispania (May 1981)Grande do Sul e Santa Catarina, em partes do Parande em algumas regiOesdo Norte e do Nordeste. Naotenho noticia de nenhum trabalho geogrdfico-dialec-tol6gico que vise a determinar as fronteiras de seuemprego. Sobre o uso de tu em poesia, veja-se IvanaVersiani, Tu, Voce (e Outros Pronomes) na Poesiade Drummond, Minas Gerais, Suplemento Literdrio,18 de dezembro, 1977, pdg.6 (parte I) e 25 de dezem-bro, 1977, pdg. 6 (parte II). O emprego de tu comoforma ret6rica de tratamento respeitoso ndo se enqua-dra no escopo deste estudo.

70 primeiro exemplo foi dito pelo guardador decavalos de uma estancia quando falava com umcliente; o segundo, por um cobrador de 6nibus aodirigir-se aos passageiros. Ambos os falantes eramobviamente de extraqdo rural. Hd diversos outrosexemplos no corpus.'Trata-se de fato assinalado por diversos autores,entre os quais Christopher Stavrou ( PortuguesePronouns and Command Forms, Hispania, 56, 1(marco 1973), 92-93), o qual exagera, porem, ao dizerque a diferenciaqio between the possessives of theformal 'you' and the third person 'he,' 'she,' and'they,' which technically are ... seu in Portuguese ...is done in Brazil by using seu(s) and sua(s) exclusivelyfor voce and o senhor, and the analytical form dele(s)and dela(s) for the third person (pAg. 93). No regis-tro formal, o uso de seu com o valor de dele/dela e'comum.

9NMoobstante, o pronome si, que tanto em suasorigens hist6ricas como na lingua normativa atual temvalor reflexivo, costuma ser empregado como objetondo reflexivo de preposiqao, em frases como podeguardar este canhoto para si ou o gerente quer falarconsigo. Sobre este uso, vejam-se os comenthrios deEvanildo Bechara, LidOesde Portuguds pela AndliseSintdtica, 2a ediCqo(Rio de Janeiro: Editora Fundode Cultura, 1961), pigs. 110-11.'00 corpus cont6m exemplos da forma ti, comoIsso e para ti. Tamb6m ocorre contigo, emboraesporadicamente, nos meus dados sobre a fala paulis-tana: Um grande abrago para voce, e a semana quevemtconto contigo.Luis Carlos Martins Pena, O Juiz de Paz na RoVa,Com5dias, vol. 1, ed. Darcy Damasceno (Rio deJaneiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, 1956), pdg. 30.2MartinsPena, pdg. 31.3Ignacio de Loyola, Bebel que a Cidade Comeu(Sio Paulo: Editora Brasiliense, 1968), pdg. 72. Esteromance retrata muito de perto a fala coloquial pau-

listana.Loyola, pgg. 73.Loyola, pgg. 28.'6Guilherme de Figueiredo, A Raposa e as Uvas,Teatro Brasileiro Contempordneo, 2a ediCaocorrigidae atualizada, eds. Wilson Martins e Seymour Menton(Nova York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1966), pdg.214.

' Brian F. Head, Social Factors in the Use ofPronouns for the Addressee in Brazilian Portuguese,Readings in Portuguese Linguistics, ed. JiirgenSchmidt-Radefeldt (Amsterdd: North-Holland Pub-lishing Company, 1976), pdg. 335.Jorge de Andrade, A Morat6ria, Martins eMenton, 1966, pdg.201.'Andrade, pdg. 137. Este uiltimo exemplo ilustrao que revela a pesquisa de Head, ou seja, a tendencyfor S [= o senhor] in the singular used for oneaddressee to be replaced by V [= voces] in the pluralfor more than one. .... The degree to which V is usedfor multiple addressees in instances where S is usedfor a single addressee varies not only from one placeto another but also from one role relationship toanother. ... Plural V corresponds to singular S morecommonly among the informants from Rio de Janeirothan among those of the other places surveyed, andmore frequently in address of parents than in addressof secondary school teachers, for example (Brian F.Head, pdg.335).2Browne Gilman, pdg. 261.2 Este artigo jAestava pronto e escalado para publi-caCqoquando recebi c6pias de tres excelentes trabalh-os de John B. Jensen sobre o tema dos pronomes eformas de tratamento em portugues, a saber: Brazil-ian tu: An obituary? . Paper presented at the North-east Modern Language Association meeting (Albany,N.Y., 1978); Tratamento na sala de aula. Paperpresented at the annual meeting of the AATSP(Toronto, 1979); A investigapqode formas de trata-mento e a telenovela: A Escalada, parte I, RevistaBrasileira de Linguistica, Vol. 4, No. 2 (1977), pdgs.45-73. Os dois primeiros apresentam dados de umapesquisa de campo realizada no Brasil, e o uiltimo,uma andlise detalhada do tratamento pronominalnum genero dramdticoque, por vdriasrazOesexpostaspelo autor, reflete de perto a linguagem quotidiana.Juntamente com o trabalho de Head (nota 17), essesartigos, al6m de altamente informativos, constituemexcelentes modelos para pesquisas sobre o tema.

POR vs. DE: AGENTIAL PREPOSITIONS?MARGARITA SUIRERCornell University

The main purpose of this paper is todefine the parameters for the use of porand de as agential prepositions.This study has the following structure:Section I reviews the literatureand explainswhat others have said about por vs. de. Theresults of a questionnaire' which wasadministered to 42 native speakers inBuenos Aires, Argentina, are intermingledthroughout the discussion of this first

section and are used either to corroboratewhat is found in the literatureon the topic,or to signal to what degree contemporaryusage departs from textbook explanations.By necessity any discussion which dealswith por and de as introducers of agentialnoun phrases is inextricably related to thatof the passive voice. Section II examinesser + past participle and estar + pastparticiple and the manner in which they are

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Language and Linguistics 279linked to agential phrases. A heretoforeunmentioned construction of estar + parti-ciple + por phrase is discussed and theclaim is made that this pattern occurs whenthe CAUSEReaves a trace on the verbal.In Section III, after summarizing theusages of por and de, it is concluded thatde is never an agential preposition andfurthermore, that por is replacing de in allcases in contemporary Spanish.I. Review of the Literature

A Concept Approach to Spanish (1965)defines the contrast in the following way:Por translates by when referring to aphysical action or motion. De is used whenreferringto state or condition, or to mentalor emotional attitude. 2 Some of the exam-ples offered are:(1.1) Fuerodeadopor sus admiradores.He was surroundedby his admirers At thatmomentthey surroundedhim) = act of sur-rounding.vs.(1.1a) Estabarodeadode sus admiradores.He was (already) surrounded by his admirers.It is true that by using different auxiliaryverbs, i.e., ser in (1.1) as opposed to estarin (1.1a), a contrast is drawn betweenaction and resultant condition or state. Thequestion, however, is whether concomi-tantly a different preposition is required.In other words, would it be possible to say(1.lb)?(1.1b) Estaba rodeado por sus admiradores.The answer is yes , por may be usedbefore the passive agent after estar. Of 42speakers, 29 (60%) indicated either por orde could be used for sentence (1. la), 9 pre-ferredpor and only four selected de.

Moreover, Dalbor and Sturcken' offerthe following example with estar and theproposition por:(1.2) Estaba firmado por el jefe.It was signed by (bore the signature of) theboss.Not only is (1.2 grammatical, in spite ofexpressing a resultant condition and havingpor to express agency, but por is the onlyalternative because in replacing por by dewe get the ungrammatical outcome:(1.2a) *Estaba irmadodel jefe.According to the definition given by AConcept Approach, de should be used formental or emotional attitude. The examplegiven is(1.3) Eran odiados de todos.They were hated by all.however, its alternative with por is possi-ble:

(1.3a) Eran odiados por todos.

Thirty-eight (90%) native speakers reactedin favor of por, while only four indicatedeither por or de would be correct.Consequently, the rules of usage givenby A Concept Approach not only do notaccount for all of the possibilities-cf.(1.1b) and (1.3a)-used by native speakers,but also these rules fail to adequatelyreflect the marked preference for por.Dalbor and Sturcken (1965:74-75) givethe following explanation for the correctuse of the prepositions under discussion:De replaces por when the relationship isconsidered to be merely one of position ...,and estar, or some other construction, isordinarily used.(1.4) Los oficiales eran seguidos de unos empleados.The officials were followed by some em-ployees.Given the above sentence, native speakersreacted in the following way: 30 (71%)opted for por, 8 said either prepositioncould be used without a change in meaning,while 4 said there was a difference in mean-ing (which they did not explain) dependingon the preposition.Stockwell, Bowen and Martin4 alsoremark on the use of de to define positionalrelation:(1.5) Lleg6 acompafiado de varios amigos.He arrivedaccompaniedby (in the companyof) several riends.Again, 27 (64%) native speakers said therewas no difference in meaning when porreplaced de in sentence (1.5) and 10 pre-ferredpor outright.It may very well be that native speakersno longer react to the positional relationreferred to by Dalbor and Sturcken, andStockwell, Bowen and Martin. The RealAcademia Espafiola points out: En lostextos literarios primitivos es general elempleo de la preposici6n de con el agentede la pasiva. ... En la 6poca clasica se usade con mayor frecuencia que en nuestrosdias. . . . Hoy se prefiere generalmente lapreposici6n por. . . . . Thus, the RAE ispoignantly acknowledging that a syntacticchange is taking place in the language byindicating that por is the preferredpreposi-tion for introducing the passive agent.Unfortunately, the RAE's statement stillleaves some unanswered questions. Whatdoes preferred actually mean? Is the useof por always grammatical? We alreadyknow that some sentences with de are not-cf. (1.2a). We will try to answer these ques-tions after looking at other studies whichdirectly or indirectly have dealt with theprepositions under discussion.Ramsey states that the preposition is porwhen the action is a physical or bodily



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280 Hispania 64 (May 1981)one but de when it is one of thought orfeeling. He also adds, De is more usualwith acompafado, precedido, rodeado,seguido but por tends to displace de in allcases nowadays. 6 So here again we findthe distinction (if indeed there is one) beingdefined in terms of physical vs. mentalattitude. Two of his examples that illustratemental attitude are:(1.6) Era envidiada de todos.She was envied by all. (p. 383)(1.7) El nifto es amado de todos.The child is loved by everybody. (p. 520)Since Ramsey acknowledges the fact thatde tends to be replaced by por in all casesnowadays, it is clear that the above twosentences should take por without a majordifference in meaning. In order to establishthe degree to which the replacement istaking place, I tested these two sentenceswith native speakers, the results over-whelmingly show the preference for por:S1.6: por 39 (92%) speakers; either preposition:3 speakersS1.7: por 40 (95%) speakers; either preposition:2 speakersUp to this point we can tentatively con-clude from the review of the literature:A. Use of the preposition de with mentalattitudes is on the decline; native speakersoverwhelmingly prefer por instead.B. Use of the preposition de to definepositional relations is also being lost,although not as definitely as in desig-nations of mental attitude.C. Use of de vs. por in agentive comple-ments cannot be explained merely in termsof actions vs. states or resultant conditions,or in terms of ser vs. estar.II. In search of an Explanation

Since the use of por vs. de is inextricablyrelated to the passive voice, it is necessaryat this point to discuss briefly what apassive sentence is.In Spanish, a sentence denoting anaction can be passivized by adding a formof SER+ the past participle (- do) of themain verb + por followed by the agent.7(2.1) Este libro deberd ser leido por los estudiantes.This book must be read by the students.(2.2) Las chicasfueron perseguidaspor tu perro.The girls were chased by your dog.Notice that in Spanish the past participlebehaves like an adjective in that it agrees innumber and gender with the subject of thepassive sentence. But in sentences like thefollowing(2.3) El patio estAconstruido de mosaicos.The patio is built of tiles.(2.4) El techo estaba cubierto de nieve.The roof was covered with snow.

(2.5) El nifto estd cubierto de polvo.The child is covered with dust.where the verb estar is followed by a pastparticiple followed in turn by de, one canquestion whether these sentences arepassive in nature, i.e., whether de signalsthe presence of an agential prepositionalphrase. The evidence seems to be againstconsidering the above sentences as pas-sives. First, if de is replaced by por thesentences become ungrammatical. Second-ly, in this type of construction the mostaccurate translation for de is with and notby, a fact which is corroborated by thethird point, which is that the de-phrasesare not felt to be agential in nature. On thecontrary, they are interpreted as beingmaterial, or means. If these sentences areturned into true passives (i.e., with theverb ser), the implication is that they wouldaccept a por agential phrase. This predic-tion is supported by the following exam-ples:(2.3a) El patio fue construido de mosaicos por Juan.The patio was built of tiles by John.(2.4a) El techo fue cubierto de nieve por los tecnicoscinematogrAficos.The roof was covered with snow by the movietechnicians.(2.5a) El nifto fue cubierto de polvo por sus compa-fneros.The child was covered with dust by his com-panions.Having cleared up possible confusionsinherent in sentences like those just con-sidered, and having shown that these sen-tences (2.3-2.5) are not instances of truepassive constructions, we turn our atten-tion to the opposition por vs. de withregard to properties of the verb.In the first section we saw that theseprepositions cannot be explained simply interms of ser vs. estar, nor in terms of verbswhich denote actions as opposed to verbsthat denote states.8The significant counter-example(1.2) Estaba firmado por el jefe.It was signed by (bore the signature of) theboss.has a stative verb (estar). Instead of theexpected preposition de we encounter por.This example is particularly interestingbecause when de is substituted for por theoutcome is an ungrammatical sentence.

On the other hand, it is safe to assumethat non-stative verbs require por as theagential preposition; should de be usedinstead, the resulting sentence would beungrammatical. This prediction is borneout by the following examples:(2.6) El c~sped fue cortado por el jardinero.The lawn was mowed by the gardener.*El c6sped fue cortado del jardinero.



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Language and Linguistics 281(2.7) La magnifica cena fue preparadapor el dueftode casa.The magnificent dinner was prepared by thehost.*La magnifica cena fue preparadadel duefto de

casa.(2.8) Los libros recomendados fueron leidos portodos los alumnos.The recommended books were read by all thestudents.*Los libros recomendados fueron leidos detodos. ...The crux of the problem rests, then, infinding the cases in which por can be used

with stative verbs as opposed to theinstances in which it cannot.Bull provides us with a partial answer tothe problem. When describing the passivevoice, he notices that there are twopatterns which depend on the nature of theevent. 9 In the first pattern, the action isterminated and the resultant state begins.Since the resultant condition is descriptiveit cannot include an agent and consequent-ly both prepositions de and por are barredfrom this type of construction:

(2.9) Action: La casa fue destruida por la tormenta.101por Juan.The house was destroyed by the storm.I by John.State: La casa estd destruida *por/*de la tormenta.I*por /*de Juan.

(2.10) Action: La puerta fue cerrada por el viento.Ipor Juan.The door was closed Jby the wind.Iby John.State: La puerta estA cerrada *por/*de viento.i*por/*de Juan.

(2.11) Action: El auto fue estacionado por Juan.The car was parked by John.State: El auto estAestacionado *por/*de Juan.

The second pattern is far more interest-ing. Bull writes that when the stateresulting from an action will not persistwithout the continued intervention of anagent, estar also combines withpor to forma passive voice (p. 292).

(2.12) Action: El ladr6n fue sujetado por el policia.State: El ladr6n estaba sujetado por el policia.The thief was held by the policeman.

(2.13) Action: El camino fue bloqueado por las tropas.State: El camino estaba bloqueado por las tropas.The road was blocked by the troops.According to Bull, then, por may be usedwith states but a feature such as [+ mainte-nance of state] is necessary. Will thisfeature cover all cases of the use of porwith resultant conditions? In Ramsey(1956: 383-4), we find the following exam-ples of statives followed by por:(2.14) Las olas estaban todavia agitadas por elviento.The waves were still stirred up by the wind.(2.15) Este articulo estA escrito por una personaindocta.This article is written by an uneducated

person.Example (2.14) fits nicely with [+ mainte-nance of state] but this feature does notseem to cover (2.15). In (2.15) the article isalready written, displayed on paper, so it isnot the case that the state will not persistwithout the continued intervention of anagent.'2 A parallel example is the already

mentioned (1.2) (repeated here for con-venience):(2.16) Estaba firmado por el jefeIt was signed by (bore the signature of) theboss.and also(2.17) Ese puente estA construido por un ingenierocon experiencia.That bridge is built by an experiencedengineer.(2.18) Estd diseftado por un modisto famoso.It is designed by a famous designer.(2.19) EstAhecho por los incas.It is made by the incas.(2.20) Las cerezas estaban picoteadas por lospdjaros.The cherrieswere pecked by the birds.It is obvious that Bull's definition requir-ing maintenance of state needs to beexpanded or supplemented, since examples(2.15)-(2.20) fall outside of its scope.



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282 Hispania 64 (May 1981)What these examples have in common,besides the fact that they portray states andthat they allow for apor-phrase, is that theagent has left evidence or a trace of himselfin the states described. It is as if there wassomething in the verbal itself whichreveals or points to the responsiblebeing, the one who brought about the state.The state itself has been branded by theCAUSER. The nature of this brand could beas tangible as a signature (2.16), a way ofeating that reveals the culprit (2.20), or amore subtle clue such as a style (2.17-2.19)or a manner of writing that could be corre-lated to degree of education (2.15).'In recapitulating this section, we con-clude that:A. Por is the agential preposition usedwith non-stative verbs.B. Por is also the agential prepositionwith statives or resultant conditions, if thestate and the action cannot exist inde-pendently of each other. ( El ladr6n fuesujetado por el policia implies El ladr6nestaba sujetado por el policia and vice-versa because if the policeman were notthere holding the thief, this latter onewould not be held), or if there is evidenceor trace of an agential force (cf. 2.15-2.20).C. The preposition de is barred from usein either (A) or (B).III. Summary and Conclusions

In the quest for an explanation of theprepositions por and de used after pastparticiples, and prompted by the literatureon the subject, we have looked at threetypes of verbs: (a) those that denote mentalor emotional attitude; (b) those that denotepositional relations; (c) others in stativeand non-stative constructions. After exam-ining the data and testing it on nativespeakers, we conclude that:A. Currently, de is never an agentialpreposition. ' Its use is almost nonexistentwith type (a) verbs, and even its use tosignal spatial relations is being lost-type(b) verbs. Furthermore, it yields ungram-matical sentences when used with type (c)verbs in non-stative constructions. Ourfindings confirm Ramsey's statement(1956:382), por tends to displace de in allcases nowadays.' 6B. Por introduces the agent in passivevoice sentences.'7 It has almost completelyreplaced de with type (a) verbs, and theresults of our questionnaire indicate that itis preferred over de with type (b) verbs. Inexamples with type (c) verbs,por is the onlypossibility for non-stative verbs; it may

also be used with estar + past participleshould the action and the state be simul-taneous, or if there is evidence or a trace ofthe CAUSERn the state itself.'NOTES

'The questionnaires were administered in thefollowing manner: a group of written sentences (notall of them pertinent to the opposition de vs. por) waspresented to 42 native speakers. The testing wasconducted in Buenos Aires, Argentina among uni-versity students. They were asked to complete eachsentence with either one or both prepositionsaccording to their preferences. If neither prepositionfit the context, the sentence was to be marked asbeing ungrammatical.Granted that this may not be the best way to testnative speakers, we could have waited until sufficientnumbers of the utterances under investigation arespontaneously given, but this requires an incredibleamount of time and patience and may not necessarilyyield more reliable data. A given native speaker mightalso react differently to the same data presented onanother occasion. Hopefully the method adoptedgives a faithful indication of native speaker's usage.Because some speakers did not complete all thesentences, some totals do not add up to 42.2Zenia Sacks DaSilva and Gabriel H. Lovett, AConcept Approach to Spanish (NY: Harperand Row,1965), p. 212.3John B. Dalbor and H. Tracy Sturcken, OralSpanish Review (NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston,1965), p. 75.4R. P. Stockwell, J. D. Bowen and J. W. Martin,The Grammatical Structures of English and Spanish(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1965),p. 213.'Real Academia Espaifola, Esbozo de una nuevagramdtica de la lengua espalola (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1974), pp. 378-79.6Marathon M. Ramsey and R. K. Spaulding, ATextbook of Modern Spanish (NY: Holt, Rinehartand Winston, 1956), p. 382.7As in English, the por-phrase is optional inSpanish. Care must be taken, however, not to equatethe Spanish with the English passive. The Spanishpassive is subject to several constraints, but specifyingthem here will take us too far afield.'For a study of the feature stative in Spanish, see:L. D. King and M. Sufer, On the Notion ofStativity in Spanish and Portuguese, in F. H.Nuessel, Jr. (ed.), Contemporary Studies in RomanceLanguages (Bloomington: Indiana University Lin-guistics Club, 1980).9William Bull, Spanish for Teachers:Applied Lin-guistics (NY: Ronald Press, 1965), p. 292.'ONotice that in this discussion the definition of

Agent encompasses not only willful animate beingsbut also what in a Fillmorean case grammar would beconsidered Instrumentals. Both notions could begrouped under the single label: CAUSE.This idea is expressed in a more recently publishedgrammar (Yolanda R. Sole and Carlos A. Sole,Modern Spanish Syntax [Lexington, Mass.: Heath,1977], p. 265) in similar terms: When estar + pastparticiple occurs with a participle that refers to non-



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LanguageandLinguistics 283conclusive, durative action (the state of being issimultaneous with the sustained action), an agentmay co-occur with the construction.Their examples are:La fdbrica estA administrada por su sobrino.The factory is managed by his nephew.La prensa estAcontrolada por el gobierno.The press is controlled by the government.El pueblo estAoprimido por el tirano.The people are oppressed by the tyrant.El programa estAdirigido por un extranjero.The program is directed by a foreigner.This example and the following ones (2.16-2.20)are not covered by the Sole and Sol6's (1977:265)explanation. See note 5 above.

'3I have been unable to find any sources which evenmention, let alone explain this type of example.The exact delimitation of this use of por withstates is an interesting problem in itself. How muchof a trace is required for the utterance to be appropri-ate and well-formed? The reaction of native speakersis extremely interesting. (These examples were testedin the U.S.A.; I discovered the problem too late totest it while in Argentina). Notice the contrasts in thefollowing examples where question marks indicatehesitation or sentence-awkwardness:a) ?La invenci6n de Morel estd escrita por BioyCasares.La invenci6n de Morel is written by Bioy Casares.Hasta hace poco tiempo pens6 que La invenci6nde Morel era de Borges pero recientemente des-cubri que estAescrita por Bioy Casares.Till a short while ago I thought that La invenci6nde Morel belonged to Borges but recently I dis-covered that it is written by Bioy Casares.b) ?Esa casa estApintada por un albafnil.That house is painted by a bricklayer.Mira los detalles, esa casa estd pintada por unsimple albanfily no por un profesional.Look at the details, that house is painted by a merebricklayerand not by a professional.c) ?La cena estApreparada por la sehfora.This dinner is prepared by the lady of the house.

Te apuesto a que la cena estA preparada por lasefiora porque se positivamente que la criadasiempre quema todo y esto estd fantdstico.I bet you that this dinner is prepared by the ladyof the house because I know for a fact that themaid always burns everything and this is great.

It appears that native speakers sometimes find it hardto discover the (less tangible kind of) traceof the agentin the state described, but, once enough context isprovided and the justification for the trace is given,the sentences are found to be completely natural.When the trace is self-evident this problem does notarise:d) Estos libros estAn roidos por los ratones.These books are gnawed by the rats.

Los documentos estdn inicialados / firmados por elgerente.The documents are initialled/signed by the man-ager.Since tradition dies hard, allow me to use onemore quotation in support of my contention.

Both de and por are equivalent of English by. Thedifference between them is that de is relationalwhile por is active . De shows position in space ortime; por shows exertion. To say, for example, that Ais surrounded by B de would be used if we merelypictured A with B around it (The girl is surroundedby her companions. La nifa estd rodeada de suscompafleras), but por would be used if the meaningis hemmed in or protected (She is surroundedbythe police. Ella estd rodeada por la policia).An extreme case of the active relationship is thepassive voice. Thus El tirano fue rodeado por losestudiantes would mean that he GOT urrounded bythem. El tirano estuvo rodeado por los estudianteswould mean that he was there with the studentsaround him in some posture (e.g., threatening orprotecting) other than mere position relative to him.Por is used in both because more than position isinvolved. (D. L. Bolinger, J. E. Ciruti and H. H.Montero, Modern Spanish: A Project of the ModernLanguage Association [NY: Harcourt, Brace andWorld, 1966], p. 339).

'6Thepedagogical implications of these findings areclear: most textbooks need to revise their statementson de usage.17More accurately, it introduces the CAUSER, it couldbe an agent, an instrument or anything capable ofdisplaying agential force (wind, storms, etc.).

My thanks go to Larry D. King, Wayles Browneand Erik J. Beukenkamp for frequently discussingearlierversions of this paperwith me. I am also thank-ful to Amanda Chacona for her native speaker'sintuitions. As usual, all errors of interpretationremain entirely my responsibility.

BILINGUAL BICULTURAL STUDIES: INTERESTED?AATSP members contemplating moving into the bilingual bicultural field should read theinformation booklet Training Teachers for Bilingual Bicultural Education ($.25).Write the Executive Director, Richard B. Klein, AATSP, Holy Cross College, Worcester,MA 01610. As this area of service to students becomes more and more significant,members should feel the obligation to familiarize themselves with the best possible infor-mation in the field.

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por vs. de: agential prepositions?.pdf

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