Abstract

The use Spanish makes of the reflexive construction to denote a non-causative directional movement is usually explained in aspectual terms. The aim of the present contribution is to show that, in fact, the difference with the non-reflexive construction does not concern the internal temporal structuring of the event as such, but affects the representation of the subject entity’s participation. Adopting the cognitive linguistics framework, it is postulated that the reflexive mark symbolizes mental access to the energy deployment in the participant from an internal perspective, thus permitting to capture the experiential dimension of its changing relation with the spatial environment without letting the fractioning of the subject entity’s profile obscure the overall picture. This hypothesis is tested by comparing contexts with the verbs ir ‘to go’ y salir ‘to leave’, on the one hand, and irse ‘to go-reflexive’ and salirse ‘to leave-reflexive’, on the other. The analysis also seeks to distinguish between constructional meaning and variable discourse-pragmatic effects.