Verbal Periphrases in the Expression of Obligation in Colombian Spanish: A Study of Modal Semantic

The teaching of Spanish to non-native speakers in immersion settings requires instructors who not only master the “standard” form of the language but are also familiar with the specific linguistic features of the region. Although Colombian Spanish has been widely studied, no analyses were found concerning the use of periphrastic constructions expressing obligation. This study aims to describe the use of verbal periphrases to express obligation in the Colombian variety of Spanish spoken in Bucaramanga. Adopting an onomasiological approach to the study of the relevant modal semantic category, the study identifies corpus instances in which obligation is expressed and the periphrastic constructions used.. An oral language corpus was created, and a mediated survey was conducted to examine Colombians’ perceptions of the degree of obligation conveyed by different verbal periphrases. The results indicate that the phrase me toca + infinitive is perceived by respondents as conveying the highest degree of obligation, while deber + infinitive is perceived as expressing the lowest. It was also observed that deber + infinitive and tener que + infinitive are regarded as expressing the same degree of obligation. The study concludes that, in addition to the well-known periphrases tener que + infinitive, haber que + infinitive, and deber + infinitive, the periphrasis tocar + infinitive is also used—both in personal and impersonal forms—in 13% of the contextual fragments identified. An interesting finding is the use of the verb tocar without an accompanying infinitive.