Abstract

Conversations differ from story telling in that inputs come from all interlocutors rather than the author alone. To maintain communication speakers observe the Cooperative Principle (Grice 1975). This article accounts for aspectual uses of the structure "(no) querer 'to (not) want' + infinitive" in conversational contexts. The analyses follow the hypothesis that preterite makes the endpoint of an event visible for pragmatic interpretation while imperfect does not (Bolinger 1963). The study thus infers a spectrum of pragmatic meanings of the aforementioned structure in preterite. By referring to pragmatic meanings and the Cooperative Principle (Grice 1975), the study also illustrates why an aspectual choice is suitable or not suitable for a context.

Key Words: Conventions of use, conversation, cooperative principles, discourse, pragmatic meaning, semantic meaning, Spanish aspect