Person in perception. The case of Spanish ver ‘to see’ and mirar ‘to look’

(eng) This paper offers a first exploration into the relation between person reference and the interpretation of the two main Spanish verbs of visual perception (VP) ver and mirar. Person reference is known to influence the reading of cognition verbs. Particularly 1st person singular forms allow for expressing epistemic stance instead of thought representation (Thompson & Mulac 1991 for English, Vázquez Rozas 2005 for Spanish, Blanche-Benveniste & Willems 2007 for French). Visual perception verbs allow for semantic extensions to more abstract domains such as cognition and evaluation (Hanegreefs 2008). Therefore, it seems plausible to link person reference to the different cognition readings of visual perception verbs. We start from the two documented differences between ver and mirar: on the one hand, ver relates more easily to the domain of cognition than mirar (Hanegreefs 2008); on the other hand, mirar conceptualizes the speaker-hearer relationship from a divergent starting point, whereas ver focuses on communicative convergence (González Melón & Hanegreefs 2010). This brings us to formulate the following research questions. Firstly, in line with Benveniste’s (1966) subjectivity concept, we expect 1st person singular forms to occur more easily with non physical readings of visual perception verbs, i.e. intellective (a) and evaluative perception (b) (Hanegreefs 2008). (a) Sí, ya veo lo que me quieres decir, sí. (CREA) ‘Yes, I already see/get what you want to tell me, yes.’ (b) Hoy sé que sigo estando demasiado delgada, pero me veo gorda. (CREA) ‘Today I know that I am still thin, but I think I am fat.’ Secondly, we will demonstrate that, given the different semantic basis of these verbs vs. cognition verbs, epistemic stance readings are privileged over thought representation in the intellective readings of visual perception verbs. Also the impact of formal elements such as complement type, will be taken into account. Thirdly, in view of the different conceptualization of the communicative situation by ver (convergence) and mirar (divergence), inclusive 1st person plural forms, combining speaker and hearer, function differently. Agentive mirar invites the hearer to look more closely without implying a given end point, and, therefore, will be less compatible with 1st person plural thought representation (c). Ver, by contrast, presupposes the ability to reach an agreement and is thus expected to conceptualize more easily shared opinion (d). (c) Más bien habría que adaptarse a su forma de ser, veamos ¡oiga! ¡el que está de pie con el vino! ¿puede hacer el favor de venir? (CREA) ‘It would be better to adjust to his way of being, let’s see, listen, the person who is standing there with the wine, could you please come over here?’ (d) Pero miremos la parte de la botella que ya está llena. (CREA) ‘But let’s look at the part of the bottle that’s already full.’ This analysis is based on a twofold Spanish corpus ― spoken (informal and formal) interaction and written texts (press and literature) (CREA, COREC, Congreso) ―, since we believe that genre influences the frequency of appearance of certain forms and pragmatic uses.