Aspectuality and modality: Spanish constructions estar por/para plus infinitivo

The present study addresses a novel proposal on the categorization and description of the modal features in estar por + infinitive and estar para + infinitive, both of which have been analyzed as aspect perisphrastic constructions in the near past. This characterization embraces their prototypical meanings along with the epistemic and/or facultative required by some meanings expressed by modality. Notwithstanding, the qualitative analysis of these has focused on the (eventually asystematic) bringing together of notions such as intentionality, inchoateness, capability, etc. Hence, the methodology combines quantitative analyses with more quality-oriented diachronic and synchronic analyses. As a result, a corpus was elaborated, which was formed by 2443 samples extracted from CORDE, CREA, in RAE. This made it possible to validate and confirm the regularity of the features under examination.