Estructuras proconcesivas con por / para + infinitivo

In this paper we will analyse concessive (also known as proconcessive) clauses formed by por/para + infinitive: (1) Por/para ser político, es muy honesto (He is too honest to be a politician). These peripheral clauses conveying a more or less strong contrast, can be paraphrased with the concessive conjuction aunque + conjugated verb: (2) Aunque es político, es muy honesto (Even though he is a politician, he is very honest). Although the concessive value of the construction por + infinitive is traditionally attributed to clauses with para, we have observed that speakers of Río de la Plata Spanish allocate the same value to por in examples like in (1). We will analyse the influence of factors such as intonation, quantification in the main clause and the presence of certain lexical items which add the appreciative overtone required by this concessive formula (as in político, which is interpreted as a prominent member of a specific lexical scale pragmatically graduated).