Una aproximación cognitiva y construccional al fraseologismo rioplatense ¡Agarrate, Catalina (que vamos a galopar)!

Abstract This paper presents a corpus-based constructional study of the idiom ¡Agarrate, Catalina, que vamos a galopar! (literally ‘Hold on, Catalina, we’re going to gallop!’, meaning ‘Brace yourself!’), which is commonly used in Rioplatense Spanish to warn the interlocutor about the onset of a particularly difficult situation. The aim of this study is (i) to identify the motivation behind this expression from a Cognitive Linguistics perspective and (ii) to describe the expression through a Constructionist analysis that integrates the phenomenon of creativity in the use of the idiom in discourse. Within the theoretical framework of Cognitive Linguistics, empirical support is provided for metaphorical mappings from the domain of physical sensations to the abstract domain of individual and social experiences. The integration of metaphor and metonymy enables a transition from the literal meaning ‘hold on because you are about to gallop’ – that is, ‘brace yourself because there will be jolts and a risk of falling’ – to ‘prepare to face a difficult situation’. From a Constructionist Approach, this expression is analyzed as the prototypical instance licensed by the constructional idiom [ V pronominal imperativo {agarrarse} + N vocativo + [ que + [S + V futuro perifrÁstico ]]], composed of three slots: an imperative verb whose lexical meaning denotes the search for a point of support, a proper noun or another lexeme with vocative function, and an adjunct that explains the reason of this exhortation. The analysis of 250 occurrences shows that the Rioplatense expression is a prototypical instance of the mentioned construction, which, however, licenses other variants depending on the diatopic varieties of Hispanic American Spanish. This constructional approach allows us to treat the different variants for the same cognitive image, enables the study of relatively marginal occurrences, and allows for the integration in our analysis of the continuum between repetition and innovation.