The most commonly invoked criterion for discerning the envelope of variation for Present Perfect (PP) and Preterite (PRET) usage in Spanish is some notion of perfective past reference (Howe 2006; Burgo 2008; Schwenter & Torres Cacoullos 2008; Copple 2009; Rodríguez Louro 2009). This criterion is defined broadly so as to be consistent with the variationist principle of weak complementarity, which holds that potential variants “can serve one or more generally similar discourse functions” and in turn explains why morphosyntactic change often occurs via the “forcible juxtaposition of grammatically very different constructions”(Sankoff & Thibault 1981: 207–208). Regarding the PP/PRET distinction, the literature has consistently demonstrated that in some varieties of Peninsular Spanish indeterminate past reference1 serves as a context of neutralization between these two forms with one result being that the PP acquires seemingly perfective functions typically ascribed only to the PRET (eg, use with definite past adverbials). What most analyses do not take into account, however, is the diverse aspectual profile of the Spanish PP, which in addition to its perfective uses, exemplified in (1), can also display imperfective meaning, as shown in example (2). These two distinct, and in our view divergent, contexts demonstrate that the sphere of functional overlap associated with the PP includes not only the PRET but also the Present Tense (PT) as the latter is also imperfective and displays similar discursive functions as the PP, demonstrated in example (3). By observing the PP/PT opposition in Spanish, we propose that (i) a given linguistic element may be associated with multiple, non-overlapping envelopes of variation and that these variable contexts play independent roles in the distribution and evolution of the form and that, importantly,(ii) current variationist approaches to the study of variation in the domain of tense/aspect have yet to address these types of Peripheral Domains of functional opposition (cf. Tagliamonte 2011).(1) he trabajado un ratito. Y a las dos, nos hemos bajado para comer... que hemos comido allí detrás en el Agujero