Cover not available
Part of
Modality and Diachronic Construction Grammar
Edited by Martin Hilpert, Bert Cappelle and Ilse Depraetere
[Constructional Approaches to Language 32] 2021
► pp. 123–147

The diachrony of Galician certamente and seguramente

A case of grammatical constructionalization

| Instituto da Lingua GalegaUniversity of Santiago de Compostela

This paper addresses the evolution of two Galician adverbs, certamente and seguramente. Data from three different periods show that they had similar manner, modal and discourse functions in the Middle Ages, as opposed to their distinct functional profiles in more recent days. The theoretical analysis is based on Traugott and Trousdale’s (2013) framework, and shows that several instances of grammatical constructionalization occurred since the emergence of -mente adverbs out of a Latin instrumental construction until the appearance of (inter)subjective markers. The current study also reveals that certamente has become a strengthener and, to a lesser extent, a certainty marker, whereas seguramente expresses probability. The semantic evolution of the adverbs, from manner, through strengthening, to epistemic modality, is in contradiction with the unidirectionality of (inter)subjectification, whereas the loss of intersubjective functions in seguramente is a case of deintersubjectification. Previous research shows that this is a recurrent pattern for epistemic and evidential expressions.

Keywords: epistemic adverbs, grammatical constructionalization, (inter)subjectification, unidirectionality
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Data and analytical categories
    • 2.1Manner uses
    • 2.2Epistemic uses
    • 2.3The strengthening use
    • 2.4The pragmatic use
    • 2.5A note on syntax
    • 2.6Ambiguities
  • 3.Corpus findings
  • 4.A constructionalization approach
    • 4.1The emergence of (inter)subjective adverbs
    • 4.2 Seguramente : A new probability marker
  • 5.Final remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 October 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.32.05mig
References
Bauer, B. L. M.
(2010) Forerunners of Romance -mente adverbs in Latin prose and poetry. In E. Dickey & A. Chahoud (Eds.), Colloquial and literary Latin (pp. 339–353). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Byloo, P., Kastein, R., & Nuyts, J.
(2007) On certainly and zeker . In M. Hannay & G. J. Steen (Eds.), Structural-functional studies in English grammar: In honour of Lachlan Mackenzie (pp. 35–57). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Company Company, C.
(2012) Condicionamientos textuales en la evolución de los adverbios en -mente . Revista de Filología Española, 92 (1), 9–42. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cornillie, B.
(2008) On the grammaticalization and (inter)subjectivity of evidential (semi-)auxiliaries in Spanish. In E. Seoane & M. J. López-Couso (Eds.), Theoretical and empirical issues in grammaticalization (pp. 55–76). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2016) Acerca de la locución epistémica tal vez en el Siglo de las Luces: innovación y especialización. In M. Guzmán & D. Sáez (Eds.), Márgenes y centros en el español del siglo XVIII (pp. 183–199). Valencia: Tirant Humanidades.Google Scholar
Delbecque, N.
(2009) Acerca de la relación entre cierto y seguro . In M. Veyrat Rigat & E. Serra Alegre (Eds.), La lingüística como reto epistemológico y como acción social. Estudios dedicados al Profesor Ángel López García con ocasión de su sexagésimo aniversario (Vol. 2, pp. 629–644). Madrid: Arco Libros.Google Scholar
Diewald, G.
(2002) A model for relevant types of contexts in grammaticalization. In G. Diewald & I. Wischer (Eds.), New reflections on grammaticalization (pp. 103–120). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Downing, A.
(2008) From transparency to opacity: Surely, intersubjectivity and English cultural norms. In M. J. Lorenzo Modia (Ed.), Proceedings 31st AEDEAN Conference (pp. 677–687). A Coruña: Universidade da Coruña. Retrieved from [URL]
Espinosa Elorza, R. M.
(2010) Procesos de formación y cambio en las llamadas “palabras gramaticales”. San Millán de la Cogolla: Cilengua.Google Scholar
(2014) Adverbios de cantidad, foco, polaridad y modalidad. In Sintaxis histórica de la lengua española. Tercera parte: Preposiciones, adverbios y conjunciones. Relaciones interoracionales (Vol. 1, pp. 939–1115). México, D. F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México / Fondo de Cultura Económica.Google Scholar
González Manzano, M.
(2010) Subjetivización y unidireccionalidad en la evolución histórica del adverbio verdaderamente . Res Diachronicae, 8, 7–27. Retrieved from [URL]
(2013) Gramaticalización por subjetivización y persistencia de significados etimológicos: Sobre la consolidación de realmente como marcador del discurso. In E. Casanova Herrero & C. Calvo Rigual (Eds.), Actas del XXVI Congreso Internacional de Lingüística y de Filología Románicas (Vol. 3, pp. 145–156). Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hopper, P. J., & Traugott, E. C.
(2003) Grammaticalization (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hummel, M.
(2013a) Attribution in Romance: Reconstructing the oral and written tradition. Folia Linguistica Historica, 34 (1), 1–42. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2013b) La dimensión intercultural de la expansión diacrónica de los adverbios en -mente . In M. P. Garcés Gómez (Ed.), Los adverbios con función discursiva: procesos de formación y evolución (pp. 15–41). Madrid / Frankfurt am Main: Iberoamericana / Vervuert. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2018) Romance sentence adverbs in -mente: Epistemic mitigation in synchrony and diachrony. Linguistik online, 92 (5), 111–144. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lewis, C. T., & Short, C.
(1879) A Latin dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
López-Couso, M. J.
(2010) Subjectification and intersubjectification. In A. H. Jucker & I. Taavitsainen (Eds.), Historical pragmatics (pp. 127–163). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar
López-Couso, M. J., & Méndez-Naya, B.
(2014) From clause to pragmatic marker: A study of the development of like-parentheticals in American English. Journal of Historical Pragmatics, 15 (1), 36–61. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2016) From clause to adverb: On the history of maybe . In G. Kaltenböck, E. Keizer, & A. Lohmann (Eds.), Outside the clause: Form and function of extra-clausal constituents (pp. 156–176). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mariño Paz, R.
(2008) Historia de la lengua gallega. Munich: Lincom.Google Scholar
Míguez, V.
(2019) On (un)certainty: The semantic evolution of Galician seguramente . In C. Pinon (Ed.), Empirical issues in syntax and semantics 12 (pp. 217–246). Paris: CSSP. Retrieved from [URL]
Monteagudo, H.
(1999) Historia social da lingua galega. Idioma, sociedade e cultura a través do tempo. Vigo: Galaxia.Google Scholar
Pietrandrea, P.
(2008)  Certamente and sicuramente: Encoding dynamic and discursive aspects of commitment in Italian. Belgian Journal of Linguistics, 22 (1), 221–246. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rodríguez-Espiñeira, M. J.
(2019) La expresión epistémica si cuadra en español de Galicia. Estudos de Lingüística Galega, 11, 197–231. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Simon-Vandenbergen, A.-M., & Aijmer, K.
(2007) The semantic field of modal certainty: A corpus-based study of English adverbs. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Suárez Hernández, A.
(2018) Análisis diacrónico de adverbios con función discursiva: hacia una descripción lexicográfica. San Millán de la Cogolla: Cilengua. Retrieved from [URL]
Suzuki, D.
(2018) The semantics and pragmatics of modal adverbs: Grammaticalization and (inter)subjectification of perhaps . Lingua, 205, 40–53. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Taavitsainen, I., & Jucker, A. H.
(2010) Trends and developments in historical pragmatics. In I. Taavitsainen & A. H. Jucker (Eds.), Historical pragmatics (pp. 3–30). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar
Traugott, E. C.
(1989) On the rise of epistemic meanings in English: An example of subjectification in semantic change. Language, 65 (1), 31–55. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2003) From subjectification to intersubjectification. In R. Hickey (Ed.), Motives for language change (pp. 124–139). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2007) (Inter)subjectification and unidirectionality. Journal of Historical Pragmatics, 8 (2), 295–309. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2014) On the function of the epistemic adverbs surely and no doubt at the left and right periphery of the clause. In K. Beeching & U. Detges (Eds.), Discourse functions at the left and right periphery: Crosslinguistic investigations of language use and language change (pp. 72–91). Leiden: Brill. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Traugott, E. C., & Dasher, R. B.
(2002) Regularity in semantic change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Traugott, E. C., & Trousdale, G.
(2013) Constructionalization and constructional changes. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Villar Díaz, M. B.
(2013) La evolución de los adverbios y locuciones adverbiales de modalidad epistémica. In M. P. Garcés Gómez (Ed.), Los adverbios con función discursiva: procesos de formación y evolución (pp. 158–199). Madrid / Frankfurt am Main: Iberoamericana / Vervuert. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2016)  Hablemos ciertamente. Historia e historias de combinatoria léxica adverbial desde la perspectiva de la lexicografía histórica. In R. Cotelo García (Ed.), Entre dos coordenadas: la perspectiva diacrónica y diatópica en los estudios léxicos del español (pp. 367–390). San Millán de la Cogolla: Cilengua.Google Scholar
Yelin, B., & Czerwionka, L.
(2017)  Capaz and quizás in Argentine Spanish: Epistemic adverbs with mood variability. Hispania, 100 (1), 30–46. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.