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Article published In:
The Rise and Development of Evidential and Epistemic Markers
Edited by Silvio Cruschina and Eva-Maria Remberger
[Journal of Historical Linguistics 7:1/2] 2017
► pp. 48–76

The grammaticalization of epistemicity in Ibero-Romance

Alike processes, unlike outcomes

| University of Cambridge

Typologically-unexpected overt expletives can be found in a restricted number of non-standard Ibero-Romance null-subject varieties. Historical data suggest that these overt expletives, which in today’s varieties show both discourse-oriented and expletive characteristics, have their origin in 15th century impersonal epistemic constructions. This article argues that it is the expletives’ epistemic origin which gives rise to, and thus explains, their present-day heterogeneous properties, in particular their function as a marker of epistemicity in a number of varieties. Despite undergoing the same mechanisms of change, the variation in modern Ibero-Romance is understood to be a consequence of the different stages and degrees of grammaticalization reached in each variety.

Keywords: overt expletives, epistemicity, grammaticalization, pragmaticization, Ibero-Romance, dialect syntax
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Unlike outcomes: Properties of modern-day ello
    • 2.1Expletive characteristics
    • 2.2Discourse-oriented properties
      • 2.2.1Optionality
      • 2.2.2Root vs. embedded asymmetry
      • 2.2.3Behavior in interrogatives
      • 2.2.4Interpretation
      • 2.2.5Structural position
  • 3.Alike processes: Origin of ello?
    • 3.1Textual sources and preliminary evidence
    • 3.2Diachronic development
  • 4.Extension
    • 4.1The subjectification of epistemicity
    • 4.2 ello further afield?
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Corpora
  • References
Published online: 23 November 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhl.7.1-2.03cor
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