Semasiological cyclicity in the evolution of discourse markers
A case from Sicilian
This study addresses the evolution of the Sicilian discourse marker mentri to explore the concept of cyclicity in semantic–pragmatic change. Stemming from Latin dŭm ĭntĕrim (‘while, in the meantime’), the temporal conjunction develops – like its Romance cognates – an adversative function meaning ‘whereas’, which further evolves from an oppositional to a counter-expectational contrast value meaning ‘though’. The latter serves as a bridging context for the emergence of discourse-pragmatic uses and is examined below. Mentri evolves as discourse marker: formally, it gains greater syntactic and positional independence, and it increases in scope; functionally, it displays both textual and interpersonal values. In its overall path, mentri shows a cyclical change in respect to the adversative function: oppositional contrast emerges out of the temporal meaning, it then develops into counter-expectation, and it eventually fades into the discourse-pragmatic values. The rise of mentri as a discourse marker is thus interpreted as a case of cyclicity from a semasiological perspective.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 1.1Discourse markers: Synchronic definition and diachronic understanding
- 1.2Area of research and data collection
- 2.A synchronic account of the functions of mentri
- 2.1Temporal uses
- 2.2Adversative uses
- 2.3Discourse-marking uses
- 3.A diachronic reconstruction of the emergence of mentri as a DM
- 3.1From temporal simultaneity to oppositional contrast
- 3.2From oppositional to counter-expectational contrast
- 3.3From counter-expectational contrast to discourse-marking
- 4.Conclusion: The evolution of mentri as a case of semasiological cyclicity
- 4.1The concept of cyclicity in language change
- 4.2The evolution of mentri as a semasiological cycle
- Notes
-
References
References (73)
References
Aijmer, Karin, Ad Foolen and Anne-Marie Simon-Vandenbergen. 2006. “Pragmatic Markers in Translation: A Methodological Proposal”. In Kerstin Fischer (ed.), Approaches to Discourse Particles, 101–114. Amsterdam: Elsevier.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Alfonzetti, Giovanna. 1998. “The Conversational Dimension in Code-switching between Italian and Dialect in Sicily”. In Peter Auer (ed.), Code-switching in Conversation: Language, Interaction and Identity, 180–214. London and New York: Routledge.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ariel, Mira. 2016. “Revisiting the Typology of Pragmatic Interpretations”. Intercultural Pragmatics 13 (1): 1–35. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Assenza, Carmelo. 1970. Canti popolari della Contea di Modica [‘Folk Poems from the County of Modica’]. Ragusa: Thompson.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
van der Auwera, Johan. 1998. “Phasal Adverbs in the Languages of Europe”. In Johan van der Auwera and Dónall P. Ó Baoill (eds), Adverbial Constructions in the Languages of Europe, 25–145. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Beeching, Kate. 2016. Pragmatic Markers in British English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Beeching, Kate and Ulrich Detges (eds). 2014. Discourse Functions at the Left and Right Periphery: Crosslinguistic Investigations of Language Use and Language Change. Leiden: Brill. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Berruto, Gaetano. 1989. “Main Topics and Findings in Italian Sociolinguistics”. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 1989 (76): 7–30.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Brinton, Laurel. 1996. Pragmatic Markers in English: Grammaticalization and Discourse Function. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Brown, Penelope and Stephen C. Levinson. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Consolino, Vincenzo. 1988. Proverbi e modi dire vittoriesi [‘Proverbs and Sayings from Vittoria’]. Pisa: Giardini.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Corominas, Joan and José A. Pascual. 1997. Diccionario crítico etimológico Castellano y Hispánico [‘Hispanic and Castilian Critical Etymological Dictionary’]. Madrid: Editorial Gredos.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Coseriu, Eugenio. 1980. “
‘Historische Sprache’ und ‘Dialekt’
” [‘“Historical Language” and “Dialect”’]. In Joachim Göschel, Pavle Ivić and Kurt Kehr (eds), Dialekt und Dialektologie: Ergebnisse des Internationales Symposion “Zur Theorie des Dialekts” [‘Dialect and Dialectology: Results from the International Symposium “On the Theory of Dialect”’], 106–122. Wiesbaden: Steiner.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cuenca, Maria Josep. 1992–1993. “Sobre l’evolució dels nexes conjuntius en català” [‘On the evolution of the conjunctive nexuses in Catalan’]. Llengua and Literatura 51: 173–213.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dal Negro, Silvia and Alessandro Vietti. 2011. “Italian and Italo-Romance Dialects”. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2011 (210): 71–92.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
De Mauro, Tullio and Marco Mancini. 2000. Dizionario etimologico [‘Etymological Dictionary’]. Milano: Garzanti.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Detges, Ulrich and Richard Waltereit. 2016. “Grammaticalization and Pragmaticalization”. In Christoph Gabriel and Susann Fischer (eds), Manuals of Romance Linguistics: Grammatical Interfaces, 635–658. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Di Maria, Vincenzo. 1978. Proverbi popolari posti in ottava rima da Catania, Rapisarda, Bondice e Perrotta [‘Folk Proverbs put in Octave Rhyme by Catania, Rapisarda, and Perrotta’]. Catania: Tringale.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Erman, Britt and Ulla-Britt Kotsinas. 1993. “Pragmaticalization: The Case of Ba and You know
”. Studier i modern sprakvetenskap 101: 76–92.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fischer, Kerstin. 2006a. “Towards an Understanding of the Spectrum of Approaches to Discourse Particles: Introduction”. In Kerstin Fischer (ed.), Approaches to Discourse Particles, 1–20. Amsterdam: Elsevier.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fischer, Kerstin. 2006b. “Frames, Constructions, and Invariant Meanings: The Functional Polysemy of Discourse Particles”. In Kerstin Fischer (ed.), Approaches to Discourse Particles, 427–448. Amsterdam: Elsevier.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Foolen, Ad. 2011. “Pragmatics Markers in a Socio-pragmatic Perspective”. In Karin Aijmer and Gisle Andersen (eds), Handbooks of Pragmatics: Pragmatics of Society, 217–242. Berlin: De Gruyter.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fraser, Bruce. 1988. “Types of English Discourse Markers”. Acta Linguistica Hungarica 38 (1): 19–33.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Garofalo, Vincenzo. 2014. Il dialetto di Rosolini. Saggio lessicale [‘The Dialect of Rosolini: A Lexical Essay’]. Roma: Youcanprint Self Publishing.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
von der Gabelentz, Georg. 1891. Die Sprachwissenschaft. Ihre Aufgaben, Methoden und bisherigen Ergebnisse [‘Linguistics: Its Tasks, Methods, and Present Results’]. Leipzig: Weiger Nachfolger.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
van Gelderen, Elly. 2011. The Linguistic Cycle. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ghezzi, Chiara and Piera Molinelli. 2014. “Deverbal Pragmatic Markers from Latin to Italian (Lat. QUAESO and It. Prego): The Cyclic Nature of Functional Developments”. In Chiara Ghezzi and Piera Molinelli (eds), Discourse and Pragmatic Markers from Latin to the Romance Languages, 61–85. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Givón, Talmy. 1971. “Historical Syntax and Synchronic Morphology: An Archaeologist’s Field Trip”. Chicago Linguistic Society Proceedings 71: 394–415.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Givón, Talmy. 1979. Understanding Grammar. New York: Academic Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Halliday, Michael A. K. 1970. “Language Structure and Language Function”. In John Lyons (ed.), New Horizons in Linguistics, 140–165. London: Penguin.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hansen, Maj-Britt Mosegaard. 2008. Particles at the Semantics/Pragmatics Interface: Synchronic and Diachronic Issues. A Study with Special Reference to the French Phasal Adverbs. Oxford: Elsevier/Emerald.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hansen, Maj-Britt Mosegaard. 2009. “The Grammaticalization of Negative Reinforcers in Old and Middle French: A Discourse–Functional Approach”. In Maj-Britt Mosegaard Hansen and Jacqueline Visconti (eds), Current Trends in Diachronic Semantics and Pragmatics, 227–251. Leiden: Brill. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hansen, Maj-Britt Mosegaard. 2014. “Cyclicity in Semantic/Pragmatic Change: The Medieval Particle Ja between Latin IAM and Modern French Déjà
”. In Chiara Ghezzi and Piera Molinelli (eds), Discourse and Pragmatic Markers from Latin to the Romance Languages, 139–165. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hansen, Maj-Britt Mosegaard. 2018. “Cyclic Phenomena in the Evolution of Pragmatic Markers: Examples from Romance”. In Salvador Pons Bordería and Óscar Loureda Lamas (eds), Beyond Grammaticalization and Discourse Markers: New Issues in the Study of Language Change, 51–77. Leiden: Brill. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hansen, Maj-Britt Mosegaard and Richard Waltereit. 2006. “GCI Theory and Language Change”. Acta Lingvistica Hafniensia 38 (1): 235–268. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haspelmath, Martin. 2018. “Revisiting the Anasynthetic Spiral”. In Bernd Heine and Heiko Narrog (eds), Grammaticalization from a Typological Perspective, 97–115. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Heine, Bernd. 2013. “On Discourse Markers: Grammaticalization, Pragmaticalization, or Something Else?”. Linguistics 51 (6): 1205–1247. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Heine, Bernd, Ulrike Claudi and Friederike Hünnemeyer. 1991. Grammaticalization: A Conceptual Framework. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Heine, Bernd and Tania Kuteva. 2002. World Lexicon of Grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jespersen, Otto. 1917. Negation in English and Other Languages. Copenhagen: Høst and Søn.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kaltenböck, Gunther, Bernd Heine and Tania Kuteva. 2011. “On Thetical Grammar”. Studies in Language 35 (4): 848–893. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kaltenböck, Gunther, Evelien Keizer and Arne Lohmann. 2016. “Extra-clausal Constituents: An Overview”. In Gunther Kaltenböck, Evelien Keizer and Arne Lohmann (eds), Outside the Clause: Form and Function of Extra-clausal Constituents, 1–26. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kloss, Heinz. 1967. “‘Abstand Languages’ and ‘Ausbau Languages’”. Anthropological Linguistics 9 (7): 29–41.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Matranga, Vito. 2007. Trascrivere. La rappresentazione del parlato nell’esperienza dell’Atlante Linguistico della Sicilia [‘Transcribing: The Representation of Speech in the Experience of the Linguistic Atlas of Sicily’]. Palermo: Centro di Studi Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Matranga, Vito and Roberto Sottile. 2013. “La variazione dialettale nello spazio geografico” [‘Dialect Variation in Geographical Space’]. In Giovanni Ruffino (ed.), Lingue e culture in Sicilia [‘Languages and Cultures in Sicily’], 215–274. Palermo: Centro di Studi Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Matras, Yaron. 2009. Language Contact. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mauri, Caterina and Anna Giacalone Ramat. 2012. “The Development of Adversative Connectives: Stages and Factors at Play”. Linguistics 50 (2): 191–239. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Meillet, Antoine. 1921 [1912]. “L’évolution des formes gramaticales” [‘The Evolution of Grammatical Forms’]. In Antoine Meillet (ed.), Linguistique historique et linguistic general [‘Historical Linguistics and General Linguistics’], 130–148. Paris: Champion.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Narrog, Heiko. 2015. “(Inter)subjectification and Its Limits in Secondary Grammaticalization”. Language Sciences 47 (Part B): 148–160. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pagano, Mario, Salvatore Arcidiacono and Ferdinando Raffaele. 2018. Corpus Artesia. Archivio testuale del siciliano antico [‘Artesia Corpus: Textual Archive of Ancient Sicilian’]. Università di Catania: Centro di Studi Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani. Available online at: [URL] (last updated 27 December 2018 and last accessed 25 February 2020).
Pasqualino, Michele. 1789. Vocabolario siciliano etimologico, italiano e latino [‘Etymological Sicilian dictionary, Italian and Latin’]. (Volume 31.) Palermo: Reale Stamperia.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pitrè, Giuseppe. 1870. Canti popolari siciliani [‘Sicilian Folk Poems’]. (Volume 11.) Palermo: Pedone Lauriel.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pitrè, Giuseppe. 1875. Fiabe novelle e racconti popolari siciliani [‘Sicilian Fairy Tales, Novellas, and Folk Tales’]. (Volume 11.) Palermo: Pedone Lauriel.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pons Bordería, Salvador and Maria Estellés Arguedas. 2009. “Expressing Digression Linguistically: Do Digressive Markers Exist?”. Journal of Pragmatics 41 (5): 921–936. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schiffrin, Deborah. 1987. Discourse Markers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sweetser, Eve E. 1990. From Etymology to Pragmatics: Metaphorical and Cultural Aspects of Semantic Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Traina, Antonino. 1868. Nuovo vocabolario siciliano-italiano [‘New Sicilian–Italian Dictionary’]. Palermo: Pedone Lauriel.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Traugott, Elizabeth C. 1986. “From Polysemy to Internal Semantic Reconstruction”. Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 539–550. Available online at: [URL]
Traugott, Elizabeth C. 1999. “The Rhetoric of Counter-expectation in Semantic Change: A Study in Subjectification”. In Andreas Blank and Peter Koch (eds), Historical Semantics and Cognition, 177–196. Berlin and New York: de Gruyter. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Traugott, Elizabeth C. 2010. “(Inter)subjectivity and (Inter)subjectification: A Reassessment”. In Kristine Davidse, Lieven Vandelanotte and Hubert Cuyckens (eds), Subjectification, Intersubjectification and Grammaticalization, 29–71. Berlin and New York: de Gruyter. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Traugott, Elizabeth C. 2018. “Rethinking the Role of Invited Inferencing in Change from the Perspective of Interactional Texts”. Open Linguistics 4 (1): 19–34. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Traugott, Elizabeth C. and Richard B. Dasher. 2002. Regularity in Semantic Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
VS = Piccitto, Giorgio, Giovanni Tropea and Salvatore C. Trovato. 1977–2002. Vocabolario siciliano. Catania/Palermo: Centro di Studi Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wheeler, Max, Alan Yates and Nicolau Dols. 1999. Catalan: A Comprehensive Grammar. London and New York: Routledge. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Zwicky, Arnold M. 1985. “Clitics and Particles”. Language 61 (2): 283–305. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
Mosegaard Hansen, Maj-Britt
2020.
Introduction.
Journal of Historical Pragmatics 21:2
► pp. 165 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 july 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.