This paper considers the role of social indexicality in the pragmatic development of Italian cioè ‘that is’ and tipo ‘type’ in the second half of the 20th century. It analyses listeners’ phone-ins to a radio station gathered in 1976 and in 2010, together with questionnaires on speakers’… read more
This paper focuses on the formal and functional development of Italian allora (< Latin ad illa(m) hora(m) [‘in that hour’]) ‘at that time, then, well’ considering its polyfunctionality and its relationship with the functional space of dunque (‘then, therefore’). The developments of both forms… read more
This chapter analyses the evolution of Italian cioè lit. ‘that is’ in recent diachrony. Cioè developed a social indexicality as in the 1980s it was associated with a young speech style. Through a corpus-based analysis of listeners’ phone-ins to a radio station, this study analyses the functions of… read more
This study compares the development of the Latin and Italian politeness markers quaeso and prego (‘please’). The markers, originally performative verbs meaning ‘I ask, I pray’, have developed politeness-related functions which index the action structure (i.e., polite requests) and the exchange… read more