The development and pragmatic function of a non-inference marker
That is not to say (that)
That is not to say (that) is an introductory
clause refuting an inference that could be drawn from the previous discourse; it often
occurs in a negative context (with a positive reading) and is characteristic of written
genres, with lowest frequency in fiction. The earliest examples date from the 16th
century but the next examples found date from the mid- to late-19th century. The gap in
the corpus data may be explained by the predominantly fiction/drama make-up of available
corpora. The development of that is not to say (that) is not an
entirely prototypical case of grammaticalization as certain parameters (loss of
that, contracted forms) are inconclusive and there are no ‘lexical’
uses of the form and hence no ‘divergence’.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Form and function of that is not to say in Present-day
English
- 2.1Distribution of that is not to say
- 2.2Synchronic status
- 2.2.1Discourse-pragmatic function
- 2.2.2Presence or absence of that
- 3.Historical development of that is not to say
- 3.1Dating of the construction
- 3.2Formal features of the historical construction
- 3.3Explaining the gaps in the data
- 3.4Grammaticalization of that is not to say
- 4.Conclusions
-
Notes
-
References