This paper suggests the independence of grammaticalization and pragmaticalization processes. These two processes are originally and self-evidently autonomous evolutionary paths that occur independently of each other. However, grammaticalization is often discussed, indeed in the majority of the recent studies, in correlation to some unidirectional features that co-occur with grammaticalization. Such features include, structurally, for example, “bondedness” and “structural scope” (Lehmann 1995), and functionally, for example, “increase in abstraction” and “pragmaticalization”. These unidirectional features are at times even considered too authoritatively criterial to judge a given language change as an instance of grammaticalization.
This study illustrates a piece of evidence for the asymmetric relationship of grammaticalization and pragmaticalization. That is, the two groups of Japanese discourse markers — (1) demo type connectives and (2) na elements — experience quite different historical changes. The group (1) undergoes both grammaticalization and pragmaticalization, but the group (2) undergoes pragmaticalization without involving grammaticalization.
2021. Persistent argumentative discourse markers: The case of Hebrew rectification-marker be-ʕecem (‘actually’). Journal of Pragmatics 172 ► pp. 254 ff.
Evers-Vermeul, Jacqueline, Liesbeth Degand, Benjamin Fagard & Liesbeth Mortier
2011. Historical and comparative perspectives on subjectification: A corpus-based analysis of Dutch and French causal connectives. Linguistics 49:2
NISHIDA, KOICHI
2007. Pragmaticalization and the History of Japanese Discourse Markers (N. Onodera, Japanese Discourse Markers: Synchronic and Diachronic Discourse Analysis). ENGLISH LINGUISTICS 24:1 ► pp. 184 ff.
Jucker, A.H.
2006. Historical Pragmatics. In Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics, ► pp. 329 ff.
Traugott, Elizabeth Closs
2003. From subjectification to intersubjectification. In Motives for Language Change, ► pp. 124 ff.
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