Something seems to have changed
-
Dorien Nieuwenhuijsen
Abstract
This paper examines the claim that when a full verb is grammaticalized and becomes an auxiliary it is subjected to a process of desemanticization or semantic bleaching. For this matter, the Spanish periphrasis parecer + infinitive (‘to seem’) is analysed on the basis of the three semantic-pragmatic tendencies proposed by Traugott (1989). It is shown how in the course of time the original meaning of physical appearance of the periphrasis developed into the current epistemic and evidential meaning, shifting from a concrete to a more abstract meaning. The semantic shift, so it is argued, does not involve a loss of meaning but constitutes a case of generalization, allowing for the use of the periphrasis with all six grammatical persons.
Abstract
This paper examines the claim that when a full verb is grammaticalized and becomes an auxiliary it is subjected to a process of desemanticization or semantic bleaching. For this matter, the Spanish periphrasis parecer + infinitive (‘to seem’) is analysed on the basis of the three semantic-pragmatic tendencies proposed by Traugott (1989). It is shown how in the course of time the original meaning of physical appearance of the periphrasis developed into the current epistemic and evidential meaning, shifting from a concrete to a more abstract meaning. The semantic shift, so it is argued, does not involve a loss of meaning but constitutes a case of generalization, allowing for the use of the periphrasis with all six grammatical persons.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Nouns and labelling 1
- Causative and inchoative constructions with poner and meter (‘to put’) in Spanish 21
- Auditory verbs in the Spanish language 47
- From semantics to grammar 77
- A note on the relative diachronic productivity of metaphor and metonymy 109
- A cognitive approach to the grammaticalization of the epistemic marker fijo 117
- The future tense in Spanish 159
- Form and meaning in the development of verbal polysemy 173
- Something seems to have changed 195
- In substance , they came from above 221
- Grammaticalization of en vías de 237
- On the importance of a diachronic approach to phraseology 299
- Index 331
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Nouns and labelling 1
- Causative and inchoative constructions with poner and meter (‘to put’) in Spanish 21
- Auditory verbs in the Spanish language 47
- From semantics to grammar 77
- A note on the relative diachronic productivity of metaphor and metonymy 109
- A cognitive approach to the grammaticalization of the epistemic marker fijo 117
- The future tense in Spanish 159
- Form and meaning in the development of verbal polysemy 173
- Something seems to have changed 195
- In substance , they came from above 221
- Grammaticalization of en vías de 237
- On the importance of a diachronic approach to phraseology 299
- Index 331
