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Chapter 2. Meaning both ‘also’ and ‘only’?

The intriguing polysemy of Old Italian pur(e)
  • Davide Ricca
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Focus on Additivity
This chapter is in the book Focus on Additivity

Abstract

Italian pur(e) seems to be quite peculiar among focus markers, since diachronically it displays the whole span of functions, from non-scalar exclusive to non-scalar additive. It is still an open question as to whether or not at some stage of its history pure enjoyed such an extended (nearly self-contradictory) polysemy synchronically too (while it is surely not the case for the contemporary language). The present investigation, based on the large corpus of the Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, casts some doubts on this possibility for Old Italian (approximately until the end of 14th century). Moreover, it surveys the very wide polysemy of pure beyond the functions of focus marker proper, and proposes several different evolutionary paths, among which some involve also non-focus marker uses as intermediate steps.

Abstract

Italian pur(e) seems to be quite peculiar among focus markers, since diachronically it displays the whole span of functions, from non-scalar exclusive to non-scalar additive. It is still an open question as to whether or not at some stage of its history pure enjoyed such an extended (nearly self-contradictory) polysemy synchronically too (while it is surely not the case for the contemporary language). The present investigation, based on the large corpus of the Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, casts some doubts on this possibility for Old Italian (approximately until the end of 14th century). Moreover, it surveys the very wide polysemy of pure beyond the functions of focus marker proper, and proposes several different evolutionary paths, among which some involve also non-focus marker uses as intermediate steps.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. Additive Focusing Modifiers from a typological and historical perspective
  5. Chapter 1. Syntax and semantics of additive focus markers from a cross-linguistic perspective 23
  6. Chapter 2. Meaning both ‘also’ and ‘only’? 45
  7. Part II. Additive Focusing Modifiers from a semantic, prosodic and pragmatic perspective
  8. Chapter 3. On the distribution of additive focus particles addirittura and perfino/persino in Italian 79
  9. Chapter 4. French additive particle aussi 107
  10. Chapter 5. Processing additivity in Spanish 137
  11. Part III. Additive Focusing Modifiers from a discourse-oriented perspective
  12. Chapter 6. Mapping additivity through translation 157
  13. Chapter 7. The scalar operator even and its German equivalents 201
  14. Part IV. Additive Focusing Modifiers from a language contact perspective
  15. Chapter 8. Additive focus particles in German-speaking learners of Italian as L2 237
  16. Chapter 9. Additive relations in L2 French 265
  17. Chapter 10. Ënghe, ence and also anche 311
  18. Focusing modifiers index 331
  19. General index 333
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.278.02ric

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. Additive Focusing Modifiers from a typological and historical perspective
  5. Chapter 1. Syntax and semantics of additive focus markers from a cross-linguistic perspective 23
  6. Chapter 2. Meaning both ‘also’ and ‘only’? 45
  7. Part II. Additive Focusing Modifiers from a semantic, prosodic and pragmatic perspective
  8. Chapter 3. On the distribution of additive focus particles addirittura and perfino/persino in Italian 79
  9. Chapter 4. French additive particle aussi 107
  10. Chapter 5. Processing additivity in Spanish 137
  11. Part III. Additive Focusing Modifiers from a discourse-oriented perspective
  12. Chapter 6. Mapping additivity through translation 157
  13. Chapter 7. The scalar operator even and its German equivalents 201
  14. Part IV. Additive Focusing Modifiers from a language contact perspective
  15. Chapter 8. Additive focus particles in German-speaking learners of Italian as L2 237
  16. Chapter 9. Additive relations in L2 French 265
  17. Chapter 10. Ënghe, ence and also anche 311
  18. Focusing modifiers index 331
  19. General index 333
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