Home Linguistics & Semiotics From inferential to mirative
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

From inferential to mirative

An interaction-based account of an emerging semantic extension
  • Sonja Gipper
View more publications by John Benjamins Publishing Company
To Publisher Page
Usage-Based Approaches to Language Change
This chapter is in the book Usage-Based Approaches to Language Change

Abstract

In Yurakaré (isolate, Bolivia), the inferential evidential =tiba has a secondary use in a mirative construction marking unexpected information. This paper proposes that the synchronic interactional uses of =tiba plausibly reflect a diachronic process, namely an emerging semantic extension from inferential to mirative. It is argued that interactional structure is the driving force behind this semantic extension of =tiba, which demonstrates the importance of interactional structure as a factor in language change.

Abstract

In Yurakaré (isolate, Bolivia), the inferential evidential =tiba has a secondary use in a mirative construction marking unexpected information. This paper proposes that the synchronic interactional uses of =tiba plausibly reflect a diachronic process, namely an emerging semantic extension from inferential to mirative. It is argued that interactional structure is the driving force behind this semantic extension of =tiba, which demonstrates the importance of interactional structure as a factor in language change.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction. The role of change in usage-based conceptions of language 1
  4. Part 1. Challenging mainstream models of language change
  5. Does innovation need reanalysis? 23
  6. On cognition and communication in usage-based models of language change 49
  7. Part 2. The role of usage in semantic change
  8. From inferential to mirative 83
  9. The motivation for using English suspended dangling participles 117
  10. The nature of speaker creativity in linguistic innovation 147
  11. Part 3. The role of usage and structure in language change
  12. Reanalysis and gramma(ticaliza)tion of constructions 169
  13. Constructional change, paradigmatic structure and the orientation of usage processes 203
  14. Filling empty distinctions of expression with content 243
  15. Author index 271
  16. Subject index 273
https://doi.org/10.1075/sfsl.69.04gip

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction. The role of change in usage-based conceptions of language 1
  4. Part 1. Challenging mainstream models of language change
  5. Does innovation need reanalysis? 23
  6. On cognition and communication in usage-based models of language change 49
  7. Part 2. The role of usage in semantic change
  8. From inferential to mirative 83
  9. The motivation for using English suspended dangling participles 117
  10. The nature of speaker creativity in linguistic innovation 147
  11. Part 3. The role of usage and structure in language change
  12. Reanalysis and gramma(ticaliza)tion of constructions 169
  13. Constructional change, paradigmatic structure and the orientation of usage processes 203
  14. Filling empty distinctions of expression with content 243
  15. Author index 271
  16. Subject index 273
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 26.10.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/sfsl.69.04gip/html
Scroll to top button