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Chapter 12. Dubitative-corrective constructions in Italian

  • Anna Giacalone Ramat , Caterina Mauri and Andrea Sansó
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Pragmatic Markers, Discourse Markers and Modal Particles
This chapter is in the book Pragmatic Markers, Discourse Markers and Modal Particles

Abstract

This paper investigates the properties of a set of poorly described Italian constructions characterized, at the same time, by (i) a dubitative component, challenging a presupposition generated by the preceding context and (ii) a corrective function. These constructions revolve around four adverbial elements (al massimo, al limite, tutt’al più and caso mai) that have other functions besides the dubitative-corrective one. The analysis will illustrate how their dubitative-corrective function emerges in specific discourse configurations and will discuss their further pragmatic uses as mitigators, which appear to be crucially connected to the dubitative component. The theoretical implications of the analysis concern the definition itself of dubitative-corrective construction and the role of dialogical contexts in the development of a dubitative-corrective function. It will be shown that the constructions in question, though sharing a dubitative-corrective function, differ in various respects. These differences can be traced back to their different diachronic sources, namely a scalar construction for al massimo, al limite, and tutt’al più, and a conditional construction in the case of caso mai. The evolutionary paths leading from these source constructions to dubitative-corrective constructions present a different configuration, whereby the dubitative function emerges after the corrective function in the case of elements originally participating in a scalar construction (al limite, al massimo, tutt’al più) while in the development of caso mai the simple dubitative function precedes the dubitative-corrective one.

Abstract

This paper investigates the properties of a set of poorly described Italian constructions characterized, at the same time, by (i) a dubitative component, challenging a presupposition generated by the preceding context and (ii) a corrective function. These constructions revolve around four adverbial elements (al massimo, al limite, tutt’al più and caso mai) that have other functions besides the dubitative-corrective one. The analysis will illustrate how their dubitative-corrective function emerges in specific discourse configurations and will discuss their further pragmatic uses as mitigators, which appear to be crucially connected to the dubitative component. The theoretical implications of the analysis concern the definition itself of dubitative-corrective construction and the role of dialogical contexts in the development of a dubitative-corrective function. It will be shown that the constructions in question, though sharing a dubitative-corrective function, differ in various respects. These differences can be traced back to their different diachronic sources, namely a scalar construction for al massimo, al limite, and tutt’al più, and a conditional construction in the case of caso mai. The evolutionary paths leading from these source constructions to dubitative-corrective constructions present a different configuration, whereby the dubitative function emerges after the corrective function in the case of elements originally participating in a scalar construction (al limite, al massimo, tutt’al più) while in the development of caso mai the simple dubitative function precedes the dubitative-corrective one.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface ix
  4. Introduction. Pragmatic Markers, Discourse Markers and Modal Particles 1
  5. Part 1. General theoretical questions and quantitative approaches
  6. Chapter 1. The emergence of Hebrew loydea / loydat (‘I dunno masc/fem ’) from interaction 37
  7. Chapter 2. Towards a model for discourse marker annotation 71
  8. Chapter 3. Towards an operational category of discourse markers 99
  9. Chapter 4. A corpus-based approach to functional markers in Greek 125
  10. Chapter 5. Discourse markers and discourse relations 151
  11. Part 2. The status of modal particles
  12. Chapter 6. Modal particles and Verum focus 171
  13. Chapter 7. Italian non-canonical negations as modal particles 203
  14. Chapter 8. A format for the description of German modal particles and their functional equivalents in Croatian and English 229
  15. Part 3. Language-specific and diachronic studies
  16. Chapter 9. Vocatives as a source category for pragmatic markers 257
  17. Chapter 10. Paths of development of English DMs 289
  18. Chapter 11. Grammaticalization of PMs/DMs/MMs in Japanese 305
  19. Chapter 12. Dubitative-corrective constructions in Italian 335
  20. Chapter 13. On the pragmatic expansion of Polish gdzieś tam ‘somewhere (there)/about’ 369
  21. Chapter 14. A pragmatic approach to Joseph Wright’s English Dialect Dictionary 399
  22. Part 4. Language contact and variation
  23. Chapter 15. Italian discourse markers and modal particles in contact 417
  24. Chapter 16. Functional markers in llanito code-switching 439
  25. Chapter 17. Just a suggestion 459
  26. Author index 481
  27. Language index 487
  28. Subject index 489
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.186.13ram

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface ix
  4. Introduction. Pragmatic Markers, Discourse Markers and Modal Particles 1
  5. Part 1. General theoretical questions and quantitative approaches
  6. Chapter 1. The emergence of Hebrew loydea / loydat (‘I dunno masc/fem ’) from interaction 37
  7. Chapter 2. Towards a model for discourse marker annotation 71
  8. Chapter 3. Towards an operational category of discourse markers 99
  9. Chapter 4. A corpus-based approach to functional markers in Greek 125
  10. Chapter 5. Discourse markers and discourse relations 151
  11. Part 2. The status of modal particles
  12. Chapter 6. Modal particles and Verum focus 171
  13. Chapter 7. Italian non-canonical negations as modal particles 203
  14. Chapter 8. A format for the description of German modal particles and their functional equivalents in Croatian and English 229
  15. Part 3. Language-specific and diachronic studies
  16. Chapter 9. Vocatives as a source category for pragmatic markers 257
  17. Chapter 10. Paths of development of English DMs 289
  18. Chapter 11. Grammaticalization of PMs/DMs/MMs in Japanese 305
  19. Chapter 12. Dubitative-corrective constructions in Italian 335
  20. Chapter 13. On the pragmatic expansion of Polish gdzieś tam ‘somewhere (there)/about’ 369
  21. Chapter 14. A pragmatic approach to Joseph Wright’s English Dialect Dictionary 399
  22. Part 4. Language contact and variation
  23. Chapter 15. Italian discourse markers and modal particles in contact 417
  24. Chapter 16. Functional markers in llanito code-switching 439
  25. Chapter 17. Just a suggestion 459
  26. Author index 481
  27. Language index 487
  28. Subject index 489
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