Startseite Linguistik & Semiotik 8. Variation and grammaticalization in Romance: a cross-linguistic study of the subjunctive
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8. Variation and grammaticalization in Romance: a cross-linguistic study of the subjunctive

  • Shana Poplack , Rena Torres Cacoullos , Nathalie Dion , Rosane de Andrade Berlinck , Salvatore Digesto , Dora Lacasse und Jonathan Steuck
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Manual of Romance Sociolinguistics
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch Manual of Romance Sociolinguistics

Abstract

Building on studies seeking to position the Romance languages on the cline of grammaticalization, this study targets the evolution of subjunctive into subordination marker in speech corpora of French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. By considering the conditioning of variation between subjunctive and indicative in complement clauses, we operationalize parameters of late-stage grammaticalization, and establish measures of productivity. Results show that, with the exception of Spanish, subjunctive selection is constrained neither by contextual elements consistent with its oft-ascribed meanings nor by semantic classes of governors harmonic with such meanings. Instead, in all four languages, lexical bias is the major predictor of subjunctive selection, abetted by structural elements of the linguistic context. The overriding processes are lexical routinization, which is language-particular, with cognate governors displaying idiosyncratic associations with the subjunctive, and structural conventionalization, which is cross-linguistically parallel, with languages differing merely in degree.

Abstract

Building on studies seeking to position the Romance languages on the cline of grammaticalization, this study targets the evolution of subjunctive into subordination marker in speech corpora of French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. By considering the conditioning of variation between subjunctive and indicative in complement clauses, we operationalize parameters of late-stage grammaticalization, and establish measures of productivity. Results show that, with the exception of Spanish, subjunctive selection is constrained neither by contextual elements consistent with its oft-ascribed meanings nor by semantic classes of governors harmonic with such meanings. Instead, in all four languages, lexical bias is the major predictor of subjunctive selection, abetted by structural elements of the linguistic context. The overriding processes are lexical routinization, which is language-particular, with cognate governors displaying idiosyncratic associations with the subjunctive, and structural conventionalization, which is cross-linguistically parallel, with languages differing merely in degree.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Manuals of Romance Linguistics V
  3. Acknowledgements VII
  4. Table of Contents IX
  5. Introduction
  6. 0. Romance sociolinguistics: past, present, future 3
  7. Methodological issues
  8. 1. Annotating oral corpora 27
  9. 2. Quantitative approaches for modelling variation and change: a case study of sociophonetic data from Occitan 59
  10. 3. Collecting and analysing creole data 91
  11. 4. Fieldwork and building corpora for endangered varieties 114
  12. 5. Romance dialectology: from the nineteenth century to the era of sociolinguistics 134
  13. Variation and change
  14. 6. Speaker variables in Romance: when demography and ideology collide 173
  15. 7. Speaker variables and their relation to language change 197
  16. 8. Variation and grammaticalization in Romance: a cross-linguistic study of the subjunctive 217
  17. 9. Historical sociolinguistics and tracking language change: sources, text types and genres 253
  18. 10. Speaker-based approaches to past language states 280
  19. 11. Variation and prescriptivism 307
  20. Medium, register, text type, genre
  21. 12. Oral genres: concepts and complexities 335
  22. 13. Register and text type 362
  23. 14. New Media: new Romance varieties? 386
  24. 15. Medium and creole 405
  25. Linguae minores / Minoritized languages: status, norms, policy and revitalization
  26. 16. Language policies in the Romancespeaking countries of Europe 433
  27. 17. Linguistic diversity in Spain 462
  28. 18. The languages and dialects of Italy 494
  29. 19. Multilingualism in Switzerland 526
  30. 20. Revitalization and the public space 549
  31. 21. Revitalization and education 570
  32. Language contact
  33. 22. Romance in contact with Romance 595
  34. 23. Language contact between typologically different languages: functional transfer 627
  35. 24. When Romance meets English 652
  36. 25. Language contact in a rural community 682
  37. 26. Code-switching and immigrant communities: the case of Italy 702
  38. 27. The metropolization of French worldwide 724
  39. 28. Transnational migration and language practices: the impact on Spanish-speaking migrants 745
  40. Contributors 769
  41. Index of concepts 777
  42. Index of names 790
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110365955-009

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Manuals of Romance Linguistics V
  3. Acknowledgements VII
  4. Table of Contents IX
  5. Introduction
  6. 0. Romance sociolinguistics: past, present, future 3
  7. Methodological issues
  8. 1. Annotating oral corpora 27
  9. 2. Quantitative approaches for modelling variation and change: a case study of sociophonetic data from Occitan 59
  10. 3. Collecting and analysing creole data 91
  11. 4. Fieldwork and building corpora for endangered varieties 114
  12. 5. Romance dialectology: from the nineteenth century to the era of sociolinguistics 134
  13. Variation and change
  14. 6. Speaker variables in Romance: when demography and ideology collide 173
  15. 7. Speaker variables and their relation to language change 197
  16. 8. Variation and grammaticalization in Romance: a cross-linguistic study of the subjunctive 217
  17. 9. Historical sociolinguistics and tracking language change: sources, text types and genres 253
  18. 10. Speaker-based approaches to past language states 280
  19. 11. Variation and prescriptivism 307
  20. Medium, register, text type, genre
  21. 12. Oral genres: concepts and complexities 335
  22. 13. Register and text type 362
  23. 14. New Media: new Romance varieties? 386
  24. 15. Medium and creole 405
  25. Linguae minores / Minoritized languages: status, norms, policy and revitalization
  26. 16. Language policies in the Romancespeaking countries of Europe 433
  27. 17. Linguistic diversity in Spain 462
  28. 18. The languages and dialects of Italy 494
  29. 19. Multilingualism in Switzerland 526
  30. 20. Revitalization and the public space 549
  31. 21. Revitalization and education 570
  32. Language contact
  33. 22. Romance in contact with Romance 595
  34. 23. Language contact between typologically different languages: functional transfer 627
  35. 24. When Romance meets English 652
  36. 25. Language contact in a rural community 682
  37. 26. Code-switching and immigrant communities: the case of Italy 702
  38. 27. The metropolization of French worldwide 724
  39. 28. Transnational migration and language practices: the impact on Spanish-speaking migrants 745
  40. Contributors 769
  41. Index of concepts 777
  42. Index of names 790
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Heruntergeladen am 13.10.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110365955-009/html
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