The Evolution of Pragmatic Markers in English

Pathways of Change

Häftad, Engelska, 2026

AvLaurel J. Brinton

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Based on a rich set of historical data, this book traces the development of pragmatic markers in English, from hw't in Old English and whilom in Middle English to whatever and I'm just saying in present-day English. Laurel J. Brinton carefully maps the syntactic origins and development of these forms, and critically examines postulated unilineal pathways, such as from adverb to conjunction to discourse marker, or from main clause to parenthetical. The book sets case studies within a larger examination of the development of pragmatic markers as instances of grammaticalization or pragmaticalization. The characteristics of pragmatic markers - as primarily oral, syntactically optional, sentence-external, grammatically indeterminate elements - are revised in the context of scholarship on pragmatic markers over the last thirty or more years.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2026-11-12
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor352
FörlagCambridge University Press
ISBN9781107569669

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Laurel J. Brinton is Professor of English Language at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. She is co-author of several books, including Lexicalization and Language Change (Cambridge, 2005, with Elizabeth Closs Traugott), The Comment Clause in English: Syntactic Origins and Pragmatic Development (Cambridge, 2008) and The English Language: A Linguistic History 3rd ed. (2016, with Leslie K. Arnovick). She served as co-editor of the Journal of Historical Pragmatics and is currently co-editor of English Language and Linguistics.

1. Pragmatic markers: synchronic and diachronic; Part I. From Lexical Item to Pragmatic Marker: 2. Old English hwæt; 3. Middle English whilom; 4. Modern English only and if only; Part II. From Clausal Construction to Pragmatic Marker: 5. Epistemic parentheticals; 6. I / you admit and admittedly; 7. Forms of say: that said and I'm just saying; 8. Two politeness comment clauses: if I may say so and for what it's worth; 9. What is more and whatever; 10. Concluding remarks: pathways of change; Appendix: list of corpora and text collections; References; Index.