Cover not available

In:Semantic-Pragmatic Change from Intersubjective to Textual Meanings
Edited by Giulio Scivoletto and Ryo Takamura
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 353] 2025
► pp. 244–271

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Chapter 9
Rethinking intersubjectification through the evolution of discourse markers in Sicilian

Published online: 27 June 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.353.09sci
Abstract
This chapter deals with the topic of intersubjectification as a tendency of semantic-pragmatic change, taking into consideration the evolution of two discourse markers in Sicilian, arà and bì. In order to define the concept of intersubjectification, some underlying notions are presented: intersubjectivity as the overcoming of the subject in humanities today, subjectivity in the tradition of linguistics, and finally the very framework of intersubjectification in semantic-pragmatic change. Then, this paper reconstructs the evolution of the two discourse markers in Sicilian. The analysis of these two diachronic paths offers empirical data that allow for a theoretical redefinition of intersubjectification as the tendency whereby meanings develop as centered on two constitutive components of linguistic interaction, namely the subjects interacting and the discourse itself.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Framing the concepts of intersubjectivity and intersubjectification
    • 2.1Intersubjectivity as overcoming the subject in the humanities
    • 2.2Subjectivity and intersubjectivity in linguistics
    • 2.3(Inter)subjectification as a type of semantic change
  • 3.Sicilian discourse markers: From intersubjectified to textual meanings
    • 3.1A note on methodology
    • 3.2Sicilian arà from intersubjectified to textual meanings
    • 3.3Sicilian bì from intersubjectified to textual meanings
  • 4.Discussion: Rethinking intersubjectification
    • 4.1Intersubjectification preceding subjectification
    • 4.2Textualization following intersubjectification
  • 5.Conclusion: A broad conception for intersubjectification
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (83)
References
Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. 2012. “The Essence of Mirativity.” Linguistic Typology 16: 435–485. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Alfonzetti, Giovanna. 2017. “Italian-Dialect Code-Switching in Sicilian Youngsters.” Sociolinguistic Studies 11 (2–4): 435–459. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
ARTESIA = Pagano, Mario, Salvatore Arcidiacono and Ferdinando Raffaele (eds). Corpus ARTESIA. Archivio testuale del siciliano antico. Università di Catania: Centro di Studi Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani ([URL], last update: 31.12.2022).
Athanasiadou, Angeliki, Costas Canakis, and Bert Cornillie (eds). 2006. Subjectification: Various Paths to Subjectivity. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Austin, John L. 1962. How to Do Things with Words. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Avolio, Corrado. 1875. Canti popolari di Noto. Noto: Zammit.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beeching, Kate. 2016. Pragmatic Markers in British English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Benveniste, Émile. 1966. “De la subjectivité dans le langage.” In Problèmes de linguistique Générale, ed. by É. Benveniste, Vol. I, 258–266. Paris: Gallimard.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berruto, Gaetano. 2018. “The Languages and Dialects of Italy.” In Manual of Romance Sociolinguistics, ed. by Wendy Ayres-Bennett, and Janice Carruthers, 494–525. Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bonini, Luca, Cristina Rotunno, Edoardo Arcuri, and Vittorio Gallese. 2022. “Mirror Neurons 30 Years Later: Implications and Applications.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 26 (9): 767–781. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bréal, Michel. 1897. Essai de sémantique (science des significations). Paris: Hachette.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brinton, Laurel J. 2007. “The Development of I mean: Implications for the Study of Historical Pragmatics.” In Methods in Historical Pragmatics, ed. by Susan M. Fitzmaurice, and Irma Taavitsainen, 37–79. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2008. The Comment Clause in English: Syntactic Origins and Pragmatic Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2010. “Discourse Markers.” In Historical Pragmatics, ed. by Andreas H. Jucker, and Irma Taavitsainen, 285–314. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bybee, Joan, Revere Perkins, and William Pagliuca (eds). 1994. The Evolution of Grammar: Tense, Aspect, and Modality in the Languages of the World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Danziger, Eve and Alan Rumsey. 2013. “Introduction: From Opacity to Intersubjectivity Across Languages and Cultures.” Language and Communication 33: 247–250.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Davidse, Kristin, Lieven Vandelanotte, and Hubert Cuyckens (eds). 2010. Subjectification, Intersubjectification and Grammaticalization. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Degand, Liesbeth, Bert Cornillie, and Paola Pietrandrea (eds). 2013. Discourse Markers and Modal Particles. Categorization and Description. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Di Maria, Vincenzo. 1978a. I poeti burleschi dal 1500 al 1650. Ordinati e annotati con nuovi criteri storico-filologici. Catania: Tringale.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1978b. Le bestie, gli uomini, le favole di Venerando Gangi, Giuseppe Marraffino, Domenico Tempio e Giovanni Meli. Catania: Tringale.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Duranti, Alessandro. 1997. “Universal and Culture-Specific Properties of Greetings.” Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 7 (1): 63–97. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2010. “Husserl, Intersubjectivity and Anthropology” Anthropological Theory 10 (1): 1–20. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015. The Anthropology of Intentions. Language in a World of Others. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Finegan, Edward. 1995. “Subjectivity and Subjectivisation: An Introduction.” In Subjectivity and Subjectivisation, ed. by Dieter Stein, and Susan Wright, 1–15. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fischer, Kerstin (ed). 2006. Approaches to Discourse Particles. Leiden: Brill. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gallese, Vittorio. 2011. “Neuroscience and Phenomenology.” Phenomenology and Mind 1: 28–39. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ghesquière, Lobke, Lieslotte Brems, and Freek Van de Velde. 2012. “Intersubjectivity and Intersubjectification: Typology and Operationalization.” English Text Linguistics 5 (1): 128–152. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ghezzi, Chiara, and Piera Molinelli (eds). 2014. Discourse and Pragmatic Markers from Latin to the Romance Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Guastella, Serafino A. 1882. Vestru. Scene del popolo siciliano. Con copiose illustrazioni in dialetto. Ragusa: Piccitto & Antoci.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gülich, Elisabeth, and Thomas Kotschi. 1995. “Discourse Production in Oral Communication.” In Aspects of Oral Communication, ed. by Uta M. Quasthoff, 30–66. Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halliday, Michael A. K. 1970. “Language Structure and Language Function.” In New Horizons in Linguistics, ed. by John. Lyons, 140–165. London: Penguin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hancil, Sylvie. 2018. “Discourse Coherence and Intersubjectivity: The Development of Final But in Dialogues.” Language Sciences 68: 78–93. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hansen, Maj-Britt Mosegaard. 2008. Particles at the Semantics/Pragmatics Interface: Synchronic and Diachronic Issues. Leiden: Brill. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haselow, Alexander. 2012. “Subjectivity, Intersubjectivity and the Negotiation of Common Ground in Spoken Discourse: Final Particles in English.” Language and Communication 32: 182–204. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heine, Bernd. 2023. The Grammar of Interactives. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heritage, John. 1984. “A Change-of-State Token and Aspects of its Sequential Placement.” In Structures of Social Action. Studies in Conversation Analysis, ed. by J. Maxwell Atkinson, and John Heritage, 299–345. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Husserl, Edmund. 1989. Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy. Second Book: Studies in the Phenomenology of Constitution (trans. R. Rojcewicz and A. Schuwer). Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kim, Minjiu. 2024. “Development of the Korean Proximal Demonstrative into an Affective Stance Marker.” Journal of Pragmatics 224: 1–19. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Langacker, Ronald W. 1985. “Observations and Speculations on Subjectivity.” In Iconicity in Syntax, ed. by John Haiman, 109–150. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1990. “Subjectification.” Cognitive Linguistics 1 (1): 5–38. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lindström, Jan, Ritva Laury, Anssi Peräkylä and Marja-Leena Sorjonen (eds). 2021. Intersubjectivity in Action. Studies in Language and Social Interaction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lyons, John. 1977. Semantics, Vol. II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1982. “Deixis and Subjectivity: Loquor, ergo sum?” In Speech, Place, and Action: Studies in Deixis and Related Topics, ed. by Robert J. Jarvella, and Wolfgang Klein, 101–124. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maschler, Yael. 2000. “What Can Bilingual Conversation Tell Us About Discourse Markers?: Introduction.” International Journal of Bilingualism 4 (4): 437–445. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Matras, Yaron. 2000. “Fusion and the Cognitive Basis for Bilingual Discourse Markers” International Journal of Bilingualism 4: 505–528. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2020. Language Contact. Second edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015. “(Inter)subjectification and Its Limits in Secondary Grammaticalization.” Language Sciences 47: 148–160. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. “Three Types of Subjectivity, Three Types of Intersubjectivity, Their Dynamicization and a Synthesis” In Aspects of Grammaticalization. (Inter)subjectification and Directionality, ed. by Van Olmen, Daniel, Cuyckens, Hubert, and Ghesquière, Lobke, 19–46. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Narrog, Heiko, and Bernd Heine. 2021. Grammaticalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2012. “Notions of (Inter)subjectivity.” English Text Linguistics 5 (1): 53–76. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Onodera, Noriko O. 2007. “Interplay of (Inter)subjectivity and Social Norm.” Journal of Historical Pragmatics 8 (2): 239–267. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reddy, Michael J. 1993. “The Conduit Metaphor: A Case of Frame Conflict in Our Language about Language.” In Metaphor and Thought. Second edition, ed. by Andrew Ortony, 164–201. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rhee, Seongha. 2020. “On the Many Faces of Coarseness: The Case of the Korean Mak ‘coarsely’.” Journal of Pragmatics 170: 396–412. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sbisà, Marina. 1989. Linguaggio, ragione, interazione. Per una teoria pragmatica degli atti linguistici. Bologna: il Mulino.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scivoletto, Giulio. 2020. “La particella enfatica a e la lessicalizzazione delle interiezioni in siciliano” In Lessicalizzazioni “complesse”. Ricerche e teoresi — Lexicalizaciónes “complejas”. Investigación y teorías — Lexicalisations “complexes”. Recherches et théorisations, ed. by Iride Valenti, 425–438. Rome: Aracne. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2022a. Discourse Markers in Sicily. A Synchronic, Diachronic, and Sociolinguistic Analysis. Leiden/Boston: Brill. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2022b. “Ripensare il processo di intersoggettificazione attraverso il caso dei marcatori del discorso siciliani.” Cuadernos de Filología Italiana 29: 233–258. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2025. “Mirativity as a Semantic Notion: The Trajectory and Status of Sicilian Bì.” In Expressing Surprise at the Crossroads. Mirativity, Exclamativity and Cooptation in Romance Languages, ed. by Susana Rosique Rodriguez, 179–202. Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. forthcoming. “A Typology of Cyclicity: Waves and Spirals, Constructions and Features.” In Cyclic Change in Grammar and Discourse, ed. by Maj-Britt Mosegaard Hansen, and Richard Waltereit. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Shinzato, Rumiko. 2007. “(Inter)subjectification, Japanese Syntax and Syntactic Scope Increase.” Journal of Historical Pragmatics 8 (2): 171–206. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014. “Subjectivity, Intersubjectivity and Japanese Grammar. A Functional Approach.” In Usage-based Approaches to Japanese Grammar: Towards the Understanding of Human Language, ed. by Kaori Kabata, and Tsuyoshi Ono, 85–108. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tantucci, Vittorio. 2021. Language and Social Minds: The Semantics and Pragmatics of Intersubjectivity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Traugott, Elizabeth Closs. 1982. “From Propositional to Textual and Expressive Meanings: Some Semantic-pragmatic Aspects of Grammaticalization.” In Perspectives on Historical Linguistics, ed. by Winfred. P. Lehmann, and Yakov. Malkiel, 245–271. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1986. “From Polysemy to Internal Semantic Reconstruction.” In Proceedings of the 12th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, ed. by Vassiliki Nikiforidou, 539–550. Berkeley: University of California. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1989. “On the Rise of Epistemic Meanings in English: An Example of Subjectification in Semantic Change.” Language 57: 33–65. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1995. “Subjectification in Grammaticalization.” In Subjectivity and Subjectivisation, ed. by Dieter Stein, and Susan Wright, 31–54. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2003. “From Subjectification to Intersubjectification.” In Motives for Language, ed. by Change R. Hickey, 124–139. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2007. “(Inter)subjectification and Unidirectionality.” Journal of Historical Pragmatics 8 (2): 295–309. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2010. “(Inter)subjectivity and (Inter)subjectification: A Reassessment.” In Subjectification, Intersubjectification and Grammaticalization, ed. by Kristin Davidse, Lieven Vandelanotte, and Hubert Cuyckens, 29–70. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2020. “The Development of ‘Digressive’ Discourse-Topic Shift Markers in English.” Journal of Pragmatics 156: 121–135. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Traugott, Elizabeth Closs, and Richard B. Dasher. 2002. Regularity in Semantic Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Trevarthen, Colwyn. 1979. “Communication and Cooperation in Early Infancy: A Description of Primary Intersubjectivity.” In Before Speech: The Beginning of Human Communication, ed. by Margaret Bullowa, 99–136. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Uccello, Antonino. 1959. Canti del Val di Noto. Milan: All’insegna del pesce d’oro.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Verhagen, Arie. 2005. Constructions of Intersubjectivity. Discourse, Syntax and Cognition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Visconti, Jacqueline. 2009. “From ‘Textual’ to ‘Interpersonal’: On the Diachrony of the Italian Particle Mica.” Journal of Pragmatics 41: 937–950. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013. “Facets of Subjectification.” Language Sciences 36: 7–17. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
VS = Piccitto, Giorgio, Giovanni Tropea, and Salvatore C. Trovato (eds). 1977–2002. Vocabolario siciliano. 5 voll. Palermo-Catania: Centro di studi filologici e linguistici siciliani.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ziegeler, Debra. 2016. “Intersubjectivity and the Diachronic Development of Counterfactual Almost.” Journal of Historical Pragmatics 17 (1): 1–25. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zlatev, Jordan, Timothy P. Racine, Chris Sinha, and Esa Itkonen. 2008. “Intersubjectivity: What Makes Us Human?” In The Shared Mind: Perspectives on Intersubjectivity, ed. by Jordan Zlatev, Timothy P. Racine, Chris Sinha, and Esa Itkonen, 1–14. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue