Edited by Kate Beeching, Chiara Ghezzi and Piera Molinelli
Though positioning has been addressed in social psychology and in identity construction, less attention has been paid to the specific linguistic markers which are drawn upon in discourse to position the self and other(s). This volume focusses on address terms, pragmatic markers, code… read more
Edited by Anna Giacalone Ramat, Caterina Mauri and Piera Molinelli
The focus of this volume is on the relation between synchrony and diachrony. It is examined in the light of the most recent theories of language change and linguistic variation. What has traditionally been treated as a dichotomy is now seen rather in terms of a dynamic interface. The contributions… read more
This study explores the emergence and conventionalization of the Italian pragmatic marker ma vieni ‘hooray’ (lit. ‘but come’) in the short micro-diachrony of the past thirty years, considering both extra-linguistic and systemic factors. We show that a number of audio-visual media helped trigger… read more
This paper discusses the discursive and interpersonal functions conveyed by the Italian negative operator no(?) ‘no’, suggesting a possible pathway of functional enrichment that can account for its high degree of polyfunctionality. Drawing on the KIParla corpus of contemporary spoken Italian, we… read more
This paper examines the synchronic competition and diachronic substitution of three Latin temporal expressions: tum, tunc (‘at that time’, ‘then’), and later dumque (originally, ‘while-and’), and its Old Italian outcome dunque (‘then’). Besides providing a new path of development and a new… read more
This paper focuses on the formal and functional development of Italian allora (< Latin ad illa(m) hora(m) [‘in that hour’]) ‘at that time, then, well’ considering its polyfunctionality and its relationship with the functional space of dunque (‘then, therefore’). The developments of both forms… read more
This chapter identifies the changes which led from the Early Latin address system, when address choice was unmarked as to the reverential dimension, to Late Latin, when such functions progressively emerged establishing the opposition between tu and Vos (2pl), and then to the Italian system.… read more
This study compares the development of the Latin and Italian politeness markers quaeso and prego (‘please’). The markers, originally performative verbs meaning ‘I ask, I pray’, have developed politeness-related functions which index the action structure (i.e., polite requests) and the exchange… read more
