Particles at the Semantics/Pragmatics Interface: PART SEMANTICS/PRAGMATICS INTERF

261 Pages·2008·1.51 MB·English

by  Britt Mosegard Hansen

Particles at the Semantics / Pragmatics
Interface: Synchronic and Diachronic
Issues
A Study with Special Reference to the French
Phasal Adverbs
Current Research in the Semantics/Pragmatics Interface
Series Editors:
K.M. Jaszczolt, University of Cambridge, UK
K. Turner, University of Brighton, UK
Other titles in this series:
TURNER (ed.) The Semantics/Pragmatics Interface from Different Points
of View
JASZCZOLT Discourse, Beliefs and Intentions: Semantic Defaults
and Propositional Attitude Ascription
GEURTS Presuppositions and Pronouns
JASZCZOLT (ed.) The Pragmatics of Propositional Attitude Reports
PEETERS (ed.) The Lexicon-Encyclopedia Interface
PAPAFRAGOU Modality: Issues in the Semantics-Pragmatics Interface
LEEZENBERG Contexts of Metaphor
NÉMETH & BIBOK (eds.) Pragmatics and the Flexibility of Word Meaning
BRAS & VIEU (eds.) Semantic and Pragmatic Issues in Discourse and Dialogue
GUTIÉRREZ-REXACH (ed.) From Words to Discourse: Trends in Spanish Semantics and
Pragmatics
KAMP & PARTEE (eds.) Context-Dependence in the Analysis of Linguistic Meaning
PEREGRIN (ed.) Meaning: The Dynamic Turn
DOBROVOL’SKIJ & Figurative Language: Cross-cultural and Cross-linguistic
PIIRAINEN Perspectives
WEDGWOOD Shifting the Focus: From Static Structures to the Dynamics
of Interpretation
BULTINCK Numerous Meanings: The Meaning of English Cardinals
and the Legacy of Paul Grice
VON HEUSINGER & Where Semantics Meets Pragmatics
TURNER (eds.)
ALONI et al. (eds.) Questions in Dynamic Semantics
PIETARINEN (ed.) Game Theory and Linguistic Meaning
For more information visit: www.elsevier.com/locate/series/crispi
Particles at the Semantics / Pragmatics
Interface: Synchronic and Diachronic
Issues
A Study with Special Reference to the French
Phasal Adverbs
Maj-Britt Mosegaard Hansen
The University of Manchester, UK
Amsterdam – Boston – Heidelberg – London – New York – Oxford
Paris – San Diego – San Francisco – Singapore – Sydney – Tokyo
Elsevier
Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP, UK
Radarweg 29, PO Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, The Netherlands
First edition 2008
Copyright © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher
Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights
Department in Oxford, UK: phone (+44) (0) 1865 843830; fax (+44) (0) 1865 853333;
email: [email protected]. Alternatively you can submit your request online by
visiting the Elsevier web site at http://elsevier.com/locate/permissions, and selecting
Obtaining permission to use Elsevier material
Notice
No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons
or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use
or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material
herein. Because of rapid advances in the medical sciences, in particular, independent
verification of diagnoses and drug dosages should be made
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN: 978-0-08-055293-4
ISSN: 1472-7870
For information on all Elsevier publications
visit our website at books.elsevier.com
Printed and bound in The United Kingdom
08 09 10 11 12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Current Research in the Semantics/Pragmatics Interface (CRiSPI)
Series Editors: K.M. Jaszczolt, University of Cambridge, UK and K. Turner, University of
Brighton, UK
Editorial Advisory Board:
N. Asher, USA
B. Birner, USA
C. Casadio, Italy
M.Dascal, Israel
B. Fraser, USA
T. Fretheim, Norway
B. Gillon, Canada
P. Gochet, Belgium
J. Groenendijk, The Netherlands
Y. Gu, PRC
A. Kasher, Israel
M.Krifka, Germany
S. Kubo, Japan
C. Lee, Korea
S. Levinson, The Netherlands
T. McEnery, UK
F. Nemo, France
P. Pelyvas, Hungary
J. Peregrin, Czech Republic
A. Ramsay, UK
R. Stalnaker, USA
M.Stokhof, The Netherlands
J. van der Auwera, Belgium
R. van der Sandt, The Netherlands
K. von Heusinger, Germany
G. Ward, USA
H. Zeevat, The Netherlands
The aim of this series is to focus upon the relationship between semantic and pragmatic theories for avariety
of natural language constructions. The boundary between semantics and pragmatics can bedrawn in many
various ways; the relative benefits of each gave rise to a vivid theoretical dispute in the literature in the last
two decades. As a side effect, this variety has given rise to a certain amountof confusion and lack of purpose
in the extant publications on the topic. This series provides a forum where the confusion within existing
literature can be removed and the issues raised bydifferent positions can be discussed with a renewed sense
of purpose. The editors intend the contributionsto this series to take further strides towards clarity and
cautious consensus.
This page intentionally left blank
C
ONTENTS

Preface xi

1 Introduction 1
1 Preamble 1
2 What are phasal adverbs? 2
3 Why are phasal adverbs of interest to linguistics? 4
4 A note on particles 7
5 Structure of this book 8

2 Particles at the Lexical-Semantics / Pragmatics Interface: A Conceptual Framework 9
1 Frame semantics 9
1.1 Summary 12
2 Semantics vs pragmatics 12
2.1 Content-level uses vs context-level uses of phasal adverbs 14
2.2 Instructional semantics 17
2.3 Summary 26
3 Types of (allegedly) pragmatic meaning 26
3.1 Conversational implicature 27
3.2 Conventional implicature 29
3.3 Presupposition 32
3.4 Summary 33
4 The problem of polyfunctionality in semantic / pragmatic description 33
4.1 Homonymy, monosemy, polysemy 34
4.2 Constraints on polysemy 36
4.3 The notion of “basic sense” 39
4.4 Summary 40
5 The problem of paradigmaticity in lexical semantics 40
5.1 Semantic fields and paradigmatic relations between lexical items 41
5.2 Summary 46
6 A Peircean approach to meaning 46
6.1 Summary 51
7 General summary 51

3 A Framework for Describing the Diachronic Evolution of Phasal Adverbs 53
1 Introduction 53
2 Diachronic prototype semantics 53
3 The evolution of phasal adverbs: grammaticalization or not? 54
3.1 Parameters of grammaticalization 55
3.2 Pragmaticalization 58
3.3 The role of reinterpretation / reanalysis 60
3.4 Summary 64
viii Particles at the Semantics / Pragmatics Interface
4 Tracing semasiological changes 64
4.1 Transition 65
4.2 Actuation 69
4.3 Motivation 72
4.4 Summary 77
5 The notion of “persistence” in semasiological change 77
6 A Peircean approach to meaning change 79
6.1 Summary 82
7 General summary 82

4 General Properties of Phasal Adverbs Across Languages 85
1 Introduction 85
2 The aspectuality of phasal adverbs 85
2.1 The linguistic expression of time: tense, aspect, Aktionsart 86
2.2 The linguistic expression of time: adverbials 89
2.3 Interaction of phasal adverbs with aspect and Aktionsart 91
2.4 Perspectivity 94
2.5 Summary 99
3 The paradigmaticity of phasal adverbs 100
3.1 Two competing hypotheses about the interrelations of phasal adverbs 100
3.1.1 The duality hypothesis 100
3.1.2 The three-scenarios hypothesis 109
3.2 Summary 112
4 The presuppositionality of phasal adverbs 113
4.1 Presuppositions concerning preceding phases of the SoA 113
4.2 “Presuppositions” concerning subsequent phases of the SoA 116
4.3 “Presuppositions” concerning earliness or lateness of the change of state 119
4.4 Summary 121
5 General summary 122

5 Data and Methodology 123
1 Empirical basis of the investigation 123
2 Corpora used 125
2.1 Problems with the data 126
3 Tests 128
3.1 Tests for content-level vs context-level function 129
3.2 Problems with the use of tests in semantic / pragmatic description 130
4 Summary 131

6 Content-Level Uses of the French Phasal Adverbs 133
1 Introduction 133
2 Etymology of the French phasal adverbs 134
3 Temporal and closely related uses of déjà, encore, toujours, and enfin 135
3.1 Déjà 135
3.2 Toujours 136
3.2.1 Distributive use 137
3.3 Enfin 139
3.4 Summary 142
4 Phasal uses of the four adverbs 142
4.1 Déjà 142
Contents ix
4.2 Encore 144
4.3 Toujours 148
4.4 Enfin 150
4.5 Summary 151
5 Iterative and related uses of déjà and encore 152
5.1 Déjà 152
5.2 Encore 155
5.2.1 Additive encore 156
5.3 Habitual toujours 158
5.4 Summary 159
6 Déjà, encore, and toujours as phrasal adjuncts 160
6.1 Focus-particle uses of déjà and encore 160
6.1.1 Déjà and encore as temporal focus particles 161
6.1.2 Encore as an additive focus particle 162
6.2 Encore and toujours as degree adverbs 164
6.3 Summary 168
7 General summary 168

7 Context-Level Uses of the French Phasal Adverbs 171
1 Introduction 171
2 “Modal” uses 171
2.1 “Scalar” use 172
2.1.1 Déjà 173
2.1.2 Encore 175
2.1.3 Toujours 178
2.2 “Categorizing” use 179
2.3 Non-temporal focus-particle use 183
2.4 A note on enfin / finalement 185
2.5 Summary 186
3 Connective uses 187
3.1 Déjà 187
3.2 Encore 192
3.3 Toujours 199
3.4 Enfin 203
3.4.1 Collocations with enfin 209
3.5 Summary 212
4 Interactional uses 213
4.1 Summary 216
5 General summary 217

8 Conclusion 221
1 Introduction 221
2 Summary of results 221
3 Retrospects and prospects 224

References 229
Data sources 241

Index 243