Los orígenes del conector <i>de todas maneras</i>: fijación formal y pragmática

En los ultimos anos, los estudios sobre pragmatica han fijado su atencion en el problema del cambio linguistico para estudiar los procesos por los que determinados elementos lexicos de una lengua pasan a engrosar el inventario de recursos gramaticales de la misma. La teoria de la gramaticalizacion sugiere que, si bien para estudiar la evolucion de un determinado proceso en una lengua dada se debe realizar un estudio interno, existen patrones evolutivos mas generales que explican el tipo de cambio producido. El termino comun de gramaticalizacion engloba los distintos enfoques teoricos y las tendencias evolutivas observadas hasta el momento.…

Un solo tipo de reformulación

Frente a la opinión, ampliamente compartida, de que existen dos tipos de reformulación, este artículo defiende la existencia de un único tipo de reformulación. La reformulación se propone como una operación de disociación entre dos formulaciones que tiene, como categorías vecinas, la paráfrasis, por un lado, y la corrección, por el otro. La reformulación, por tanto, no sería ni la una ni la otra. Asimismo, se separaría de la noción de conclusión, con la que también se ha asociado. Esta visión de la reformulación parece coherente con lo que los datos diacrónicos muestran. This paper claims, contrary to a commonly shared assumption, that there exists only one type of reformulation. Reformulat…

Some reflections on semantic–pragmatic cycles

Abstract This paper explores novel ways to consider semantic–pragmatic cycles using a dual strategy: an inwards strategy, whereby the distinctive traits of a pragmatic cycle are established, and an outwards strategy, whereby the categories that delimit semantic–pragmatic cycles are described. The result of this exploration is the distinction between “pragmatic cycle”, “replication”, “concomitance” and “paradigmatic increase” as four different yet related processes. In addition, this study integrates Construction Grammar into the description of each process and shows that the study of semantic–pragmatic cycles can benefit from a constructional approach, adopting Traugott and Trousdale’s (201…

Inter-annotator agreement in spoken language annotation: Applying uα-family coefficients to discourse segmentation

As databases make Corpus Linguistics a common tool for most linguists, corpus annotation becomes an increasingly important process. Corpus users do not need only raw data, but also annotated data, submitted to tagging or parsing processes through annotation protocols. One problem with corpus annotation lies in its reliability, that is, in the probability that its results can be replicable by independent researchers. Inter-annotation agreement (IAA) is the process which evaluates the probability that, applying the same protocol, different annotators reach similar results. To measure agreement, different statistical metrics are used. This study applies IAA for the first time to the Valencia E…

From pragmatics to semantics:Esto esin formulaic expressions

Abstract This paper explores the transition of the Spanish marker esto es (English that is) from a free construction into a reformulative marker, as well as the pragmatic variables involved in this shift. Based on the occurrences of esto es between the 13th and the 15th centuries in the CORDE corpus, the study shows that, in order to account for this change, external factors have to be considered, especially the discourse traditions associated with the texts in which this marker appears. If this hypothesis is correct, then the problem of the pragmatics-semantics interface will have to include a new front, where non-linguistic factors trigger changes in language structure.

Sobre conectores, expletivos y muletillas

-Salvador.Pons@uv.es

Do discourse markers exist? On the treatment of discourse markers in Relevance Theory

Abstract This paper critically reviews three Relevance Theory (RT) ideas on connectives: the distinction between conceptual and procedural meaning, connectives as strictly procedural elements, and monosemy as the best explanation of multifunctional connectives. These three ideas underlie the description of connectives and related sets of markers within RT. Data from colloquial conversations, however, provide evidence which calls these ideas into question. Therefore, it is argued that conceptual and procedural features can coexist within a single marker, that the concept of apposition markers should be reconsidered, that conceptual expressions can connect two utterances, and that polysemy pr…

Introduction to the special issue on Empirical Data and Pragmatic Theory

Las unidades del discurso oral. La propuesta Val.Es.Co. de segmentación de la conversación (coloquial)

El presente artículo resume y examina críticamente la propuesta de segmentación del discurso realizada en Briz y Grupo Val.Es.Co (2003). El modelo Val.Es.Co. consta de ocho unidades (discurso, diálogo, intercambio/ alternancia de turnos, intervención/turno, acto y subacto), tres órdenes (social, estructural e informativo) y cuatro posiciones (inicial, media, final e independiente); se caracteriza, además, por ser jerárquico y recursivo. La aplicación del modelo Val.Es.Co. permite la segmentación de una conversación coloquial sin residuos, así como un adecuado tratamiento de diversos fenómenos conversacionales (actos truncados, solapamientos, elementos suprasegmentales o marcadores discursiv…

Polar meaning and “expletive” negation in approximative adverbs

In this paper we provide a synchronic and diachronic analysis of an instance of so-called “expletive” negation in the Spanish approximative adverb por poco. Synchronically, we show that this adverb, when combined with the sentence negator no, is ambiguous between ~p (“expletive”) and ~~p (“canonical”) meanings. Diachronically, we show that this ambiguity arose due to a change in the negation system of Spanish around the fifteenth century. As a result, the supposed instances of “expletive” negation found in present-day uses of por poco are not really expletive at all, but rather are a holdover from the Old Spanish requirement of preverbal negative concord.

Using discourse segmentation to account for the polyfunctionality of discourse markers:The case of well

Abstract A large number of studies describe the many different functions of polyfunctional discourse markers like well in different contexts and from different theoretical perspectives. In the current paper, we propose to systematize the many different uses identified based on their position with respect to the discourse units they are associated with. Not only can previous findings on well be integrated into a single coherent representation of its uses and functions, but the positions with respect to the discourse units can also be associated with specific functions, thus shedding light on how the polyfunctionality of well is brought about.

Expressing digression linguistically: Do digressive markers exist?

Abstract This paper analyzes the relationship between digressions and topic shifts in the light of the Spanish marker por cierto . Against the standard explanation, which takes digression as a well-established linguistic operation, digression is regarded as a rhetorical operation, underspecified at the linguistic level. The most conspicuous trace of digression, the so-called digressive markers , cannot be distinguished from topic shifters on the basis of the instruction provided by the marker alone. Thus, both types of markers should be grouped together as a single class, that of “new relevant information markers” (NRIMs). The perceived differences between topic shifters and digressive mark…