Many instances of change that have been discussed within the framework of grammaticalization studies notoriously defy categorization, for instance because they share properties of grammaticalization and lexicalization (e.g. Brinton & Traugott’s (2005: 111ff.) case studies), or because they share some properties of grammaticalization, but not all of them, as in the case of discourse markers (e.g. Ocampo 2006). For example, discourse markers do not belong to categories (traditionally) labeled ‘grammatical’, nor do they become rule-governed, i.e. grammatically obligatory. The problem of categorizing discourse markers has been approached in various ways. One solution has been to consider the rise of discourse markers a distinct process, for which different labels have been suggested, e.g. ‘pragmaticalization’ (Aijmer 1997), or ‘grammaticalization II’ (meaning movement towards discourse; Wischer 2000). Alternatively, discourse has been considered part of grammar (e.g. in Diewald 2011), so that discourse markers are grammatical markers after all and hence fall under the scope of the term ‘grammaticalization’. Neither solution however has helped to reduce the terminological confusion that this workshop aims to confront. As regards the introduction of new categories of change, we wholeheartedly agree with the workshop organizers that the introduction of new labels for problematic cases, resulting in a plethora of izations, only added to the conceptual fuzziness. On the other hand, stretching the notion of ‘grammar’, and hence of ‘grammaticalization’ to the point that the development of discourse markers become ‘standard cases of grammaticalization’ (Diewald 2011: 384) obscures substantial differences between different cases of grammaticalization in this sense, making it a heterogeneous category with little descriptive power.
In our talk, we will discuss three different case studies from the domain of epistemic modality in Continental Scandinavian (Beijering, forthcoming), to wit the modal verb ‘may’, the epistemic adverb ‘maybe’, and the mental state predicate ‘I think’. These cases pose a problem for traditional theorizing, for not only are they all at the interface of (most current definitions of) grammaticalization, lexicalization and pragmaticalization, they also differ from one another, so that it would not make much sense to introduce yet another cover term for them. Thus, we propose to abandon the idea that changes can be boxed into predefined categories. Instead, we will argue that it is more useful to reduce these cases to their primitive changes (cf. Norde 2009: 36), i.e. changes at the level of phonology, morphology, syntax, and discourse. Identifying parameters for each of these levels (adapted in part from Lehmann’s (1995[1982]) parameters of grammaticalization’), we will show that primitive changes tend to form different clusters. These clusters may coincide with changes traditionally labeled ‘grammaticalization’, ‘degrammaticalization’, or ‘lexicalization’, but it will be seen that changes may also cluster in alternative ways. This is true, for example, of the case studies presented in our talk. The advantage of a clustering approach is that primitive changes (e.g. semantic reduction versus enrichment, morphological fusion versus separation) are less controversial than ambiguous labels such as ‘grammaticalization’, and are independent of one’s definition of ‘lexical’ or ‘grammatical’.
References:
Aijmer. 1997. I think – an English modal particle. In Swan, Toril & Olaf Jansen estvik (eds) Modality in Germanic languagues. Historical and comparative perspectives, 1-47. Berlin / New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Beijering, Karin. forthcoming. Expressions of epistemic modality in Mainland Scandinavian: A study into the lexicalization-grammmaticalization-pragmaticalization interface. PhD thesis, University of Groningen.
Brinton, Laurel J. & Elizabeth Closs Traugott. 2005. Lexicalization and language change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Diewald, Gabriele. 2011. Pragmaticalization (defined) as grammaticalization of discourse functions. Linguistics 49(2), 365-390.
Lehmann, Christian. 1995 [1982]. Thoughts on grammaticalization. München / Newcastle: Lincom Europa.
Norde, Muriel. 2009. Degrammaticalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ocampo, Francisco. 2006. Movement towards discourse is not grammaticalization: the evolution of claro from adjective to discourse particle in spoken Spanish. In Sagarra, Nuria & Almeida Jacqueline Toribio (eds) Selected proceedings of the 9th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, 308-319. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Wischer, Ilse. 2000. Grammaticalization versus lexicalization. ‘Methinks’ there is some confusion. In Fischer, Olga, Anette Rosenbach & Dieter Stein (eds) Pathways of change. Grammaticalization in English, 355-370. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
