214 research outputs found
The spread and decline of indefinite man-constructions in European languages: An areal perspective
No full textIn: Paolo Ramat & Elisa Roma (eds.), Europe and the Mediterranean as Linguistic Areas. Convergencies from a historical and typological perspective, 95-131. Amsterdam: John Benjamins
Synchrony and Diachrony. Introduction to a dynamic interface
No full textThat the two dimensions of language variation are closely intertwined is nothing new, although at different stages in the history of linguistics their relation has been overlooked, if not explicitly ignored (see section 2). However, still little effort has been made to provide a unitary account of their interface and, more importantly, little attention has been devoted to a systematic exam of the theoretical and methodological tools through which such interface can be better captured and analyzed. In this volume, we aim to i) gather together a good sample of phenomena in which the synchrony-diachrony interface is crucial both at the descriptive and at the explanatory level, ii) to compare how different theoretical frameworks and different methodological tools may account for such interface phenomena, iii) and to identify those factors that are more frequently at play in the interface between synchrony and diachrony
Gradualness and pace in grammaticalization: The case of adversative connectives
No full textIn this article we illustrate some cases of parallel diachronic changes in the domain of interclausal adversative connectives, in which Romance languages develop roughly the same function from the same Latin lexical source through similar paths, but at different time rates. This study supports the idea that regularities in semantic change can be effectively captured if a model in stages is adopted, which allows to observe micro-changes correlated to different types of context and to different frequencies of occurrence of the items at issue. In the cases under exam, French seems to follow a faster pace, being ahead of other Romance languages, and at the same time it shows a tendency toward innovation. In the search for explanations for the different behaviors of French, Italian and Spanish, we discuss some hypotheses, calling into question the role of external factors possibly involved in the development of adversative connectives
On Italian cleft sentences
No full textSeveral puzzling phenomena of Italian cleft sentences are discussed (espcially those concerning the agreement beween the focalized element and the copula)
Recensione a: Le lingue indoeuropee, a cura di Anna Giacalone Ramat e Paolo Ramat, il Mulino, Bologna 1993-1 [1994-2]
No full textLa recensione considera approfonditamente le caratteristiche che fanno del manuale sulle lingue indoeuropee curato da P. Ramat e A. Giacalone Ramat un'opera di notevole impegno, e con sezioni di particolare pregio anche scientifico.The review considers in detail the characteristics that make the Manual of Indo-European languages edited by P. Ramat and A. Giacalone Ramat work on a major effort, and with sections of particular value also scientific
"Piuttosto che": dalla preferenza all’esemplificazione di alternative
No full text"Piuttosto che": dalla preferenza all’esemplificazione di alternativ
The development of adversative connectives in Italian: stages and factors at play
No full textIn this paper we propose a model through stages for the development of interclausal adversative connectives, based on the qualitative and quantitative exam of the three Italian connectives però, tuttavia and mentre. The main purpose of this study is the identification of the respective roles played by frequency, syntax and context in the development of the adversative function. In the analysis of each of the three diachronic paths at issue, we keep the semantic parameters separate from the syntactic ones, monitoring both the semantic (in)compatibility of each occurrence with the source and the target meaning, identifying three macro-types of contexts (incompatible with the target meaning, compatible with both the source and the target meaning, incompatible with the source meaning), and the syntactic features characterizing each context type through the centuries. Our data will show that, despite the differences, the three paths show a number of recurrent properties, which underline the central function of frequency in triggering and spreading the change and the importance of constructions as the units that speakers process, elaborate and innovate. Finally, based on the relative frequency of the various context types through time, we will propose a model in four stages that describes the successive steps of development of the adversative function
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