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Reconstructing paths of secondary grammaticalisation of same from emphasising to phoricity and single‐referent‐marking postdeterminer uses 1
Author(s) -
Breban Tine
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
transactions of the philological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.333
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1467-968X
pISSN - 0079-1636
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-968x.2009.01232.x
Subject(s) - referent , demonstrative , adjective , grammaticalization , linguistics , noun , determiner , definiteness , context (archaeology) , genitive case , history , philosophy , archaeology
This paper is concerned with the English adjective same . As noted in the OED (s.v. same , a.), this adjective almost exclusively occurs as part of the determiner units the + same and demonstrative + same , which function as one word. In previous studies, I have argued that same performs the role of postdeterminer supplementing the identifiability of the noun phrase referent, which is expressed by the or the demonstrative, in three different ways: by confirming it more strongly (emphasising postdeterminer use), by setting up an identifying link between the referent and another discourse referent (phoricity‐marking postdeterminer use), or by conveying that the referent is associated with different situations present in the discourse (single‐referent‐marking postdeterminer use). The claim I will develop here is that the phoricity and single‐referent‐marking postdeterminer uses are the result of two distinct processes of secondary grammaticalisation from the earlier emphasising postdeterminer use starting in the Middle English period. On the basis of the analysis of historical data from the LEON corpus (1251–1500), I will confirm and elaborate this claim, paying particular attention to the semantic and syntactic features of the (surrounding) context and the extra‐textual motivations triggering the grammaticalisation processes.