Subjectification of Verbs into Discourse Markers: Semantic-Pragmatic Change Only?

Abstract

This paper analyzes Spanish discourse markers such as dale!, dizque, tate!, andale!, sepa! and shows how their original syntax changes through subjectification. It is argued that subjective expressions lose their normal syntactic capacities, implying cancellation of syntax and syntactic isolation. The paper fills a gap in the field of subjectification studies, in that it structurally underpins the semantic-pragmatic dimension of change. The argument of syntactic isolation is explained in two ways. On the one hand, a grammatical account points to the diachronic process of attrition and univerbation. On the other hand, according to cognitive-theoretical principles, it can be argued that the speaker is strongly inclined to project his/her own valorations and perspective about the event, rather than talking about the event itself. Adapted from the source document