Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: In this paper, we reconstruct the emergence of the modal and discourse marker uses of adverbial and clausal expressions withno doubt. Their history contrasts in a number of surprising ways with typical grammaticalization hypotheses. Existential expressions withno doubtemerged directly with grammatical modal meaning and developed lexicalized idiomatic uses later on. We account for this in terms of Boye and Harder’s discourse approach to grammaticalization and lexicalization, according to which the former involves coded discourse secondariness whereas the latter expresses a primary point of the discourse. Like adverbialno doubt,I have/make no doubtacquired uses not only as a modal but also as a discourse marker. Invoking the principles of Kaltenböck, Heine and Kuteva’s Thetical Grammar, we explain this development in terms of the positional and scopal flexibility, and the discourse functionality of these expressions.
Source: Journal of Historical Pragmatics
Authors: Kristin Davidse, Simon De Wolf, An Van linden
Institution: KU Leuven
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2004140650