On the Rise of Epistemic Meanings in English: An Example of Subjectification in Semantic Change

Traugott, Elizabeth Closs

doi:10.2307/414841

Cited by 1,007 publications

(487 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…ish whereby the latter takes on a flavor speaker-orientedness. This sort of diachronic path is consistent with the notion of subjectification in the literature on semantic change, whereby there is a tendency for linguistic items tend to acquire more speaker-oriented flavors over time (e.g., Traugott 1989, see Beltrama 2014 for recent discussion). Thus, we have identified another case where subjectification is implicated in semantic change, specifically in the context of degree modification.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 58%

A new metalinguistic degree morpheme

Bochnak

Csipak²

2015

SALT

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In this paper, we discuss and analyze . . . ish/-ish in three of its uses: as a modifier of gradable adjectives; as a clause-final particle that hedges on a speaker's degree of commitment to a proposition; and as a general precision-regulator. In each case, . . . ish/-ish makes reference to a degree that is slightly less than the standard for the constituent it applies to. We propose that proposition-modifying . . . ish belongs to the class of metalinguistic degree morphology alongside metalinguistic comparisons, which have received recent attention in the literature (e.g., Giannakidou & Yoon 2011; Morzycki 2011). We argue for a unified analysis of . . . ish/-ish as a degree modifier, where the relevant degree variable can be provided lexically, or through a type-shifting operation that makes available a degree of precision in the sense of Morzycki (2011). This study has implications for research on the semantics of metalinguistic degree morphology, imprecision, speaker-oriented phenomena, and the role of subjectification in semantic change.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 58%

A new metalinguistic degree morpheme

Bochnak

Csipak²

2015

SALT

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“…Less intersubjective. Intersubjectivity refers to the degree to which people experience something the same way (Traugott, 1989(Traugott, , 2003. Word meanings that are more intersubjective (e.g.…”

Section: Candidate Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of word meanings through metaphorical mapping: Systematicity over the past millennium

Malt

Srinivasan

2017

Cognitive Psychology

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TitleEvolution of word meanings through metaphorical mapping: Systematicity over the past millennium Data AvailabilityThe data associated with this publication are available upon request. One way that languages are able to communicate a potentially infinite set of ideas through a finite lexicon is by compressing emerging meanings into words, such that over time, individual words come to express multiple, related senses of meaning. We propose that overarching communicative and cognitive pressures have created systematic directionality in how new metaphorical senses have developed from existing word senses over the history of English. Given a large set of pairs of semantic domains, we used computational models to test which domains have been more commonly the starting points (source domains) and which the ending points (target domains) of metaphorical mappings over the past millennium. We found that a compact set of variables, including externality, embodiment, and valence, explain directionality in the majority of about 5000 metaphorical mappings recorded over the past 1100 years. These results provide the first large-scale historical evidence that metaphorical mapping is systematic, and driven by measurable communicative and cognitive principles. Published by Elsevier Inc.

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“…evoluciona hasta la expresión de modalidad bajo la influencia de la subjetividad (Traugott 1989, Thompson & Mulac 1991. Algunos autores que se han dedicado al estudio de la partícula I think en inglés han indicado, sin embargo, que se pueden distinguir claramente dos tipos semánticos, aparte del significado original de acción cognitiva (Arndt 1987): creencia/evidencia insuficiente y opinión/actitud personal.…”

Section: Con Sinunclassified

Expresiones no verbales como enunciados realizativos: construcciones preposicionales y apelaciones enfáticas

Holgado

2016

Círculo De Lingüística Aplicada a La Comunicación

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On the Rise of Epistemic Meanings in English: An Example of Subjectification in Semantic Change

Cited by 1,007 publications

References 21 publications

A new metalinguistic degree morpheme

A new metalinguistic degree morpheme

Evolution of word meanings through metaphorical mapping: Systematicity over the past millennium

Expresiones no verbales como enunciados realizativos: construcciones preposicionales y apelaciones enfáticas

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