A historical and collexeme analysis of the development of the compromiser fairly

This paper discusses the historical evolution of fairly as a compromiser. Rather, which had already developed into a compromiser by the time fairly started going down the same cline, provides the background for the study of the grammaticalisation of fairly. Based on electronic corpora, the distinctive collexeme analysis I propose (Stefanowitch and Gries 2003) focuses on the collocational preferences exhibited by the two compromisers when combining with an adjective, from the origins of fairly as a compromiser in the early nineteenth century to the present day. The difference in the polarity of the adjectives they modify indicates their complementary distribution. Finally the semantic origin of the two forms provides some insights into the specificities they developed as moderators, showing signs of persistence, as defined in the framework of grammaticalisation, and of subjectification (Traugott 1988, 1995).