Journal of Historical Pragmatics - Volume 23, Issue 1, 2022

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore why the subjunctive, despite its lack of modal productivity, might persist in French. I argue that the subjunctive is a modally void fossil, persisting due to repeated usage following highly entrenched constructions. The focus here is on the behaviour of the subjunctive in Renaissance French, specifically in the sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries. Content analysis of personal correspondence identified the real subjunctive usage that lies beneath the French polish applied by standardisation. Through analysis of the structures that trigger the subjunctive in complement clause environments, I explore the grammatical behaviour of the subjunctive. The subjunctive was routinised after regularly occurring verbal and non-verbal constructions, strengthening the subjunctive’s position in certain complement clause environments. This study has diachronic importance in identifying which salient forms might persist in French. There are insights into the behaviour – perhaps the foundations – of the subjunctive paradigm in French as it stands today.

Abstract

This paper deals with rhetorically intended questions in the Zhuangzi, a foundational text of Daoism (fourth century bc). Such questions are generally meant to evoke silent answers in the addressee’s mind, thereby involving a fictive type of interaction (Pascual 2006, 2014). We analyse rhetorical questions as constructions of intersubjectivity (see Verhagen 2005, 2008), involving not just a conceptual integration of question and assertion but also a viewpoint blend (Dancygier and Sweetser [eds] 2012). They involve fusing the perspectives of the writer, the assumed prospective readers, and possibly also that of the discourse characters (in the case of rhetorical questions ascribed to a discourse character but meant to represent the writer’s voice). In this highly influential text with abundant mixed viewpoint scenarios, the interpretation of rhetorical questions involves the resolution of different viewpoints, which are set up and shifted in a multi-layered manner for particular argumentative purposes.

Abstract

This paper addresses an issue of diachronic speech act analysis and diachronic politeness research at the same time. Its primary aim is to examine uses of two grammatical constructions based on subjunctive forms of the verb plaure (‘please’) in medieval Catalan, relying on a corpus of texts from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries. It is argued that the construction “plaure (in subjunctive) + indirect object + que” (‘may it please somebody that’) in the beginning was used to perform permission-requesting directives, and later, indirect directives, which goes against Searle’s generalisation about possible ways of performing indirect directives. Occurrences of the construction “plaure (in subjunctive) + indirect object + infinitive” (‘may it please somebody to do something’), developed later but used with the same function, are also considered, and all of the relevant occurrences are analysed in the framework of Brown and Levinson’s (1987 [1978]) politeness theory. As far as the methodology is concerned, the paper concludes that a highly comparative approach is needed in diachronic speech act analysis – that is, various forms suitable for performing the same type of speech act in an historical period have to be examined together. In accordance with this principle, the findings of this study should be integrated in a larger research project focussing – in addition to constructions with plaure (‘please’) – on uses of constructions involving the verbs meaning ‘think’ and ‘want’ as well, since all of them are assumed to be suitable for performing directives in mediaeval Catalan.

Abstract

While epistemic modality has been suggested to be a modal source of conditionality, deontic modality has been generally overlooked. Using data from Classical Chinese and the Invited Inferencing Theory of Semantic Change, this study demonstrates that the deontic modal bi tends to invite inferences of conditionality in contexts where it is used teleologically and performatively as an indirect speech act of advice. That is, conditionality can emerge out of an interaction of teleological and performative meanings. Furthermore, three conditions are identified as where teleological, performative and conditional meanings enable the inferencing of the deontic modal bi as a conditional protasis connective. The absence of one or more of these conditions is shown to be less likely to invite inferences of conditionality.

Abstract

How does a rhetorical question become an adverbial npi down-toner? This paper focusses on a specific type of grammaticalization process: the grammaticalization of a rhetorical construction à la Goldberg (1995), namely, a “constructionalized rhetorical question” (Bardenstein 2018) which turns into a down-toning adverbial. The particular focus of this paper is on the Hebrew lo mi yodea ma (‘not who knows what’; i.e., ‘not of high quality/quantity’) which has developed from the constructionalization of two earlier constructions. Initially, the biblical question-phrase mi yodea (‘who knows’) constructionalized as “negatively biased” (Ladusaw 1996). This is a rhetorical question, to which the obvious answer is negative, and in our case mi yodea can be interpreted as ‘nobody knows’. Most often, it is the case of “not knowing” what the future holds. Then, once a direct object ma (‘what’) was added, it constructionalized once again into a strengthening/ intensification construction mi yodea ma (‘who knows what’), conveying high quantity/quality. This happened since “not knowing what is to happen” can be interpreted as “anything can happen” and this interpretation was used rhetorically to strengthen one‘s utterance. Lastly, mi yodea ma (‘who knows what’) constructionalized under the scope of the negation operator lo (‘not’), into a versatile down-toning adverbial: lo mi yodea ma. Since it is very difficult to negate a strongly positive construction without implying that a less positive one is to some extent true, this negated construction became a versatile down-toner.

Abstract

Honorifics in Japanese as a rare linguistic system has received consistent attention in social and cultural linguistic studies. A typical linguistic structure of honorifics is “imperative + sentence-final particles (shuu-joshi)” (henceforth, “final particle”), which has been studied mainly as a compound expression in Tokyo language. Different from previous studies with separated attention towards imperative expressions and sentence-final particles in the Edo era as well as in modern Japan, this paper investigates the combinative use and diachronic changes of “imperative + final particle” during the Meiji period – a period of upheaval in the Tokyo dialect. The investigation takes multiple views including the positions and relations (social and psychological) between the interlocutors, and the context of the utterance. Results of the investigation lead to an insight into pragmatic norms and diachronic changes of the modern Tokyo dialect, specifically the tendencies, characteristics and the driving force.

This study finds the particular expressive effect accomplished by the combinational use of “imperative + final particle” in the modern Tokyo dialect. The speaker shapes the degree of respect or politeness with the selective use of imperatives, and signals the communicative attitude by adding sentence-final particles. This linguistic form manifests the demand for “acting upon”, unveils the social construct and cultural norms embedded in inter-personal communication. The analysis on the developmental trend of “imperative + final particle” suggests that the prototype of the Tokyo dialect brings to prominence the across-status expressions as a result of social, political and educational reforms.

This article reviews Historical Linguistics: A Cognitive Grammar Introduction