Abstract
We present results of a corpus-based synchronic study on the grammaticalization of Italian adverbial phrases. In particular, we claim that spelling irregularities of adverbial constructions provide evidence of ongoing grammaticalization processes. Adverbial phrases are hence already decategorized analytic constructions that are undergoing paradigmaticization and subsequently lexicalization. We selected 40 adverbial phrases of different length (2–5 constituents) at different stages of the process: from completely non-alternating structures to phrases with two (or more) accepted standard spellings. By means of a corpus-based analysis we considered several properties of those constructions (i.e. frequency) and tested their significance with mixed effect modelling analysis. Specifically, we model the presence of spelling irregularities, its measure (i.e. partial or total univerbation), and frequency of irregular forms. Results of such a corpus-based statistical analysis, albeit preliminary, yield several interesting considerations on synchronic factors that facilitate or hinder processes of grammaticalization, especially the role of frequency and number of construction constituents. Findings support current usage-based literature on grammaticalization as constructionalization.
Keywords
- Grammaticalization
- Italian
- Adverbs
- Usage-based linguistics
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- 1.
See [6] for a systematic account of usage-based theory and grammaticalization.
- 2.
Even though the two notions are not entirely overlapping, for the purposes of this work we will use the terms interchangeably.
- 3.
“If in the end the parts of speech lost their own proper function, they would lie drowned in the vast whirlpool of adverbs. The adverb draws to itself parts of speech, like the all-absorbing sea, and violently forces them to obey its laws” (Smaragdus, IX cent. AD. Translated by [36] as cited in [37]).
- 4.
All following examples are taken from the ItWac corpus.
- 5.
All frequencies were normalized per million words.
- 6.
A few OCCs in Italian AdvCs are linguistic fossils (as is the N “canto” in the sense of “location” in the AdvC “d’altro canto). However, we had too few data points to statistically account for these elements. We reserve a more in-depth account of such cases for future work.
- 7.
Frequencies were logarithmically transformed for visualization purposes for all charts.
- 8.
We performed all following analyses in the statistical computing environment R [45].
- 9.
The dependent variable (token frequency of irregularly spelled AdvCs) was log-transformed.
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Appendix
Appendix
AdvC | Freq. pm | Irregular spelling | OCC | POS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
a caso | 21.12 | / | caso | N |
a fianco | 12.88 | affianco | fianco | N |
a parte | 44.20 | Apparte, aparte | parte | N |
a posto | 11.5 | Aposto, apposto | posto | N |
a malapena | 2.16 | / | pena | N |
a proposito | 36.33 | Aproposito, approposito | proposito | N |
da capo | 2.61 | Daccapo, dacapo | capo | N |
d’accordo | 47.26 | daccordo | accordo | N |
di nuovo | 0.50 | dinuovo | nuovo | agg |
di sopra | 54.29 | disopra | sopra | avv |
fin qui | 9.69 | finquì | Fin, qui | avv |
in effetti | 34.28 | ineffetti | effetti | N |
nient’affatto | 1.9 | nientaffatto | Niente, affatto | avv |
per caso | 19.21 | percaso | caso | N |
per favore | 9.68 | perfavore | favore | N |
per niente | 9.71 | perniente | niente | avv |
tutt’altro | 12.04 | tuttaltro | altro | agg |
un po’ | 252.60 | Unpò, un pò | poco | agg |
a meno che | 15.26 | / | meno | avv |
al di là | 37.94 | Aldilà, al dilà | là | avv |
al di sopra | 9.87 | al disopra, aldisopra | sopra | avv |
alla fin fine | 1.27 | alla finfine | fine | N |
d’altra parte | 8.22 | daltra parte, d’altraparte | parte | N |
d’altro canto | 6.98 | Daltrocanto, d’altrocanto | canto | N |
di buon’ora | 0.5 | di buonora | ora | avv |
per di più | 8.14 | per dipiù, perdipiù | più | avv |
per lo meno | 5.36 | per lomeno, perlomeno | meno | avv |
per lo più | 14.25 | Perlopiù, perlo più | più | avv |
più o meno | 14.25 | piu o meno | Più, meno | avv |
su due piedi | 0.47 | / | Due, piedi | N |
a colpo d’occhio | 0.31 | / | ocehio | N |
a mano a mano | 2.51 | / | mano | N |
dall’oggi al domani | 0.32 | / | Oggi, domani | avv |
di punto in bianco | 0.44 | / | Punto, bianco | N |
di tanto in tanto | 4.48 | di tanto intanto | tanto | agg |
di volta in volta | 11.63 | di volta involta | volta | N |
d’ora in poi | 4.12 | dora in poi | ora | avv |
in quattro e quattr’otto | 0.2 | in quattro e quattrotto | Quattro, otto | agg |
per filo e per segno | 0.4 | / | Filo, segno | N |
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Busso, L., Castelli, M. (2019). ‘Alla finfine sono daccordo’: A Corpus-Based Case Study on Italian Adverbial Phrases Grammaticalization. In: Corpas Pastor, G., Mitkov, R. (eds) Computational and Corpus-Based Phraseology. EUROPHRAS 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11755. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30135-4_3
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