Call for contributors: "Meaning Changes in Approximatives"

[dia2febus]

BOOK PROPOSAL: MEANING CHANGES IN APPROXIMATIVES
(Proposal submitted to John Benjamins Publisher)

Salvador Pons Bordería
Val.Es.Co Research Group.
University of Valencia, Spain
http://www.uv.es/~ponss

This is a call for contributions to the book `Meaning Changes in Approximatives'  edited 
by S. Pons Bordería, which will be submitted to John Benjamins publisher.

This volume aims at describing a process of semantic-pragmatic change which affects the 
word class of approximatives (almost, hardly, barely, and so on). The semantic change 
involved implies a reverse in the polarity of the approximatives, whereby almost assumes 
the meaning of barely, and viceversa (see a more detailed description in the outline 
below). 
Literature on approximatives has focussed on English (Sadock 1981, Horn 2000) or on 
Romance languages (Schwenter 2002, Pons & Schwenter 2005, Albelda forthcoming, 
Matos Amaral forthcoming). There is evidence, however, that this phenomenon, albeit 
hardly studied, has a wider typological extension (Li 1976, Ziegler forthcoming). This 
volume intends to explore the spread of such a change by collecting a wide array of 
papers dealing with approximatives in different, typologically unrelated languages. 
Contributions should conform to the following features:
-provide the description of an approximative.
-show that there is/has been a semantic change, whereby an approximative with positive 
meaning comes to express negative meaning. Also, changes like "still" ‡ "not yet", or 
"since" ‡ to, are welcome (if you have different cases in mind, you can contact me).
-discuss the implications of the meaning change you have studied, either for the language 
described (especially if it is a minority language), or for the field of approximatives.

Interested contributors, please send Salvador Pons Bordería, before DECEMBER, 15th, an 
abstract containing:
–Full name, email and academic address
–Title
–Summary of your paper (outline of the problem, its relation to the issue of 
approximatives and, when possible, possible conclusions)

Salvador Pons Bordería
Val.Es.Co Research Group.
University of Valencia, Spain
Salvador.pons at uv.es
http://www.uv.es/~ponss

MEANING CHANGES IN APPROXIMATIVES (OUTLINE)

The literature on pragmatic scales has paid attention to certain elements which signal 
proximity to a limit, called approximatives (Sadock 1981). Approximatives usually belong 
to the word class of adverbs (Engl. almost, barely, hardly, Sp. casi, apenas, por poco, Port. 
mal, and so on). 
Literature on approximatives has dealt mainly with the semantic vs. pragmatic character of 
the relation they entertain with negation. For instance, ex. (1) means that the speaker did 
not lose the train:

1.	I almost lost the train
			Meaning relationship (I did not lose the train)

It seems that an approximative (entails/presupposes
) a meaning relationship with its 
host proposition p, so that 

	Approximative (p) ‡ ~p
	Approximative (~p) ‡ p

Nevertheless, recent research on approximatives has raised an interesting issue: some 
approximatives can invert this meaning relationship (ex. 2):

2. Por poco no se mata 			
	"She was almost not-killed"
		Meaning rel.: 	No se ha matado 	
				"She wasn't killed

giving rise to a different relationship between the approximative and its host utterance:
	Approximative (~p) ‡ ~p

Here a polysemy has arosen, which can be diachronically studied as a process of 
grammaticalization (Pons & Schwenter 2005). In this new meaning, the approximative 
"inverts" its reading, showing that the border between positive and negative has been 
exceeded (Horn 2000).
The literature on approximatives has reported similar paths of change in other particles: 
~p to p (Chinese cha-yadar –Li 1976–, Valencian Spanish casi –Schwenter 2002–, 
Portuguese mal –Matos Amaral 2005–); not yet p to still p (Andean Spanish todavía –Pons 
2005–) or even to p to from p (Mexican Spanish hasta):

3. (The speaker is trying to get out of his car. When he finally gets out, he says):
¡Casi salgo!
	"I-almost-get-out"
	Meaning relationship: "I was about not getting out (of the car)" (Schwenter 2002)

4. O João mal acabou de jantar.
	`João barely finished dinner.'
	Meaning relationship: "João  finished dinner"
4'. Mal sabia eu que havia de morar aqui!
	`I hardly knew that I was going to live here!'
	Meaning relationship: "I did not know that I was going to live here"

5. A: ¿Has acabado de comer?
	"Have you finished eating?
B: Todavía 
	"Still"
	Meaning relationship: "I still have not finished eating" (Pons 2005)

6. Las tiendas están abiertas hasta las 9 de la mañana
	"The shops are open to 9 o'clock in the morning"
	Meaning relationship: "The shops are open since 9 o'clock in the morning"

The polysemies developed in these particles seem to be part of a wider, not described yet, 
set of phenomena. The aim of this book is to shed light on the nature of this reversing 
process, by collecting a set of papers which study different (kinds of) approximatives in 
typologically unrelated languages. 








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