[Lingtyp] Literature on 'already' > causal

[Bastian Persohn]

Dear lingtyp list members,

Do you know of any literature that discusses the development of causal clause markers from (constructions involving) expressions for ‚already‘, especially works that discuss the underlying semanto-pragmatic motivation?

The type of construction I have in mind is found, for instance, in Spanish and Italian (1, 2) and has also been described for the Arabic variety of the Medina of Tunis (3). German (Wo du schon da bist, bleib doch zum Abendessen ‚As you’re here (already), why don’t you stay for supper?) and Bosnian-Serbian-Croatian (Kad si već ovdje, zašto ne ostaneš na večeri ‚dto‘) could be counted as additional examples.

(1) Ya que tu desgracia no tiene remedio, llévala con paciencia.
Already SUBORD your misfortune NEG has remedy wear_it with patience
‘Given that there’s no remedy against your misfortune, wear it with patience
(RAE 2009)

(2) Giacché / già che lo sai, perché me lo chiedi?
CAUSAL / already SUBORD it you_know why me it you_ask
‘Since you know it, why do you ask me?’ (M-H & Strudsholm 2008: 494)

(3) Xān-n-əmši᷄-u ʕala sāq-î-na báʕda ma-hî-š baʕîda
HORT-1-go.IPFV-PL on leg-PL-1PL already NEG-3SG.F-neg far:F
‘Wir wollen zu Fuß hingehen da es doch/ja nicht weit ist’ [Let’s go there by foot, as it’s really not far] (Singer 1984)

I look forward to your replies!

Best,
Bastian
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