22.293, Qs: Polyfunctionality with Discourse/Modal Particles

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LINGUIST List: Vol-22-293. Mon Jan 17 2011. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 22.293, Qs: Polyfunctionality with Discourse/Modal Particles

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1)
Date: 14-Jan-2011
From: Sonja Thoma [sonja.thoma at gmail.com]
Subject: Polyfunctionality with Discourse/Modal Particles
 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2011 12:38:52
From: Sonja Thoma [sonja.thoma at gmail.com]
Subject: Polyfunctionality with Discourse/Modal Particles

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I am looking for languages that have discourse/modal particles like 
German and Dutch. Specifically I am looking for languages where a 
discourse particle can be used in another context (e.g. as focus 
particle, adverb, adjective, etc). For German (and Dutch), the non-
discourse particle generally has lexical meaning, whereas that lexical 
meaning seems less obvious, bleached or shifted in the discourse 
particle (generally this is thought to be due to grammaticalization).  
Examples from German would be:

Du  bist vielleicht groß! (exclamative)
you are  PRT         big
'You are tall!' (surprise)

Er ist   vielleicht krank. (declarative)
he is     maybe      sick
'Maybe he is sick'

Mach BLOß  das  Fenster   auf! (emphatic)
make PRT   det  window    open
'Open the window' 

Ich mache bloß   das Fenster auf.
I   make  only   det  window open
'I open only the window.'

So far I haven't been able to find other languages where a similar 
polyfunctionality with discourse particles exist. I would be grateful for  
feedback.

Thanks,
Sonja Thoma 

Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis




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