The(X)thing is: From a matrix clause to a discourse marker

• Authors: Haixia Wang
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The thing is is variously used in present-day English, which can be taken as different stages involved in its evolution. The discourse marker (the) thing is may be derived from the matrix clause the X thing is and the construction seems to have undergone both syntactic and semantic changes characteristic of grammaticalization. It is decategorialized in the sense that it is downgraded to a parenthetical. It is also desemanticized, since it loses its concrete information content and assumes a more abstract meaning, expressing the speaker’s emphasis of the importance of the following proposition. Moreover, the discourse marker functions can be seen as the extensions from the core function of intensification, since the degree of intensification gradually weakens and the inferences become generalized and conventionalized in frequent use.

Keywords

EN

Non-parenthetical; parenthetical; grammaticalization; syntactic reanalysis; semantic-pragmatic changes

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Journal: Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 52
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 555-577

Dates

published

2016-09-01

online

2016-10-10

Contributors

author

Haixia Wang

• Beijing International Studies University
• Beijing International Studies University l# Dingfu Nanli Chaoyang District Beijing, 100024

Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/psicl-2016-0021