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This paper explores the semantic value and syntactic distribution of the lexical item sí in Old Catalan. After examining data extracted from El Llibre dels Fets, a 13th century chronicle, it is concluded that sí was an Emphatic Positive Polarity Particle (EPPA) whose appearance was restricted to non-veridical contexts already in this period. This finding strongly contrasts with analyses put forward for sí in Old Catalan and Old Spanish, that date its grammaticalization as an (EPPA) two centuries later, and with analyses of sí in other Old Romance languages, where it has been linked to the satisfaction of the V2 parameter.

A partir d’informations que nous fournissent les grammaires et dictionnaires récents et contemporains, notre contribution a un double objectif : a. Nous analysons plus particulièrement l’histoire de comme afin de mieux comprendre les problèmes actuels concernant la classification des emplois du marqueur ; b. Nous comparons l’évolution de comme à celle de comment. Pour ce faire, nous présentons d’abord une classification des tours de comme et de comment, dont nous analysons ensuite l’évolution à partir de l’ancien français jusqu’au 18e siècle (lorsque la situation s’est enfin stabilisée). Ensuite, nous nous concentrons plus particulièrement sur la vive bataille qui a opposé comme à son plus vif concurrent, comment. Dans une dernière partie, nous étudions en détail l’impact du processus de grammaticalisation sur notre marqueur, afin de fournir une explication à l’histoire particulièrement mouvementée de comme qui est tracée tout au long de cette contribution.

This paper studies two Spanish constructions with the verb poner (‘to put’) and an infinitive. The first one, , has  traditionally been considered an inchoative periphrasis; however, we will show that its grammaticalisation is only complete with inanimate or impersonal subjects, while with animate subjects the structure keeps causative semantics. The second one, , has received much less attention in the literature. Although it originated together with its se-counterpart, it has not become a periphrasis and today exhibits a hybrid behaviour similar to that of verbs of influence on the one hand and restructuring causative verbs on the other. It will be shown that both constructions started with a causative-aspectual meaning (‘triggering an event’) that they keep today: ponerse has a causative meaning despite being an auxiliary and poner has an aspectual meaning despite not being an auxiliary, which explains many of their special characteristics. This paper will not only shed light on the diachronic and synchronic properties of these constructions but will also reflect on the limits between lexical and grammatical categories.

Maa linguistic varieties (Maasai, Parakuyo, Chamus, Samburu, among others), of the Eastern Nilotic family (Nilo-Saharan phylum), have words which can modify a predicate or predication and have the function of what cross-linguistically are called adverbs. While these words can be considered a single class due to this shared function and distribution, there are nevertheless morphosyntactic and usage distinctions. This is partly due to disparate historical origins, but also to semantics and different typical collocations. Among other distinctions, some adverbs can function as nominal tense/aspect markers within a determined nominal phrase (DP). Though the origins of all adverbs cannot be traced, the paper documents sources in oblique prepositional phrases, relational nouns, adjectives, relative clauses, and perhaps infinitive verbs, involving a wide range of lexical roots, such as ‘little’, ‘paint, mark’, ‘be abundant (with grass), be generous’, and others. Some synchronic adverbs do not have evident sources in other word classes, including the ­most frequently used word for ‘previously, before’, and the modal adverb ‘probably not, unlikely’ which is also an attenuative adverb. Maa adjectives and nouns largely overlap in their morphosyntax, but the ability to be modified by certain adverbs distinguishes them.

Maa linguistic varieties (Maasai, Parakuyo, Chamus, Samburu, among others), of the Eastern Nilotic family (Nilo-Saharan phylum), have words which can modify a predicate or predication and have the function of what cross-linguistically are called adverbs. While these words can be considered a single class due to this shared function and distribution, there are nevertheless morphosyntactic and usage distinctions. This is partly due to disparate historical origins, but also to semantics and different typical collocations. Among other distinctions, some adverbs can function as nominal tense/aspect markers within a determined nominal phrase (DP). Though the origins of all adverbs cannot be traced, the paper documents sources in oblique prepositional phrases, relational nouns, adjectives, relative clauses, and perhaps infinitive verbs, involving a wide range of lexical roots, such as ‘little’, ‘paint, mark’, ‘be abundant (with grass), be generous’, and others. Some synchronic adverbs do not have evident sources in other word classes, including the ­most frequently used word for ‘previously, before’, and the modal adverb ‘probably not, unlikely’ which is also an attenuative adverb. Maa adjectives and nouns largely overlap in their morphosyntax, but the ability to be modified by certain adverbs distinguishes them.

Haber de + infinitivo se considera tradicionalmente una perífrasis modal de necesidad deóntica, obligación atenuada y epistémica, además de temporal prospectiva. En este trabajo ampliamos la perspectiva documentando y analizando los orígenes del uso de la perífrasis para marcar lo que llamaremos aspecto inminencial inconcluso (AII), que denota eventos que estuvieron a punto de ocurrir, pero no ocurrieron (“action narrowly averted”, Kuteva 1998: 120). Este valor cuenta con un reconocimiento marginal en los estudios y repertorios gramaticales del español como parte de su gama de significados. A partir del CNDHE y CORDE, demostramos que el valor de AII de la perífrasis con el auxiliar en pretérito perfecto simple nace en el siglo XV, en el que se documentan los primeros ejemplos en los que este valor es incuestionable. Las ocurrencias se suceden durante los siglos XVI y XVII, alcanzando su momento de máximo esplendor en el XVIII, fecha a partir de la cual se inicia su declive. Durante el XIX y el XX todavía se localizan muestras esporádicas, pero en la época actual podemos considerarlo un uso desaparecido, prueba de ello es que los hablantes ya no reconocen este valor (Sinner & Dowah 2020). Planteamos la hipótesis de que el valor de AII es resultado de un proceso de gramaticalización en el que el valor de futuro (del pasado) de la perífrasis se reinterpreta, primero, como una situación (aún) no realizada y, después, como una situación inminente que no llega a actualizarse (Bauman 2016).

Through this study, I will try to investigate to what extent the hypothesis of grammaticalisation helps with identification of the emergence and development of the Latin preposition prae. One of the main issues addressed in this contribution is how the preposition evolved from the original sense of direction to the meaning of comparison. To tackle this, it seemed appropriate to focus my attention, first of all, on the change that has taken this category of grammatical to more grammatical. Based on a corpus study, I then consider the semantic and syntactic changes of the adverb, preposition and prefix prae, trying to follow their destiny in the Classical and Post-classical Latin, seeking finally to establish a parallelism with modern French.

Possessive resultative constructions containing a HAVE-verb and a past passive participle have been used in West Slavic languages for centuries without showing a rapid grammaticalisation into a perfect (cf. evidence from Polish and Czech). The same holds for Slovak, where examples can be found at least from the 17 century on without rapidly changing on the grammaticalisation chain. At the same time, Krupa demonstrated in 1960 a loss of congruence between object and past passive participle in possessive resultatives in colloquial Slovak distinguishing different types. Loss of congruence is often considered to be an important grammaticalisation step for emerging participial perfects. A sought in the Slovak National Corpus brought some evidence for such constructions in journalistic texts and from the Internet (the same types as used by Krupa), but their frequency is very low so far.

\"With this work, we propose to study the French word fin outside its usual contexts, either as a temporal and/or notional marker. On the one hand, our aim is to analyse how fin became a pragmatic marker by trying to trace, in a succinct way, its evolution through the stages of grammaticalisation. On the other hand, we will show that there has been a passage from grammaticalisation to pragmaticalisation. In today’s spoken French, fin assumes other values than the traditional ones of temporal and notional. The study will be based on retranscribed oral utterances and on written utterances, forms close to oral, notably messages in contemporary French. Our corpus comes from the CLAPI and 88milSMS databases\"

The main objective of this article is to reassess the pivotal role of semantic change within the framework of grammaticalisation and its intricate relationship with both textual and sentence syntax. To analyse the interaction between semantics and syntax in processes of grammaticalisation, we will study the evolution of the verbal construction caber + INF, which in contemporary Spanish specialises in (i) expressing modal senses, lying midway between dynamic and deontic values, and (ii) a procedural value that limits the speaker’s commitment to what they affirm.