Grammaticalization from the Perspective of Historical Pragmatics: A Case Study of Providing (that) and Provided (that)

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2015.05.002

Abstract

Abstract: A historical pragmatic perspective on grammaticalization is to adopt a diachronic approach to this linguistic phenomenon by incorporating the theories and methodologies of pragmatics. In this paper, the evolution of the English participial conditional conjunctions providing (that) and provided (that) is analyzed in the historical pragmatic approach of diachronic mapping from form to function, with an aim to describe and expound the morphological, syntactic and pragmatic evolution of such conjunctions and then to illuminate the path, mechanism and motivation of grammaticalization, which is interpreted here as the historical transference from participial expressions to functional words.

CLC Number:

LIU Chengyu, HU Manni. Grammaticalization from the Perspective of Historical Pragmatics: A Case Study of Providing (that) and Provided (that)[J]. Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies, 2015, 15(5): 5-10.

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