All Outputs (6)

Semantic change: Evidence from false friends (2010)
Journal Article

Functional linguists are in general agreement that semantic change may be triggered as part of the negotiation of meaning in interactional contexts: a 'one-off' contextual implicature generalises to become a new core meaning of a lexical item (Traugo... Read More about Semantic change: Evidence from false friends.

Procatalepsis and the etymology of hedging and boosting particles (2009)
Book Chapter

This chapter breaks new ground by highlighting the role of concession in semantic change, drawing examples cross-linguistically from English, French and German. It contributes to theories of semantic change which support cognitive and social-interact... Read More about Procatalepsis and the etymology of hedging and boosting particles.

Sociolinguistic factors and the pragmaticalization of bon in contemporary spoken French (2009)
Book Chapter

The multifunctional nature of discourse-marking bon (well) is well-attested in the literature (Auchlin, 1981; Winther, 1985, Hansen, 1998a and b, Jayez, 2004). Its adverbial and interjective uses can, according to Hansen (1998a), be related to its ca... Read More about Sociolinguistic factors and the pragmaticalization of bon in contemporary spoken French.

Sociolinguistic Variation in Contemporary French (2009)
Book

This volume, co-edited with France’s foremost sociolinguist, Françoise Gadet (Université de l’Ouest de Paris/Nanterre), and with Nigel Armstrong from the University of Leeds, breaks new ground by bringing together researchers from different tradition... Read More about Sociolinguistic Variation in Contemporary French.

A politeness-theoretic approach to pragmatico-semantic change (2007)
Journal Article

This paper posits that certain "qualificatory" semantic primes are recruited to serve face-management needs in a metonymic Meaning1>Meaning2 relationship at what Traugott and Dasher (2002) have called the inter-subjective, non-truth-conditional, proc... Read More about A politeness-theoretic approach to pragmatico-semantic change.

Politeness-induced semantic change: The case of quand même (2005)
Journal Article

This article contributes to a growing body of theory that posits language-external, social factors as a primary motor in diachronic change. Politeness theory and the use of variationist approaches enable us to posit, and test, the hypothesis of a typ... Read More about Politeness-induced semantic change: The case of quand même.