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All Outputs (3)

Semantic change: Evidence from false friends (2010)
Journal Article
Beeching, K. (2010). Semantic change: Evidence from false friends. Languages in Contrast, 10(2), 139-165. https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.10.2.03bee

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.

A politeness-theoretic approach to pragmatico-semantic change (2007)
Journal Article
Beeching, K. (2007). A politeness-theoretic approach to pragmatico-semantic change. Journal of Historical Pragmatics, 8(1), 69-108. https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.8.1.05bee

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
Beeching, K. (2005). Politeness-induced semantic change: The case of quand même. Language Variation and Change, 17(2), 155-180. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954394505050076

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.