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• Si -future exclamatives in Spanish shed new light into the notion of insubordination. • Mirative future emerges as a result of successive emancipations. • Mirative future is compatible with the 'distance-forward' deictic template. • Mirative future represents a further step into the process of grammaticalization. • Mirative future exemplifies the range of mirative meaning conveyed in Spanish. This paper examines si -future exclamatives in Spanish, both synchronically and diachronically, with the aim not only of identifying their possible contexts of use but also of distinguishing their various semantic interpretations. In addition to permitting the redefinition of the space of insubordination and assessing the role of analogy in the continuing independence of the marker si , this proposal provides an explanation of Spanish mirative future as emerging from the emancipation of a previous structure, albeit that it retains the deictic value of morphological future –which becomes a functional feature in its new discursive meaning. From this perspective, the grammaticalization of morphological future in Spanish is not contemplated as a closed cycle, but rather as a still ongoing process. More broadly speaking, this paper helps outline the semantic array of mirative meanings through providing evidence about the type of mirativity that can be conveyed in Spanish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper analyzes the defective noun ppwun in Modern Korean. • Ppwun developed into a particle, connective, sentence-ender, and discourse marker. • Ppwun exhibits grammaticalization, degrammaticalization, and pragmaticalization. • The developments involved morphosyntactic reanalysis and semantic reinterpretation. • The diverse developmental paths are largely the results of function-based analogy. This paper investigates the developmental paths and synchronic functions of one of the Korean defective nouns, i.e., ppwun 'the only thing', which originated from a full noun pwun 'share'. Since the earliest data already show a number of grammaticalized functions, this paper attempts to reconstruct the developmental paths based on the semantic and morphosyntactic clues, making use of the synchrony-for-diachrony approach of grammaticalization. The noun pwun, through coalescence with the adjacent genitive marker - s, grammaticalized into a postpositional particle of focus - spwun 'only'. When the etymologically bi-morphemic - s.pwun was reanalyzed as mono-morphemic, the dependent particle became reanalyzed again, presumably via analogy of nominal compounding, as a full-fledged, independent noun denoting 'the only thing', an instance of degrammaticalization by virtue of an increase of morpho-syntactic independence. Further, some such forms were pragmaticalized by acquiring discourse marker functions, i.e., the speaker's negative stance toward the state of affairs alerting the addressee that something more serious is about to follow. A series of morphosyntactic and semantic-pragmatic changes shows how the linguistic forms have continuously been subject to morphosyntactic reanalysis and semantic reinterpretation resulting in multiply intertwined scenarios of grammaticalization, degrammaticalization, and pragmaticalization, often with their collocating forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper analyzes grammaticalization of avoidives in English and Korean. • Avoidives are the prototypical exponent of apprehensionals. • Negation and temporal are major sources of avoidives. • Avoidives often develop into apprehensive through insubordination. • Development of avoidives observes grammaticalization parameters. This paper addresses avoidives, the grammatical means of precautioning the hearer against probable and undesirable events, from crosslinguistic and grammaticalization perspectives. An analysis of avoidives in English and Korean shows that the two languages do not share much commonality with regard to lexical sources but that their source constructions have undergone changes characteristic of grammaticalization over time. We argue that the development of an avoidive into an apprehensive is among the cross-linguistically common channels, through insubordination, whereby the main clause of a biclausal expression becomes elided and the subordinate clause becomes the main clause, carrying the pragmatically inferred meaning from ellipsis, e.g., warning, as part of the meaning of the construction. The development from biclausal to monoclausal structure, however, is not deterministic, as evidence by the Korean scenario in the reversed direction shows. We also argue that negation and temporal are common source concepts in the grammaticalization of avoidives, and that some of the Korean lexical sources have not yet been observed across languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely recognized that semantic bleaching is a prominent concomitant of grammaticalization. The reductive process may eliminate the core semantic element and lead to an emergence of a marker of seemingly incongruous notions. This paper addresses one such type of semantic reduction in Korean, the case of the multi-functional connective - cani . Historically, - cani originated from a hortative sentential ending - ca and a connective - ni through morpho-syntactic coalescence eliminating intervening forms. The resultant form - cani was initially used to signal hortative and causal, but later to mark hypotheticality, contingency and incidentality. The development of the hortative-based connective cani- occurred through two channels: (i) the direct quotation channel and (ii) the complementizer channel. One prominent aspect of the development is semantic change, i.e., a progressive reduction of volitionality. At the outset, its semantics had strong volitive element, i.e., imposition of the speaker's volition on the addressee and the speaker together, the defining characteristic of hortative. In its later development into a marker of hypotheticality, the hortative meaning is significantly bleached and the use becomes highly rhetorical. The speaker is strategically invoking a hypothetical hortative pseudo-quotation in order to make his/her statement more dynamic or vivid. As the form acquires the rhetorical and discursive functions, its volitional semantics becomes further bleached, and it is entirely lost when the form reaches the contingency- and incidentality-marking stages. This paper shows how the speaker's discursive strategy has given rise to the emergence of diverse grammatical functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper investigates morphological variation in Japanese compounds by focusing on the Sino-Japanese expression hoodai (‘at will’) as used in contemporary Japanese and tries to relate the interesting properties of hoodai to its historical development. This expression cannot be used as an independent word in a sentence, nor can it be used as the left-hand element of a compound. In other words, it is used productively like a suffix in contemporary Japanese. In older Japanese, however, this form was used as a noun. This paper explicates the properties of hoodai and presents the following findings: (i) hoodai strongly prefers a native Japanese word as the word directly preceding it in contemporary Japanese, although it is a Sino-Japanese expression; (ii) hoodai was a noun in the fifteenth century, but it seems to have lost its word status and to have come to be used like a suffix in the latter half of the 19th century; (iii) hoodai can be considered to be still a word in contemporary Japanese on the basis of the notion of “compound-specific submeaning,” and expressions of the form X-hoodai are compounds rather than derivatives; (iv) hoodai is an example of grammaticalization involving a cline with respect to compounds; (v) the notion of “compound-specific submeaning” plays a role in making a finer distinction between hoodai and itiryuu, etc., and in showing that hoodai is more grammaticalized than the latter words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we will try to shed new light on the ‘Ezafe’ construction in Kurdish. 1 [1] The Kurdish dialect under discussion is called ‘Sorani’ which is spoken in the Kurdish areas across the border of Iran and Iraq limited to Kurdistan and Azarbaijan-e Gharbi provinces in Iran and Suleymania and Arbil provinces in Iraq. The following abbreviations are used in this paper: 1=first person, 2=second person, 3=third person, ACC=accusative, CMPR=comparative, CONJ=conjunction, DEF=definite(ness), EZ= Ezafe, GEN=genitive, INDEF=indefinite(ness), INFX=interfix, MS=masculine, NOM=nominative, PASS=passive, PL=plural, PrC=predicate construction, PsC=possessive construction, RC=relative clause, RP=relative pronoun, SG=singular. Drawing on historical facts and tracing the Ezafe back to its origins on the one hand, and the unified relation of adjectives and possessors to the head nouns, namely modification, on the other hand, we will argue for the existence of the predicate phrase which Ezafe realizes its head above the NP. The occurrence of the Ezafe will be attributed to the presence of such a functional head which serves to turn a property expression, assigned to the modifier constituent XP, into a propositional function which in turn needs to be saturated by an argument, that is the head noun. Extending the syntactic realization of predication from clausal domain to nominal domain is part of a broader project, which aims at further assimilation of the structure of DPs to clauses. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The indefinite determiner ‘yi ‘one’+classifier’ is the most approximate to an indefinite article, like the English a, in Chinese. It serves all the functions characteristic of representative stages of grammaticalization from a numeral to a generalized indefinite determiner as elaborated in the literature. It is established in this paper that the Chinese indefinite determiner has developed a special use with definite expressions, serving as a backgrounding device marking entities as of low thematic importance and unlikely to receive subsequent mentions in ensuing discourse. ‘yi+classifier’ in the special use with definite expressions displays striking similarities in terms of semantic bleaching and phonological reduction with the same determiner at the advanced stage of grammaticalization characterized by uses with generics, nonspecifics and nonreferentials. An explanation is offered in terms of an implicational relation between nonreferentiality and low thematic importance which characterize the two uses of the indefinite determiner. While providing another piece of evidence in support of the claim that semantically nonreferentials and entities of low thematic importance tend to be encoded in terms of same linguistic devices in language, findings in this paper have shown how an indefinite determiner can undergo a higher degree of grammaticalization than has been reported in the literature—it expands its scope to mark not only indefinite but also definite expressions as semantically nonreferential and/or thematically unimportant. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper investigates the use of possessive morphosyntax to express modal necessity, as in the English use of have to . We claim that possessive modality constructions arise because both possession and necessity express a relation of inclusion between two arguments of the same semantic type: possession involves a relation of inclusion between two 〈e〉-type arguments, while necessity involves inclusion between sets of worlds. Differences between the two arise from their different syntax: possessive have expresses possession via syntactic transitivity, while modals conceal one argument within the modal head. The similarities and differences are captured within a realizational approach to morphology, in which vocabulary items like have and must are inserted to spell out structures consisting of formal features. The proposal is then extended from have -possession languages such as English to be -possession languages, focusing on possessive modality in Hindi-Urdu and Bengali. We argue that the possessive/modal head can be “applicative-like,” licensing oblique case on an argument that raises to its specifier. This account explains why possessive morphosyntax is uniformly used to express modal necessity, and not other modal meanings: the universal force of elements like have (to) follows from the inclusion relation expressed by possession. Possessive modality thus sheds light not only on the semantics of possession but also on the compositional syntax of modal operators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Negation in Tujia is expressed by five negators. • The five negators result from the fusion a negator with different adjacent elements. • The five negators display a mixed pre-head and post-head word order. • The negator in Tujia has been realigned from pre-head to post-head. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive description of the negation system of Tujia, an endangered Sino-Tibetan language spoken in south-central China. There are five negators, which display a mixed pre-head and post-head word order. Simple verb negation is usually post-head, but in existential constructions the negator precedes the verb, while in imperative constructions negation can either follow or precede the head. We argue that there is only one original negator, and the other forms result from the fusion of the negator with adjacent elements, such as the existential verb or aspect particles. Our analysis shows that, diachronically, the negator in Tujia has been realigned from pre-head to post-head. This paper contributes to the typology of negation in Tibeto-Burman languages, as well as the cross-linguistic development of negation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My aim in this paper is to reassess the conceptual–procedural distinction as drawn in relevance theory in the light of almost thirty years of research. In Section 1 , I make some comparisons between approaches to semantics based on a conceptual–procedural distinction and those based on a distinction between truth conditions and conditions for appropriate use. In Section 2 , I present a brief history of the conceptual–procedural distinction as drawn in relevance theory. In Section 3 , I consider the nature of procedural encoding and discuss whether it is best seen as semantic or pragmatic. In Section 4 , I outline some parallels and differences between procedural and use-conditional accounts of interjections. In Section 5 , I discuss the implications of the conceptual–procedural distinction for lexical pragmatics and consider some recent proposals about how it might be extended. In Section 6 , I reassess the conceptual–procedural distinction in the light of current evolutionary approaches to cognition and point out some future directions for research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• -ki nominalization constructions are used to mitigate directives and suggestions. • -m nominalization constructions are employed to mitigate a speaker's assertion. • Stance marking functions emerge via insubordination and (inter)subjectification. • Their semantic properties are construed in terms of irrealis/realis semantics. • Their inherent semantics and syntagmatic affinity shape grammaticalization paths. In this paper, we investigate how Korean - ki and - m nominalization constructions have come to also express speaker stance. We first identify the semantic distinctions between Korean - ki and - m nominalization constructions in terms of their realis/irrealis semantics, then further examine how differences in their syntagmatic affinity—more specifically, their particular predisposition toward different types of complement-taking verbs—give rise to subtle differences in their stance marking functions. In addition, we also address how -ki and -m nominalization constructions have extended their functions and can now be used as face-threat mitigating devices. This study sheds light on how the inherent semantics of individual nominalization constructions and their syntagmatic relations facilitate the dynamic drifts of the nominalization constructions from referential to pragmatic uses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the connection between morphological and semantic imperfectivity in Bulgarian from a comparative perspective set against the framework of situation semantics. Stressing the characteristics of Bulgarian, we juxtapose the uniquely complex Tense-Aspect-Modality-Evidentiality (TAME) system of this language with those in other Slavic languages and in Romance with regards to variation in (un)availability of a large variety of readings of imperfectives, including habitual, ongoing, intentional, and factual types. Bulgarian is interesting as it lacks some imperfective readings characteristic of Russian and Polish, such as the factual type specialized for complete events, and displays intentional imperfectives, which are commonly found in Romance but restricted or absent elsewhere in Slavic. We adopt the idea that imperfectives share a modal architecture where an imperfective operator IMPF with an intrinsic semantic core is subject to different restrictions on its domain of quantification based on specific grammaticalization patterns across languages. From this perspective, we also examine the interaction between IMPF and an evidential operator encoded by the so-called Renarrated Mood in Bulgarian, proposing that the latter scopes over IMPF adding an evidential flavor to available imperfective readings; we establish contrasts with so-called Narrative Imperfects in Romance, which also serve a reportative function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] In this paper we describe the nominalization, denominal derivation and antipassive constructions in the Japhug Rgyalrong language. [•] The antipassive in Japhug derives from the intransitive denominal derivation of an action nominal. [•] The grammaticalization path action nominalization+denominal derivation is a common way of creating valency-changing derivations crosslinguistically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies propose that eyebrow raise in polar questions and headshakes in negations in sign languages arose from the incorporation of hearing speakers' gestures in similar contexts into sign language grammar via grammaticalization. This paper reviews these proposals in light of Wilcox's theory on gesture grammaticalization. According to Wilcox, there are two routes for gestures to enter sign language grammar: Route I, via lexicalization, and Route II, via prosody/intonation. Based on Cantonese and Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL) data, we argue that eyebrow raise in polar questions in HKSL evolved from a paralinguistic gestural element into a grammatical marker via a language-internal process because eyebrow raise in question contexts is universal. Negative headshakes in Cantonese, though prevalent, are not incorporated into HKSL grammar. Instead, HKSL adopts backward head movements as optional negation markers. These findings support previous claims that headshakes are culture-specific. Both eyebrow raise in polar questions and backward head movements in negations in HKSL can be subsumed under Route II in Wilcox's theory, along a language-internal evolutionary path. For sign languages that employ headshakes as negation markers, the headshakes are likely to have been borrowed from the hearing communities. This grammaticalization path fits neither Route I nor Route II of Wilcox's theory because cross-modal borrowing is involved without an intermediate lexical stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Multipliciticity of degree markers is due to their limited grammaticalization. • Elative degree markers, including intensifying adverbials, are numerous. • Standard markers are grammaticalized from a limited set of source lexemes. • Comparatives form conceptual and functional networks. • Extent of operation of grammaticalization mechanisms is variable. Korean has a large number of markers signaling diverse notions involved in comparative constructions. This paper analyzes Korean comparatives from the grammaticalization perspective, thus identifying the source semantics of the comparative markers in contemporary as well as historical data, analyzing the grammaticalization mechanisms behind their development, creating the conceptual and functional networks among the comparative markers, and comparing the grammaticalization sources with those attested in other languages. It is found that the standard markers are small in number, whereas degree markers diverge greatly: superiors, inferiors and superlatives make use of a small number of markers, whereas elatives make use of a large number of intensifying adverbials. We discuss the development of the comparatives with respect to grammaticalization mechansims, i.e. Desemanticization, Extension, Decategorialization, and Erosion, and conclude that their operation is variable depending on the functional category item as well as the individual lexical form. From a crosslinguistic comparison, we argue that the concepts and schemas found in Korean are largely consonant with those attested in crosslinguistic literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Although several researchers have suggested that fact-type complementation in the Surinamese Creoles is modeled on that of their main input languages, the Gbe languages, we still lack precise information on the extent of the similarities and differences. In this paper we provide a broad comparison of fact-type complementation in these two language groups and suggest an explanation for the similarities we find. We explore the syntax and semantics of the complementizers used in both language groups, the kinds of complement-taking predicator (CTP) that select these complements and their syntax and semantics. The analysis reveals close structural and functional similarities between the two language groups suggesting that fact-type complementation in the Surinamese Creoles was largely modeled on that of Gbe. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the history of European Portuguese, from the 16th to the 19th century, clitic-placement underwent significant changes, specifically with respect to the environments where enclisis obligatorily occurs. In this paper, we show how the architecture of grammar proposed in Distributed Morphology () can shed a light on this change. We analyze enclisis as the result of post-syntactic rules and we argue that the change involved a shift in the operation that displaces the clitic from Prosodic Inversion to Lowering, accounting for the different environments where enclisis obligatorily occurs across time. Moreover, the employment of such a view of the architecture of grammar allows us to interpret this shift as a case of grammaticalization, thus broadening the treatment of this concept in the framework of Generative Grammar. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper examines the effects of focus types on object case ellipsis in Korean. A number of previous studies have suggested that accusative case markers in Korean and Japanese cannot be dropped when the object they mark is contrastively focused (; D. ). Using evidence from an elicitation experiment and a rating experiment, we argue against the view that case ellipsis in Korean is sensitive to the distinction between contrastive vs. non-contrastive focus. An alternative analysis is proposed which accounts for the gradient pattern of case ellipsis in terms of the interaction between the contrastive strength and the discourse accessibility of focused object NPs. We argue that frequent case marking of strongly contrastive arguments is motivated by the need to identify prominent arguments, while frequent case ellipsis of arguments high in accessibility is economically motivated. It is shown that these two motivations can be combined into a systematic view of case variation as reflecting a balance between form minimization and grammaticalization preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In Singapore English, the modal verb must is predominantly deontic, in contrast with the usage profile of must in most native varieties of English. I account for this variation in terms of three linguistic factors prevalent in the contact ecology of Singapore English. First, the deontic and epistemic modalities are expressed by different modal expressions in Chinese, the main substratum language. Second, the perfect form have V-en has experienced a sharp decline in Singapore English, which contributes to the decline of the epistemic must. Third, the grammaticalization path that must has undergone in English is not followed by the equivalent expressions in Chinese. These three factors exert convergent pressure on must towards the deontic modality. The paper demonstrates the importance of computerized corpora in the study of contact-induced linguistic change. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The term optional case marking (OCM) refers to the situation in which, in specifiable grammatical environments, a case marking morpheme may be either present or absent from an NP without affecting the grammatical role borne by that NP. This phenomenon is attested in many ergative languages of Australia, New Guinea, and the Himalayas, where the ergative marker is sometimes omitted from the subject of a transitive clause; a number of accusative languages show optional accusative marking of transitive object NPs. OCM has enjoyed little prominence in linguistic theory or typology; this is partly a consequence of the dearth of careful descriptive treatments of the phenomenon in particular languages. This paper represents an initial investigation of OCM in a cross-linguistic perspective, with focus on optional ergative marking. It provides some idea of its cross-linguistic extent, and attempts to situate it in relation to other types of asymmetries in case systems and case marking. It is suggested that use and non-use of case markers are never in totally free variation. Motivations are discussed and evaluated, and a general framework is put forward. It is further suggested that this framework permits an explanation for the origins and grammaticalisation of some split case marking systems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Declarative clauses in Old High German (OHG) display V1- and V2-orders. In this paper, we show that verb placement in OHG is determined by information-structural (IS-) conditions: the verb serves to separate the aboutness topic from the rest of the clause (the comment). In this system, V1-clauses appear in sentences that lack a topic-comment division. The generalization of the V2 rule in German came about by extending the pattern representing topic comment structures onto sentences representing other discourse relations. In this process, the sentence-initial position was IS-neutralized, supporting an analysis of V2 in the modern language as verb movement to a unique head position with an EPP-feature. We compare this scenario with the system of verb placement in Old English (OE) and argue that English did not develop a generalized V2 rule, since the position of the verb in OE did not serve to separate a special topic from the rest of the clause, but separated all background elements from the focus domain of the clause. Finally, we argue that the V2-pattern in OHG derives from a construction in which a topic and a V1-clause were juxtaposed. Thus, the historic scenario as a whole provides support for the analysis of V2 in German as being derived from an original V1 system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study investigated the second language acquisition of resolutions of the argument dependencies of verbs. The investigation adopted an emergentist approach, assuming that acquisition is item-based and construction-based. The paper investigated argument dependencies that are resolved in complex constructions and by pragmatic interpretation. The data were from a longitudinal case study of a 12-year-old Spanish learner of English, Ana, who wrote stories describing 15 different wordless picture books during a 201-day period. The findings indicate that Ana began by producing only a few types of complex constructions that were lexically-selected by a small set of verbs. Gradually, she produced an increasingly large range of constructions. Ana also gradually increased the complexity of her language in terms of the serial use of dependent clauses and phrases. By the end of the study, she may have developed linguistic abilities that can be described as grammaticalized, generalized linguistic constructions or automatic processing routines. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

While there is a concensus that auxiliary verbs differ in one way or the other from main verbs, linguists do not always agree on what determines the difference. This is especially so in serialising languages where two or more independent verbs can occur in a clause. It is not always clear whether the ability of a verbal form to express a temporal, aspectual or modal notion in such languages is enough for them to be analysed as auxiliary verbs or whether the nature of the form is equally important. This paper argues that a reduction in material integrity of a verbal form is a very important criterion for distinguishing verbs in serialising languages. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

It is well-known that in German a number of genitive prepositions can be constructed with the dative (e.g. wegen ‘because of’ or wa¨hrend ‘during’). In this paper it will be shown—on the basis of large written corpora—that nonetheless preposition-dependent genitive is extremely vital: in spite of the rules of Standard German, nearly all non-prototypical dative prepositions (such as außer ‘apart from’, entgegen ‘against’, entsprechend ‘corresponding to’, gegenu¨ber ‘opposite’, nahe ‘near’, samt ‘along with’ etc.) and most non-prototypical accusative prepositions (such as ausgenommen ‘excluding’, betreffend ‘concerning’, inbegriffen ‘including’, wider ‘contrary to’ etc.) also occur with a genitive. These synchronic case alternations will be analyzed as the result of diachronic grammaticalization processes: when content words are reanalyzed as (non-prototypical) prepositions, the functional shift from lexical to grammatical meaning is iconically mirrored by a subsequent change in the syntactic environment of the relevant form: genitive prepositions come to govern a “new” dative, dative and accusative prepositions come to govern a “new” genitive. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines the marking of progressive and habitual aspects in a cluster of closely related languages (Central Mande) and in a number of dialects in one of these languages (Manding) within the framework of grammaticalization theory. It is shown that the habitual forms go back to a generalization of the progressive aspect and that the progressive forms do derive from locative periphrastic constructions. Furthermore, evidence is provided for the fact that the evolution of progressives in Central Mande occurs in morphological cycles and that the various synchronic progressive constructions can be classified into different layers of grammaticalization. Finally, the consequences of the development of new progressives (as the starting point for imperfectives) for the semantic usage of the old imperfectives are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The aim of this paper is to propose a theory which accommodates both historical facts and acquisition data in terms of grammar change by establishing a correlation between ontogeny and phylogeny in language development. Based on strong syntactic parallels between early child English and earlier English, it will be argued that the same mechanism of functional category maturation is at work in both these domains. Languages typically start as lexical-thematic, without any functional categories and the emergence of a new functional category is the characteristic mark of a transition from one stage to the next both ontogenetically and phylogenetically. Diachronically, this process is effected by the grammaticalization as syntactic functional categories of previously existing morpho-semantic features. I propose that language variation is due to differences in the degree to which functional features are codified as grammatical categories, i.e. whether they are upgraded to functional categories which have their own projection and if so, which features are upgraded. Hence, my claim implies that grammaticalization should be viewed as functional category maturation, that is, as involving the emergence of functional categories heading their own projections. This view of grammaticalization can deal with most of the questions raised recently by Fischer et al. (Fischer, Olga, Ans van Kemanade, Willem Koopman, Wim van der Warff, 2000. The Syntax of Early English. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge). I further propose a more comprehensive framework to accommodate both historical facts and acquisition data. This framework involves the reallocation of duties, for example, from morphology to syntax, or from pragmatics to syntax. The diachronic development of language is then to be viewed as a change in some domain in the trading relations between morphology, pragmatics, and syntax. This is the conceptual basis of category maturation. The difference between first language acquisition and diachronic change resides in the possible difference in the direction of the reallocation. In principle, any reallocation is possible, e.g. from syntax to morphology, or syntax to pragmatics. However, I suggest that there is a unidirectionality in the reallocation of duties, such that every reallocation targets syntax. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• RP pragmatic marker bushi developed from RP rhetorical question tag bushi. • LP pragmatic marker bushi developed from LP negative response marker bushi. • Developments of RP/LP pragmatic markers bushi involved negative adjectival bushi. Contrary to the claims of previous studies, the development of Modern Chinese right-periphery (RP) pragmatic marker bushi does not involve the shi X bushi X construction, and the development of Modern Chinese left-periphery (LP) pragmatic marker bushi does not involve the negative copula use of bushi in a clause-medial position. Rather, the RP pragmatic marker bushi originates from the use of the negative adjective bushi in a clause-final position as a rhetorical question tag, while the LP pragmatic marker bushi originates from the negative adjective bushi used as a negative response to the previous speaker's question or statement. Our accounts are supported by cross-linguistic data on the grammaticalization pathway from a negative response marker or a negative rhetorical question tag to a pragmatic/discourse marker. Expanding beyond earlier works, this paper proposes two diachronic trajectories for the formation of phrases or structures involving shi in Chinese: one develops from shi as a demonstrative and later a copula; the other originates from shi as an adjective meaning 'correct, true'. These two trajectories account for the synchronic and diachronic issues of almost all the constructions involving shi in Chinese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]