The Relationship between Gradience and Gradualness in Grammaticalization

Abstract: In this paper， we are concerned with some issues in discussions of linguistic gradience， the extent to which diachronic change may be said to be gradual， and the relationship between gradient system and gradualness in change from the perspective of grammaticalization understood. The aim of this paper is to discuss how gradience intersects with the gradual changes which appear to be characteristic of grammaticalization on the assumption that: “changes are always manifested in synchronic variation”.

摘要：這篇論文關注的是語言法化過程中的過渡性，歷時變化中的漸進性以及過渡系統與漸進變化的關系。此文建立在 “變化總會表現在共時變化中”這一假設上，旨在討論歷時系統的過渡性與漸進性變化這兩個語法化過程中的特點如何相交。

Key words: gradience；gradualness； grammaticalization

關鍵詞：過渡性；漸進性；語法化

作者簡介：朱曉雯，女，西南大學外國語學院碩士研究生，主要研究方向為英語語言文學。

[中圖分類號]：H31[文獻標識碼]：A

[文章編號]：1002-2139(2012)-11-0132-01

In order to discuss the question about the intersection between gradience and grammaticalization， we propose to distinguish gradience as a synchronic phenomenon， and gradualness as a diachronic one. Synchronically， strings can be arranged on continua of categoriality and of grammaticalness. We see diachronic gradualness as a sequence of discrete micro-steps affecting various aspects of the use and structure of a linguistic sign.

For gradience， one aspect of it is that some members of a category are ‘better’ than others. This relates either to Goodness of Exemplar or to Degree of Membership in prototype theory (Denison， 2001; Croft， 2007). Another aspect of gradience is the fuzziness of boundaries between categories (Denison， 2006). For gradualness， it refers to the fact that most change involves micro-changes， an issue which is sometimes overlooked in considerations of more general patterns of language change. As Brinton and Traugott (2005) observe， although change is sometimes understood as A > B， studies of gradualness in linguistic change attempt to uncover “the tiny local steps between A and B that the arrow ‘>’ encompasses”. As Lightfoot (1979) showed， successions of micro-changes may in some cases lead to macro-effects.

Although there is a clear relationship between diachronic gradualness and synchronic gradience， the evidence from grammaticalization has shown that the intersection of all three raises many challenging issues that need us to research deeply in the future.

Works cited：

[1]、Brinton， L. J. Traugott， E. C. Lexicalization and Language Change [Research Surveys in Linguistics]. Cambridge: CUP， 2005.

[2]、Croft， W. Beyond Aristotle and Gradience: A Reply to Aarts. Studies in Language， 2007.

[3]、Denison， D. Category change and gradience in the determiner system. The Handbook of the History of English. Oxford: Blackwell， 2006.

[4]、Denison， D. Gradience and linguistic change. Historical Linguistics 1999: Selected Papers from the 14th International Conference on Historical Linguistics， Vancouver， 9–13 August 1999. Amsterdam: John Benjamins， 2001.

[5]、Lightfoot， D. Principles of Diachronic Syntax [Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 23]. Cambridge: CUP， 1979.