The factualization of 'I suppose' in American English: a corpus based study of the subjectification of epistemic predicates toward factuality.

Vittorio Tantucci

doi:10.1186/s40064-016-3438-0

Abstract

This work provides a case study centered on the cognitive phenomenon of factualization, viz. “the SP/W’s increasing certainty about the realization of an event or situation” (cf. Tantucci 2014, 2015a, b, 2016b). Factualization corresponds to a cognitive-control mechanism (i.e. Kan et al. 2013) specifically occurring in the epistemic domain. It instantiates both in online language production and throughout the diachronic reanalysis of a construction (i.e. grammaticalization, semasiological change or constructionalization, cf. Traugott and Dasher 2002; Traugott and Trousdale 2013). The case presented here focuses on the diachronic change of the epistemic construction I suppose in British English. It will be shown that I suppose developed through time an increasingly factual usage out of an original meaning conveying weak epistemicity. Qualitative and quantitative data from the Corpus of Historical American English will support the general claim that—to varying degrees—epistemic predicates diachronically tend to develop new polysemies encoding a Speaker/writer’s (henceforth SP/W) “subjectified form of certainty” towards a proposition P (cf. Tantucci 2015a: 371).

Highlights

This work provides a case study centered on the cognitive phenomenon of factualization, viz. “the SP/W’s increasing certainty about the realization of an event or situation”
It instantiates both in online language production and throughout the diachronic reanalysis of a construction
The case presented here focuses on the diachronic change of the epistemic construction I suppose in BE (British English)

Summary

Background

This work provides a case study centered on the cognitive phenomenon of factualization, viz. “the SP/W’s increasing certainty about the realization of an event or situation” (cf. Tantucci 2014, 2015a, b, 2016b). The factualization of I suppose in American English: a method of enquiry SP/W’s epistemic stance is often communicated through the intersection of predicates expressing different degrees of beliefs/certainty together with additional surrounding elements, i.e. epistemic modals or adverbials. This work aims at providing additional evidence to show that epistemic predicates tend to become increasingly ‘factual’ over time, in the sense that they tend to occur more and more frequently in contexts where SP/W expresses a subjectified form of certainty To demonstrate this on a quantitative level, I consulted the diachronic corpus of American English (COHA) and selected the 100 most frequent adverbial co-occurrences with I suppose within a 1L-4R word-span (cf Capone 2001 on modal adverbs and discourse). 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1990 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 really hardly certainly sure exactly

Result

Findings

Conclusion