Comparative analysis of the discursive markers mal, yíxià and uma vez: grammaticalization in German, Mandarin and Portuguese-German

Abstract

This article presents a comparative analysis of the discursive markers mal in German and yíxià in Mandarin, as discussed by König and Li (2018), together with uma vez in Portuguese-German, as studied by Ruscheinsky (2014) with the aim of highlighting their similarity in the grammaticalization process. The process of grammaticalization transforms lexical items into grammatical ones or grammatical items are transformed into more grammatical ones. The process of linguistic change through linguistic contact is a process restricted to a region resulting from specific historical events. It is suggested that the form uma vez has been influenced by both processes, resulting in a grammaticalization induced by linguistic contact. Data were collected through notes in the fieldbook and interviews with bilingual Portuguese/German speakers from the west of Santa Catarina carried out in 2012 and 2013. The productions with uma vez were compared with the forms mal and yíxià presented in the bibliography. The results indicate that the Portuguese form is also similar to mal and yíxià in terms of semantic change and contextual expansion, but the process of grammaticalization of uma vez seems to be attributed to Portuguese- German linguistic contact. The contextual expansion from place to time and quality is similar in all three forms.

Keywords:
Grammaticalization; language contact; multifunctionality; language change