A Diachronic study of 'Je (le) veux bien' in French

What is it about?

This paper in historical pragmatics analyses the uses of the expression 'je (le) veux bien' in French, in a diachrony ranging from Old French to contemporary French. It draws on speech act theory and on the theory of pragmaticalization, while also taking into account the concept of modality.

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Why is it important?

The study describes three different uses of 'je (le) veux bien': its initial use, which is part of the boulic modality and expresses the attitude of a speaker ready to act; its epistemic use, which appears in Classical French and allows the speaker to validate the interlocutor's previous assertion; and its use as a discourse marker, attested from the 19th century onwards, which can be interpreted as an indicator of polyphony