The grammaticalization of Latin TOTA VIA in Spanish and Italian: temporal and adversative values

What is it about?

The process of grammaticalization of Italian tuttavia and Spanish todavia, from Latin TOTA VIA, is an interesting case study because both adverbs converge and diverge at different points along the history of Italian and Spanish. Both adverbs inherited the temporal values of late Latin TOTA VIA (‘always’) and developed adversative values when reanalysed as connectives in some contexts where contemporary events could be reinterpreted as opposing one to another, However, It. tuttavia went further down this path of grammaticalization and lost its temporal values, while Sp. todavía, due probably to the emergence of new adversative connectives in the 17th century such as sin embargo and no obstante, abandoned the adversative uses in the 18th century and consolidate the phasal temporal value developed since the 16th century. In present Italian, tuttavia is a discourse connective with an antioriented argumentative function and no continuative or phasal temporal value, while in present Spanish, todavía is a phasal temporal intrapredicative adverb. This study tries to highlight how the comparative approach adopted here enriches our knowledge on the history of Romance Languages and allows for a better understanding of non-linear grammaticalization processes.

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Photo by Jens Lelie on Unsplash

Photo by Jens Lelie on Unsplash

Why is it important?

We make a comprehensive analysis of how the same starting point can give birth to different values and different uses in two Romance Languages. It shows how the paths of grammaticalization can coincide and differ at certain moments and in different historical situations and linguistic constraints

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