La variación formal de los cuantificadores en catalánestudio diacrónico (siglos XV‒XX)
- 1 Universitat de València, España
ISSN: 0049-8661, 1865-9063
Year of publication: 2020
Volume: 136
Issue: 2
Pages: 390-415
Type: Article
More publications in: Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie
Sustainable development goals
Abstract
This article studies the formal variation of the existential quantifiers u/ un (‘one; a, an’), algú/algun (‘someone; some’), ningú/ningun (‘no one, anyone; any’) and the distributive universal quantifier cada u/cada un (‘everyone’) in Catalan. The research is based on an extensive diachronic corpus of texts written between the 15th and 20th centuries. The author classifies the syntactic structures of these quantifiers and analyses their meaning and formal vacillations: apocopated form (without ‑n) vs. non-apocopated form (with ‑n). Although hesitations tend to disappear gradually during the period under analysis, the uses of these quantifiers change in Catalan dialects. In fact, distinct geographical areas adopt different distributions of form and function. These linguistic changes are explained, highlighting the mutual influences and interactions between phonosyntactic, phonological, analogical and pragmatic factors.