L’UNIDIRECTIONNALITÉ DE LA GRAMMATICALISATION : UN POSSIBLE CONTRE-EXEMPLE
UNIDIRECTIONALITY AND GRAMMATICALIZATION : A COUNTEREXAMPLE

Summary/Abstract: Unidirectionality and grammaticalization : a counterexample. The grammaticalization cline was said to always follow a unique direction, from less to more grammatical. There are possible examples of the opposite phenomenon, labelled degrammaticalization, but they are differently agreed upon by linguists. The paper analyses the evolution of a group of French and Romanian complex adpositions to full nouns, and shows that this change corresponds exactly to the degrammaticalization parameters proposed by Lehmann and Norde. It may therefore qualify for a legitimate counterexample to the principle of unidirectionality of grammaticalization.

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