Gradience and language change: the case of “entretanto”

Abstract

The categorization of different types of linguistic units into closed classes is a central problem for any linguistic model. However, they gain importance and have attracted the attention of scholars who defend the inexistence of boundaries between system and use. From the perspective of the Usage-Based Models, gradience is conceived as an inherent characteristic of linguistic systems and a natural consequence of the gradualness of language change. In this article we revisit this issue based on a diachronic analysis of the development of entretanto (meanwhile) as a connector of discursive units from its adverbial uses. Through a survey of data in written texts from the archaic, classical and modern/contemporary periods of Portuguese, we show that entretanto (meanwhile) has incorporated properties of the conjunctive elements and extended to the domain of contrast. According to the attested evidences, this process may have been driven by the fact that the adverbial and connector uses of entretanto share several morphosyntactic and contextual properties. It stands out the importance of the position of entretanto on the left periphery of the clause, its co-occurrence with other connecting elements, the type of state of affairs encoded in the clause as well as its aspectual and mood properties. This convergence leads to a gradation of uses that are situated on a continuum between adverb and connector.