On the multifunctionality of literally in American English youth speech
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36505/TheLinguisticProceedings/2025/17/02/004/000690Keywords:
literally, grammaticalization, subjectification, American English, youth languageAbstract
The aim of this study is to investigate, from both a qualitative and quantitative perspective, the multifunctionality of the adverb literally in present-day American English youth speech, in order to better understand the ongoing semantic change involving this adverb. Drawing from authentic spoken data taken from a teenage podcast, the analysis explores how literally is used beyond its prototypical literal meaning (i.e. ‘in a literal sense’) and develops a wide range of new functions, supporting the hypothesis of an ongoing grammaticalization process along with increasing subjectification.References
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