Ėto uže meloči. From Phasal Adverb to Intensifier: The Pragmaticalization of uže

Abstract

Adopting a usage-based constructional approach with a functional-cognitive orientation, this study examines the mechanisms that regulate the interaction between intensification and identification of the referent in different types of copular sentences (namely, categorizing, equative, similative, attributive and specificational) in the Russian language. In particular, the intensifying use of the phasal adverb uže ‘already’ in copular sentences of the type [x (cop) uže y] is discussed. In the second part of the study, a contrastive approach is adopted to highlight, through a comparison with Italian, the process of semantic extension, the presuppositions, and the conventional implicatures that allow an adverb of time to operate in the domain of intensification.