EMANUELE MIOLA LETiSS Centre IUSS Pavia emanuele.miola@unipv.

it

CIDSM #6 16-17.06.2011

Birth, Death and Resurrection of Connectives

Piedmontese [ty'ty] and [mara'ma] between grammaticalization and Ausbauized wikipedia

1. Introduction As it is well known, whereas there is no structural difference between so-called dialects and socalled national, standard languages, from a strictly sociolinguistic point of view Italian dialects may be defined as traditionally spoken as 'low varieties' alongside what were to become [and now are, EM] national languages (Tosco 2011:268). Internal sociolinguistic features defining dialects: usually used in low domains; great amount of polymorphism, generally going hand in hand with the absence of a normative surveillance; recognized by the speech community as identitarian ( linguistic loyalty) prevalence of oracy (cp. Telmon 1994: s.v. dialetto) Are Italian dialects endangered languages? In a recent survey, Salminen 2007:225 treats several dialects of Italy as minority, endangered languages. To limit ourselves to North-Western Italy, Piedmontese and Lombard are defined as 'definitely endangered', while Ligurian is classified as 'severely endangered'. To preserve such threatened varieties from the risk of extinction, Ausbauization is one of the possible answers, for some scholars perhaps the only viable one.

2. What is Ausbauization? Ausbauization pertains to the cultivation and culturization and standardization of a language (variety), with special regard to its orthography and its lexicon, in order to give an attempt to appropriate all, or at least most, of the high domains in a way, of the culture of the dominant language (Tosco forth.). It is by definition artificial in that it has, in the much-quoted words of Kloss 1967:29, been shaped or reshaped, molded or remolded - as the case may be - in order to become a standardized tool of literary expression. We might say that an Ausbausprache is called a language by virtue of its having been reshaped via a deliberate language planning. Ausbauization is then 'a job for linguists', but it has to be supported by and shared with the average speakers of the minority language, otherwise it risks to remain a redundant, only scientific issue with no Reversal Language Shift possible. Corpus planning is an important task for 'standardizers': in the present paper we will tackle the issue of Ausbauization of Piedmontese with regard to two of its phrasal connectives, namely [ty'ty] and [mara'ma], and investigate the diachronic paths that led to their birth (and to their death) in the

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literary works written in Piedmontese between the 17th and the 21st century, and to their 'resurrection' on the Internet webpages after the year 2000. We will finally discuss how the history of [ty'ty] and [mara'ma] relates to the so-called golden rule of Ausbauization.

3. Connectives and Ausbauization According to Matras 1997 utterance modifiers, such as adversative and coordinative conjunctions, appear to be at the very top of the borrowability hierarchy in normal language-contact situations. As for the adversative connectives, they are more prone to FUSION, i.e. the unilateral reduplication of both material and functions from L2 to L1, with the results that L1-speakers no longer differentiate between the respective operations of both languages (Matras 1997:298; for our purposes, L2 = Italian, L1 = dialect). Infact, Piedmontese (and Lombard and Ligurian) varieties, now living in a situation of dilalia with standard Italian, show connectives that are cognate and homophonous to stand. It. [e], [o] and [ma]. Moreover, [pe'r] is well attested in spoken Pied. dialects as well as written Pied. (cp. Pipino 1783), with the meaning of 'still, nevertheless', probably upon the influence of It. per (originally a causal connective) a case of FUSION. (a) Borrowability hierarchy (for connectives): 'BUT' > 'OR' > 'AND' ADVERSATIVE ma per
Table 1. Connectives attested in Piedmontese

DISGIUNTIVE o

COORDINATIVE e

Table 1 is in line with (a). Whereas [ma], [o] and [e] could be directly inherited from Latin MAGIS, AUT and ET, [pe'r], 'but, still, nevertheless' (< Lat. PER HOC) is arguably a case of borrowing of connectives, from It. to Pied. Note that in Italian literary texts [f]rom its earliest occurrences in the 12th century until the end of the 16th century, per rather had a causal (per che since, because) or resultative function (per therefore[...]). It is only in the 16th century that this marker is attested for the first time with an unambiguously adversative meaning (Giacalone Ramat and Mauri forth.): in any case, as far as we know, in Pied. per never displays a causal meaning. Nevertheless, Pied. has (had) another adversative connective, fairly used in literary (poetic and narrative) texts of the 18th and 19th century: [ty'ty]. 4. [ty'ty] Etymology: tutun < [tyt] [y] all one 'all one and the same'

It is firstly attested in a univerbated form in the phrase fige esse tutun, 'to be all one and the same', in Ignazio Isler's satirical works. Apparently, esse tutun has two possible nuances. On the one hand, it has to do with two states of affairs (SoA) that are similar, identical or connected via a cause-effect 2

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correlation (cp. 1a); on the other hand, there could be a conflict either between the two connected SoAs or between one SoA and some prior expectations (= 1b). Grammaticalization path: From identity to contrast

(1a) Isler [bef. 1750], tni XXXV I veu veu veuj nen f f fme Bu bu bu bur burl da da gnun N n n n svr svrgo svrgogneme A a a l' l' tu tu tut un
I do do do not wa wa want be | foo foo foo fooled by anyone | nor be be be ashamed | It it it it's all one and the sa sa same.

(1b) Isler [bef. 1750], tni III Bin ch'i podissa F tant ch'i mantnissa Una cusin-a Dla roba pi fin-a, Ch'as peussa trov, Tutun saria, prch cl trombon Tant a trovaria Mai nen ch'a fuss bon
even if I could | see that I had in the kitchen | the better stuff | one could find | it would be the same( /not matter) | because that bighead | would not find anyway | anything good

(2a) Zalli 1815: s.v. tutu tut u , poco m'importa, sia come si voglia, lo stesso, non cale, nihil refert, non laboro, non curo, c'est tout un, il n'emporte. (2b) Ponza 1830: s.v. esse esse tut un, essere la stessa cosa. At least three meanings of [ty'ty] seem to coexist in Calvo's works (bef. 1804): Fixed expression (esse tutun) (Focus marker/focalizer in comparative expression, 1 occurrence only) Connective

As a connective, [ty'ty] is used both as (a) universal concessive connective and as (b) counterexpectative adversative connective. The counterexpectative contrastive meaning (=b) can easily be inferred by the meaning of despite every SoAs (=a), especially via a limitative adversative meaning, usually after a concessive clause (with correlative elements such as although, even though, Pied./It. quantunque, see 4). Identity contrast: same path for Germ. egal, Spanish igualmente, It. lo stesso.

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(4) Calvo [bef. 1804], Fole religiose, vv.473-ff. Quantonque peui pr soa special clemensa, Vddend l gran disrdin e 'l gran mal, A-i sarij-lo gnun poeta Ch'a dva sufr tuta la dissendensa 'd coj dl fonte d'Aganippe, Pr causa dl pec original, ch'a l'aviss na musa chieta, La divin-a suprema Providensa ch'am fiachissa nen le tripe? Abia mand 'l diluvi universal, mi tutun i la fitra, Ch'a l'ha inond l'Eurpa e fala dserta, an pagandje so teston [] (essend pa 'ncor l'Amrica dscuerta). Tutun No ch'a l'era un patriarca, Is there any poet | from Aganippe's spring | who has a calm Chi sa pr che motiv, un lo sa nen, muse | that was not on my case? | Anyway I would rent her | A l'ha salv 'l pec drint a soa barca

(3) Calvo [1776], Canson quasi poetica..., vv.17-ff

paying the bucks of her fee

Then, although for his special mercy | seeing the great mess and the great pain that his offspring would have to suffer | because of the original sin, | the great divine Providence | sent the Flood | that inundated and made a desert of Europe | (since America was not discovered yet). | Nevertheless Noah that was a patriarch, | who knows why, we don't know, | saved the sin in his ark

Also, it is worth to note that often [ty'ty] appears, juxtaposed to the adversative connective ma, in first position with respect to the second clause. This is probably another environment that could trigger and explain the semantic change of [ty't y] from the meaning of 'anyway' to the meaning of 'still, nonetheless': (5) (Calvo, ibid., vv.489-ff.) Nosgnor l'ha vols vn chiel an prsona Pr rompe ij corn al dio e fin af, Ma tutun cola rassa scontradon-a []
The Lord Himself wanted to come | to break Devil's horns and close the case | but still that bad race [...]

(6) Casalis [1810], I Rat an consi, ap. Biondelli 1853:628 Bin fortn tit i itri ch'a j riss De mn le gambe e d' fesla! Ma tt-n S'trovrio ant al tafs forse 'l d apress
Really lucky all those that can | run away and make it! | But still they will probably be in jail the next day

[ty'ty] disappears almost completely during the 20th cent.: no occurrences were found surveying two novels and one theatrical work by Luigi Pietracqua. Moreover, speakers of Turinese and other Piedmontese varieties (let alone those that are more peripheral and, thus, more conservative) do not recognize [ty'ty] as a connective anymore (nor do they recognize the set phrase ['ese ty'ty]). 4

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Nevertheless [ty'ty] makes a HUGE comeback in the 2000-2010 decade since Pied. begins to appear on-line, on web-pages such as wikipedia in Piedmontese.

http://pms.wikipedia.org/wiki ~ 39.000 pages 126 pages containing tutun 159 total occurrences (last checked 8.06.11) [154 as a counterexp. connective] (7) http://pms.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Ferdinand_Mbius Intr ant l sistema scolar normal, a l'ha mostr n'anteresse viv pr la matemtica. Tutun, anscrivusse a l'universit d Lipsia, a l'ha ancamin a studi drit [...]
(after having entered the usual school system, he showed a lively interest in mathematics. Nevertheless, enrolling at the University of Leipzig, he started studying Law)

[ty'ty] is also starting to be used in the (newly) set adverbial expression franch tutun (5 occurrences), meaning despite everything, just the same thing. [ty'ty] represents then a case of 'resurrection' of a connective, with a small twist of grammati cal change. It is a case of Ausbauization of Piedmontese due to purism and to the necessity to overtly express counterexpectation

(a) Overt counterexpectative marker Along with per Ausbauized Piedmontese has tutun, and its counterexp. meaning is inferred by the speaker(s)/hearer(s) from bridging contexts such as [Clause A] ma tutun [Clause B] (b) Purism [ty'ty] is in line with the golden rule of Ausbauization (Tosco 2011:233-234): be different, especially from Italian! (there is no immediate correspondent in the It. lexicon.) 5. [mara'ma] [mara'ma] (and phonetic variants) < DE from MANU IN MANU hand in hand (cp. Pasquali 1931:544 i.a.)

As a connective, it is widely attested in North-Western Italian dialects, cp. Bergamasco [mene'ma] and Genoese [mani'man]. Semantic change in diachrony: From the meaning of 'immediately' (a temporal adverb): 5

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(8a) Alione, Farsa del Franzoso alogiato a l'ostaria del Lombardo, a tre personagii, vv.45-6; 117-8 JANINO Per dir non resta: man a man Vado a la porta de Pavia.
(I go immediately to the door of Pavia.)

[] HOSPES S, s, in bona hora: man a man Sar serv per votre argians.
(Ya ya, right now: you will be immediately served for your money.)

(8b) Isler [bef. 1750], tni XVII Maraman a l'an comens Vilaniesse com' d' cagnas, L' un pr l'autr n'an destac, Ch' a sentije 1'era un spas.
they started immediately | to exchange insults, like dogs | they swore at each other | listen to them was so fun.

Cp. also Boccaccio, etc.

to the meaning of 'perhaps' and connective 'in the (unfortunate) case (that)' (via a paretym. Lat. MALE?)

The connective and the 'perhaps' meaning are used in Isler, but already in 'L Cont Piolet (17th cent., but revised and published at the end of 18th cent.): (9a) act II, sc. VIII, vv. 423-ff. I ai amp na bona spa Prch s'manaman Col camr roman 'm fa caich spampar Aln, mi ij buto man
I have a good sword | because if perhaps | that Roman valet | plays nasty tricks on me | c'mon, I will draw it

(9b) act II, sc. IX, vv. 467-ff. Manaman costa dc S'aviseis d'di ch'dn Pr la fomna passa via, Ma la vigna i la vorra
in case that also this one | decided to say 'No' | as for the girl, it doesn't matter, | but I'd like to have the vineyard anyway)

[mara'ma] disappears as a connective in the corpus of 20th-cent. texts we surveyed: it is exclusively used as a temporal adverb (probably with the meaning of 'immediately'), but with the possible interpretation of 'gradually', due to the influence of Italian (a) man(o a) mano. 6

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Finally, in today's online and written Pied. [mara'ma] (with only 6 occurrences on Piedmontese wikipedia) seems to be exclusively used as a temporal adverb with the meaning of 'gradually': (10a) Frusta [1951], Ij sent ane dl Circolo dj' Artista, ap. Gandolfo 1972:212 Che fera, che zabuj! Maraman as fa silensi. A l' che 'l pitor Cerruti [] a l'ha tir fra 'l nm dl Bgo...
What a mess, what a jumble!... Gradually/immediately the silence falls. That's because Cerruti, the painter made the name of Bgo [...]

(10b) http://pms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Et_dl_bronz A venta dc d che la sepoltura dij mrt (che fin-a a s a l'era staita pr slit comun-a) a l' avnita maraman p individual.
One must also say that the burial of the dead (which until now was usually common) became gradually / *immediately more individual

In this case, the golden rule of Ausbauization seems to be: Being different at the phonological level is enough!
(even though there is no more difference on the semantic level)

6. The big game of Ausbauization the golden rule of Ausbauization: be different, especially from thy neighbor and especially in the lexicon. What about the empty words? [tyty] takes on a new lease of life maintaining the meaning it has in 18th-cent. texts: complete resurrection because for the function it serves a functional word does exist in the dominant, neighbor language (= It.); although a very good target for Ausbauization, [marama] is used in on-line written Pied. with the Italian meaning (=/= Pied. meaning!), and it is no longer used as a connective, probably because for the function it serves/served a dedicated functional word does not exist in the dominant, neighbor language. It is little more than a lexical borrowing with some phonetic adjustments, resurrected but walking through the Pied. web-pages like a zombie or a golem.

Sources Alione, G.G. [1628]. Lopera piacevo e. Bologna: Libreria Antiquaria Palmaverde, 1953. Biondelli, B. [1853]. Saggi sui dialetti gallo-italici. Milano: Bernardoni. Calvo, E.I. [1773-1804]. Poesie piemontesi e scritti italiani e francesi. Torino: Centro Studi Piemontesi, 1973. Gandolfo, R. (a c. di) [1972]. La letteratura in piemontese dal Risorgimento ai giorni nostri. Torino: 7

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Ca d Studi Piemontis. Isler, I. [1702-1788]. Tutte le canzoni e poesie piemontesi. Torino: Viglongo, 1967. Pietracqua, L. [1862]. Le grame lenghe. Torino: Piemonte in bancarella-Il punto, 2001. Pietracqua, L. [1883-4]. Ij misteri d Vanchija. Torino: Viglongo, 1990. Pietracqua, L. [1891]. La sposa d ebanista. Torino: Viglongo, 1973. Pipino, M. [1783]. Grammatica piemontese. Torino: Regione Piemonte-Centro studi piemontesi, 2006. Ponza, M. [1830]. Vocabolario piemontese-italiano e italiano-piemontese. Torino: Le livre precieux, 1967. Tana, C.G. [1784]. L cont Piolet. Torino: Einaudi, 1966. Zalli, C. [1815]. Disionari piemonteis, italian, latin e franseis. Torino: Moran. http://pms.wikipedia.org/wiki

References Giacalone Ramat, A. & C. Mauri [forth.]. The development of adversative connectives: stages and factors at play. To appear in Linguistics. Kloss, H. [1967]. Abstand Languages and Ausbau Languages. Anthropological Linguistics, 9/7: 29-41. Matras, Y. [1997]. Utterance modifiers and universals of grammatical borrowing. Linguistics, 362: 281-331. Pasquali, P.S. [1931]. Piem. lig. maramn subito!; un momento!. Zeitschrift fr romanische Philologie, 51: 544. Salminen, T. [2007]. Endangered Languages in Europe. In: Brenzinger, M (ed.). Language Diversity Endangered. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter: 205-232. Telmon, T. [1994]. Voci nel Dizionario di Linguistica a c. di Beccaria, Torino: Einaudi. Tosco, M. [2011]. Between endangerment and Ausbau. In: Miola/Ramat (eds.), Language Contact and Language Decay. Pavia: IUSS Press, 227-246. Tosco, M. [forth.]. Swinging back the pendulum: French morphology and de-Italianization in Piedmontese. In: Stolz/Vanhove/Otsuka/Urdze (eds.). Morphologies in Contact. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.