Rethinking intersubjectification through the evolution of discourse markers in Sicilian

This chapter deals with the topic of intersubjectification as a tendency of semantic-pragmatic change, taking into consideration the evolution of two discourse markers in Sicilian, arà and bì. In order to define the concept of intersubjectification, some underlying notions are presented: intersubjectivity as the overcoming of the subject in humanities today, subjectivity in the tradition of linguistics, and finally the very framework of intersubjectification in semantic-pragmatic change. Then, this paper reconstructs the evolution of the two discourse markers in Sicilian. The analysis of these two diachronic paths offers empirical data that allow for a theoretical redefinition of intersubjectification as the tendency whereby meanings develop as centered on two constitutive components of linguistic interaction, namely the subjects interacting and the discourse itself.