From Lexicon to Grammatical Paradigms

This book explores the grammaticalization of the French verb voir (‘to see’) and its derived forms (voici, voilà), offering new insights into how lexical entities integrate into grammatical paradigms. Through diachronic and synchronic corpus analysis, the study traces the evolution of voir into diverse paradigms, including verbal categories (aspect, mood, and voice), pragmatic markers (presentatives, focus constructions, discourse markers), and particles (vu, vu que). By adopting a paradigmatic approach, it demonstrates how grammar consists of structured sets of elements sharing common syntactic and semantic features, moving beyond traditional linear models of grammaticalization. The research highlights how grammatical reanalysis leads to functional diversification, illustrating the dynamic interplay between syntax and semantics in language change. The volume provides a precise and systematic framework for analyzing linguistic change, demonstrating the broader applicability of paradigmatic structuring to understanding the integration of lexical items into grammatical systems. This book will appeal to linguistics scholars interested in grammaticalization, historical linguistics, and language change.