Congiunzioni e segnali funzionali: la produttività di 'ma' ed 'e' in diadi pragmatiche in italiano

This paper focuses on Italian complex pragmatic markers made up of a conjunction, be it ma ‘but’ or e ‘and’, and a pragmatic deverbal or adverbial marker, such as 'ma dai, ma piantala, evvai, e allora'. Fedriani and Molinelli (2019) described this type of complex marker in terms of a pragmatic dyad, i.e. a two-element construction with a procedural function consisting of a fixed element combined with a number of possible preferential fillers. The fixed element carries the pragmatic value of the resulting dyad, e.g. the interactional contrast with 'ma'. Several schema-compatible fillers add specific pragmatic nuances to this basic value and further specify its functional core; as regards 'ma', the core value of contrast can be shaped in terms of disagreement, counter-expectation, and mock politeness. In this study, the notion of pragmatic dyad is extended to complex markers featuring e as a fixed element, to clarify, and compare, the semantic and pragmatic enrichment of 'ma' and 'e' considered as members of a dyad. This qualitative and quantitative research highlights both the prominence of diamesic variation when describing contemporary Italian pragmatic markers and the importance of the pragmatic dimension, which is capable of capturing the dynamisms of less surveilled registers.