Abstract This research investigates the functions of the verb ‘to say’ in the Jordanian Arabic dialect of Irbid (JADI). Relying on a 250,000-word corpus, we propose that the speech verb ‘to say’ in JADI has one main lexical function (i.e. introducing direct or indirect speech) in addition to three functions which the verb develops, i.e. expressing the speaker’s mental state, signalling indirect evidentiality, and revealing the speaker’s incredulity towards the accompanying utterance. We show that in these three developed functions, the verb lost one or more of its lexical properties, because of an (initial or advanced) grammaticalization process whose effects are clearly manifested by the function of the verb as an incredulity marker, in which case the verb is semantically bleached, phonologically reduced, and de-categorized. Following Traugott (1989), Wang et al. (2003) and Hsieh (2012), among others, we propose that the grammaticalization path of the speech verb in JADI into these three functions are motivated by pragmatic inference and (inter)subjectification. The directionality of the grammaticalization process is also shown to be implemented from propositional (through textual) to expressive functions.

中文翻译：

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约旦阿拉伯语伊尔比德方言中动词“说”的功能

摘要 本研究调查约旦阿拉伯语伊尔比德方言（JADI）中动词“说”的功能。依托 250,000 字的语料库，我们提出 JADI 中的言语动词“to say”除了具有三个功能，即表达说话者的心理状态外，还具有一个主要的词汇功能（即引入直接或间接言语）。暗示间接证据，并揭示说话者对伴随话语的怀疑。我们表明，在这三个发展的功能中，动词失去了一个或多个词汇属性，因为一个（初始或高级）语法化过程，其效果通过动词作为怀疑标记的功能清楚地表现出来，在这种情况下，动词在语义上被漂白，在语音上被简化和去分类。继 Traugott (1989) 之后，Wang 等人。(2003) 和 Hsieh (2012) 等人提出，JADI 中言语动词的语法化路径转化为这三个功能的动机是语用推理和（间）主体化。语法化过程的方向性也被证明是从命题（通过文本）到表达功能的实现。