ORA FROM TEMPORALITY TO TEXTUALITY: A CASE OF GRAMMATICALIZATION
Authors: Samardžic Mila 
Published: August 2021

Although it is just a "little word", ora manifests a particular multiplicity and complexity in uses and meanings. In addition to the noun, in its uses it presents values ranging from the strictly temporal one (at this instant, in the present epoch, a little while ago, shortly, from this moment onwards etc.) to the interjective one (when it reinforces an exhortation or a command). Finally, it is used with textual value to resume an interrupted speech (with possible further values: conclusive or adverse). In short, the values of ora can be distinguished in the propositional one (temporal adverb), in the illocutionary one (when the relationship with the interlocutor is established) and in the argumentative one (textual connective). In this article we intend to present an overall picture of the contexts (syntactic and pragmatic) in which ora appears. Based on the analysis of the examples taken from the most relevant works of Italian lexicography as well as from various written texts of poetry and prose in ancient Italian language (mainly from the twelfth and fourteenth centuries) we will try to reconstruct the process of grammaticalization and semantic change and/or semantic emptying from the original temporal meaning to subsequent textual values. After analyzing the contextualized uses of ora, we have reconstructed its functional and semantic change. In the case of ora, the shift and / or semantic emptying has occurred: from its primary temporal value (at the phrasal level, therefore with a purely adverbial function), ora assumes a syntactic or better textual role. It becomes a "signal of articulation" or "demarcation" as it demarcates the internal structure of the text and indicates the change of theme by finding an ascending pitch at the beginning of the paragraph. Berretta classifies it as a textual and non-temporal demarcation. Its degree of semanticity is connected to the fact that, unlike those connectives that make explicit a precise semantic relationship between parts of text (as in fact or in conclusion), the connective ora does not have this function but simply expresses a continuation relationship, contributing equally to structure the text within it. From the examples examined, it appears that pragmatic-textual ora can signal an introduction or presentation (of a new theme), the transition between parts of the action (or the turning point of the story), the argumentative conclusion or distinguish two moments of the narrative. Considering that the degree of explicitness is still quite low, ora tends to combine into sequences (Ora invece i nostri telegiornali), unlike the more complex forms that allow the insertion of other connectives within them. Both phenomena seem to be brought back to a general principle of embedding or recursion, if it is true, as it seems, that the juxtaposed or inserted connectives connect pieces of text - 'conjoined', different and / or of different amplitude. So ora connects the following to the previous unit: it introduces a new topic / theme / question by acting as a bridge between two units of the text. Examining the passage from the adverb of time to the textual connective we can take into consideration Berretta's thesis that "the distinction between the semantic or propositional or referential level (the facts we are talking about) and the pragmatic or textual or discursive level (where no facts are relevant as much as talking about them) is largely intuitive” (246). Unlike the relationships of a factual nature (such as the temporal collocation of events) which are the object of the discourse and which are based on encyclopedic notions, the use of time presupposes the intervention of the speaker / writer in the organization of his speech (signaling the resumption of an interrupted speech or a new orientation or a change in the theme of its text). The main argument to argue that ora, in some contexts, is a real discursive signal lies in the fact that ora, like some other textual connectives, shows syntactic autonomy tending to place itself at the beginning of a sentence (or, more often, paragraph, as reported in the various examples) and is frequently followed (or preceded) by a pause. Furthermore, it is impossible: to subject it to negation Non ora invece i nostri telegiornali), while the negated form is acceptable when ora acts as an adverb of time (Se non ora, quando?); to topicalize it (with the formula è… che; the thing becomes possible when ora is not pragmatic-textual but semantic-temporal: è ora che impari a vivere); to modify it with adverbs, while it is possible when ora is temporal adverb and not a connective (Mi dispiace lasciarti proprio ora). With this paper we have tried to highlight some properties of the grammaticalization of ora and the analysis of its semantic change: from an adverb of time with the meaning now, in this instant, it has taken on the textual function of a discursive signal. We first established when and how this change took place by practically going back to the origins of poetry and prose in the vernacular. The semantic change that characterizes the grammaticalization of ora is of a metonymic type and arises from pragmatic inferences in specific contexts. The pragmatic inferences underlying semantic change normally entail a progressive abstraction and subjectivization of the original (temporal) meaning, which in other words acquires a value further away from the starting concrete and objective referent and more oriented towards the speaker's perspective. The path of semantic and functional change takes place in three stages. The first concerns the original meaning (which in turn may be the result of previous grammaticalization processes: ora derives from the Latin ablative of the noun hora. However, this change does not play a role in the evolution of the textual value). The second concerns pragmatic inference (within the semantic and syntactic contexts in which ora can occur, there may be some semantically and structurally ambiguous between the original temporal meaning and a different meaning). In the third stage, the structural and semantic ambiguity disappears and the identification of two different uses with autonomous meanings is achieved. The syntactic context no longer allows an interpretation based on the original temporal meaning: ora can be interpreted only as a discursive signal. In the other syntactic contexts, however, the element systematically maintains the original function and the construction has a temporal meaning.