Expressivity and Semantic Change

Abstract In comparison with the inspiring body of research on synchronic aspects of expressivity, perspectives on the underlying diachronic dynamics have remained rather understudied. To fill this gap, this contribution reinterprets existing case studies within a multidimensional framework featuring descriptive and expressive meaning and identifies several change paths. Generally, the well-known subjectification path and the rather controversial desubjectification path are shown to guide the rise and loss of expressivity. More specifically, three non-type-shifting and three type-shifting paths are identified and discussed in detail. Beside their description, it turns out that they are brought about by some but not all of the mechanisms that are typically held to be relevant in semantic change in general. From a wider perspective, this can be interpreted as further evidence in flavor of treating expressivity as a separate meaning dimension and highlights the merits that the diachronic perspective can bring.