Últimamente: functional and semantic shift

Abstract

The twenty-second edition of DRAE notes that últimamente has two adverbial type meanings, i. e. one adverbial meaning of manner - por ultimo - and another adverbial meaning of time that links with hace poco tiempo, recientemente. However, the time value does not appear in the dictionary until 1985, when, initially, the following formulation is used: hace poco, en el tiempo que acaba de transcurrir. This value, clearly the central or prototypical in modern Peninsular Spanish, contrasts, however, with the earlier functions assumed by this particle. Thus últimamente was equivalent to finalmente, por último término and therefore was used to insert either the closing segment of a multiple event chain arranged according to chronological criteria, or to indicate a sequence of elements in discourse without temporal marking. This research focuses on analyzing the changes in the particle últimamente until it acquired its current temporal function, i.e. recientemente, de un tiempo a esta parte. For the study we set up and analyzed a corpus formed ad hoc with samples taken from the CORDE and CREA (RAE), examining (i) the potential connection between diachronic uses of últimamente and the tense of the sentence in which it appears, (ii) its use as a discourse sequencing marker and (iii) the semantic shift of these functions towards the contemporary meaning i.e. recientemente, de un tiempo a esta parte. The analysis provided shows the time at which the particle reaches the innovative semantic function and the semantic process of substitution or reduction of the original meaning.