From intersubjective to textual through monologization. A case study from Italian

Monologization, a term introduced by Sansò (2022), describes how structures primarily used in dialogues evolve into markers with text-organizing functions in monologues, such as topic progression and reformulation. An example of this is the emergence of the discourse marker che poi (lit. ‘relativizer + then’) in Italian. In its dialogic use, che poi involves the relativizer che referring to an antecedent in previous turns, with poi marking the following segment as shared knowledge. In its innovative monologic use, however, che poi no longer requires an antecedent for the relativizer and instead simply signals the start of a parenthetical remark that introduces shared knowledge. In this article, I will present a more detailed framework for analyzing instances of monologization, focusing on the extent to which this term can be applied to cases of intersubjective-to-textual development. To achieve this goal, I will examine a case study of monologization: the emergence of the textual uses of the Italian discourse marker vabbè. Derived from va bene (lit. ‘(it) goes well’) through univerbation, vabbè in its original dialogic use is employed by the speaker to interrupt their interlocutor, often challenging an assertion or inference. In monologues, vabbè serves to interrupt the speaker’s own discourse, often abruptly, before introducing a new argument, rephrasing an idea, or changing topics entirely. The analysis suggests that markers for topic management often emerge through monologization, as their secondary functions become independent of their original dialogic uses.