Discourse markers from processes of monologization: two case studies from Italian

The article examines the process of "monologization" in the diachrony of discourse markers, which refers to the transition of originally dialogic expressions into autonomous monologic uses. Through two case studies in Italian—(e) niente and che poi—the study demonstrates how these markers have developed new topic-orienting functions, gradually detaching from their original dialogic structure. The analysis is based on data from two spoken Italian corpora, LIP/VoLIP (1990–1992) and KIParla (2016–2019), highlighting the evolution of these markers over a 25-year period. The paper underscores the connection between interactional and discourse-management functions in processes of language change, showing that monologization is a pervasive source of discourse markers due to their inherently interactional nature.