"Vraiment" et "réellement" en contraste: analyse syntaxique, sémantique et discursive

This article focuses on the French adverbs vraiment and reellement . Despite their semantic similarities, these adverbs have not yet been the subject of an extensive contrastive analysis. My classification, focusing in particular on the polyfunctionality of vraiment and reellement in their present-day uses, is based on a large corpus of attested examples. The results of this contrastive analysis are interpreted within the theoretical framework of grammaticalization and pragmaticalization and provide evidence for a more advanced development of the uses of vraiment , both as to the grammaticalization and the pragmaticalization processes. I will propose a number of interpretations taking into consideration the semantic fields represented by both forms, their diachronic evolution and the existence of competing forms.