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Abstract Abstract: The present study delves into the lexicalization difference of pragmatic markers (PM) in English, Mandarin and other 6 languages in the synchronic sense, trying to explore factors which affect the lexicalization. Evidence from these languages shows that lexicalization of PM is higher in morphologically rich languages than that in languages short of morphological devices, which suggests that morphological devices play an important role in the lexicalization of PM: the fewer morphological devices a language has, the less likely for it to employ lexical items to encode the complex eventive information in PM. It should also be noted that morphological feature is not the sufficient condition but only one necessary condition for PM’s lexicalization. Other factors like mighty categories in a language’s inventory, pragmatic and language evolutionary mechanisms may also have effects on PM’s lexicalization.
Key words: pragmatic markers; lexicalization; event semantics
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