Adore it or hate it, nonliteral ‘actually’ is right here to remain: Right here’s why English will survive

Few phrases so rile language purists as the usage of the adverb “actually” in a figurative sense, as in, “That film actually blew my thoughts.”

However as a linguist who research how English has modified over the centuries, I can promise that, whereas it would really feel like nails screeching on a blackboard, the usage of nonliteral “actually” developed as an natural and dynamic outgrowth of the very human need to speak emotion and depth.

The literal previous

The phrase literal first appeared in English within the late 14th century, borrowed from French. In flip, French “literal” got here from Latin “littera,” with the unique that means of “pertaining to alphabetic letters.” It’s this identical root that delivered to English the phrases “literate” and “literature,” each reminiscent of the concept of understanding one’s “letters.”

In early English use, literal referred to the simple that means recoverable from studying a non secular textual content, as on this instance from the Wycliffe Bible relationship to 1383, “Holy scripture hath iiij vndirstondingis; literal, allegorik, ethical, and anagogik.” The phrase literal as used right here contrasts a direct – literal – studying of scripture’s that means to different extra symbolic or metaphorical ones.

By the late sixteenth century, although, literal begins for use not simply in reference to a sort of studying but additionally as a approach to emphasize that one needs one’s phrases to be taken actually.

This improvement is already a semantic leap in that, when used this fashion – as in, “John actually died of thirst” – the phrase offers no that means contribution apart from emphasizing to a listener {that a} speaker means it exactly as mentioned. In spite of everything, assuming John did certainly die owing to an absence of hydration, what does a speaker actually achieve by saying “He actually died of thirst” versus merely “He died of thirst”?

The benefit is that utilizing “actually” alerts that what was mentioned was uncommon, unbelievable or exceptional ultimately, steering a listener towards a literal fairly than a maybe extra doubtless figurative interpretation.

In spite of everything, dying of thirst is just not one thing you hear about daily, although affected by thirst to the purpose the place one seems like dying is a extra common expertise. Such pragmatic enhancement of the phrase’s unique that means hints at how its fashionable marking of robust emphasis got here into play.

Bleached past recognition

The second piece of the puzzle of how “actually” grew to become nonliteral requires a quick foray into how phrase meanings organically evolve over time as they’re put to work by audio system.

A really germane instance comes from “very,” a phrase during which its commonest that means – “extraordinarily” – is however a shadow of its unique sense.

In Center English, “very” carried the that means of “precise” or “true,” as in being “verray in worde and dede” – that’s, true in phrase and deed. But, when one thing is true, notably when utilized in its “precise” sense, it means that it embodies the very best diploma of no matter high quality is described as true.

So, as an example, if somebody is a “true idiot,” they exhibit such a excessive diploma of foolishness they’re taken for an precise idiot. Used this fashion, two distinct however associated meanings – “true” and “to an excessive diploma” – come to coexist.

By the sixteenth century, depth fairly than trueness had change into the phrase very’s main sense, by means of a course of that linguists seek advice from as “semantic bleaching.” Apparently, phrases whose meanings contain reality, comparable to very, actually and actually, are notably susceptible to semantic bleaching. And “reality,” as in “precisely as mentioned or written,” takes us again to “actually.”

Rather less literal

Recall that “actually” as soon as pertained solely to contrasting a literal versus metaphorical studying.

However, as with “very,” by the sixteenth century, its that means shifts away from this purely referential that means to a extra rhetorical one: “Actually” had shifted to emphasizing a speaker’s literalness and flagging it as exceptional ultimately.

At that time, offering expressivity fairly than a real or literal studying had change into its main function. Simply think about an argument between spouses, the place one says “I actually referred to as you 3 times.” The aim of “actually” right here is actually solely one in every of underscoring the implication that calling 3 times was extreme and weird.

From there to hyperbolically saying “I used to be actually dying of thirst” is only one step additional down the street of semantic bleaching. The figurative studying turns into an increasing number of attainable, as audio system capitalize solely on the expressive power fairly than the phrase’s former shell of literality.

That is actually no totally different than saying one thing like “I’m actually dying over right here” when one is pissed off, however is, in truth, not truly dying. It’s depth conveyed, not imminent loss of life, as “actually” has moved from marking reality to marking emphasis.

Signal of the occasions

However what of utilizing “actually” to imply one thing seemingly contradictory to its unique that means?

On that entrance, it’s definitely removed from the primary phrase in English to have shifted towards its reverse. For example, when in 1667’s “Paradise Misplaced” John Milton writes, “The Serpent … with brazen Eyes And hairie Predominant terrific,” the phrase “terrific” is totally meant in its unique sense of “terrifying”“ versus our fashionable “fabulous” take.

Generally, conflicting senses even exist on the identical time. Consider how “clipping” could be about reducing one thing away or pulling one thing collectively. Likewise, think about the usually oppositionally employed verb “to cleave,” with which one both tears aside or sticks collectively. On this larger semantic image, utilizing “actually” nonfiguratively is actually nothing to get labored up over.

The gist is that language adjustments due to the way it finds itself most gainfully employed by audio system because it winds its approach by means of time.

Actually’s essential drawback is that, not like “terrific” or “very,” its semantic previous has not but pale from collective reminiscence. However for individuals who nonetheless cling to its literalness although Frances Brooke, Charles Dickens and Mark Twain all embraced its figurative glory, it might merely be time to actually let go.