221its effects. The nuanced differences in meaning between only , merely , and just
undoubtedly account for the preference for just in this construction.^32
The frequency and functions of the progressive are also important to the
development. We see a steadily increasing frequency of the progressive dur-
ing this period (Kranich 2010 : 90ff.), for example, from 758.55 per million
in 1810 to 2,850.36 per million in 1910 in COHA.^33 More importantly, the
progressive is understood as having a subjective element, expressing speaker
attitude and evaluation as well as emotion. Kranich , for example, cites the
difference between I wonder whether he’ll come and I’m just wondering
whether he’ll come as a matter of tentativeness, downtoning, and politeness
in the case of the latter (2010: 62– 63; see 61ff. and 202ff.). Interestingly,
she does not comment on the use of just in this example. As a subjective use
of the progressive, she also cites a use in the narrative foreground identifi ed
by Couper- Kuhlen ( 1995 ; cited in Kranich 2010 : 67– 68), again not remark-
ing upon the appearance of just : She starts singing in Norwegian and I am
just cracking up ... people are just looking around .... It thus seems that the
semantics of just and its increasing frequency, combined with the subjective
nature of the progressive and its increasing frequency, are critical factors in
the development of I’m just saying.
7.3.5 Origin of All/ What I’m Saying (Is)
Traugott ( 2008 : 156– 163; also Traugott and Trousdale 2013: 138– 145) dis-
cusses the history of all- pseudo- clefts. The earliest instances occur around
1600, with either say or do , and all in the sense of ‘everything.’^34 All comes
to signify ‘only, nothing but,’ especially in negative contexts, which trigger a
“below expectation” scalar reading, e.g.:^35
(37) All I said was this , That we doe not separate from other Churches, but from their
Accidentall Errours (1658 Bramhall, Schisme Garded [EEBO, cited in Traugott
2008 : 159])
32 Wierzbicka ( 1986 : 600) compares the use of She’s merely a child or She’s just a child after a
child has spoken. The former would be used when trying to dismiss the child’s words as unim-
portant whereas the latter would be uttered in order to protect the child from criticism.
33 Search string: [ be ] [v?g*] (August 18, 2015).
34 This meaning can still be found in Present- day English, as in All that I command is yours now
(BYU- BNC; cited in Kay 2013 : 36).
35 Traugott ( 2008 : 160– 163) argues that all- clefts arose in dialogic contexts (where something
one person said or did may not be enough for another), with dialogicity becoming seman-
ticized in the construction, hence the change in meaning from ‘everything’ to ‘only.’ Kay
( 2013 : 37) suggests that it is the all’s or all as cleft that forces the ‘below expectation’ reading
in PDE since such clefts never allow the universal quantifi er reading.
7.3 (I’m) Just Saying and Related Comment Clauses