Through the sociolinguistic lens - The periphrastic construction “motion verb + a + infinitive” in Italian

This study examines the grammaticalization of Italian motion verbs (andare ‘to go’, venire ‘to come’, tornare ‘to come back’) in the “motion verb + a + infinitive” construction, focusing on their aspectual meanings (culminative, inchoative-imminential, iterative). The analysis of speech and written corpora (KIParla and CORIS respectively) reveals diaphasic and diamesic variations. Formal written Italian shows higher percentage of use of aspectual values, while the periphrastic constructions seem to be used to a lower degree in spontaneous speech. Additionally, corpora investigation indicates that the inchoative-imminential aspect is more frequent in speech than in written texts.