Abstract

Originally attested as a noun with either a taxonomic or a indefinite function, the word tipo underwent a process of grammaticalisation until it assumed the modern usage as discursive signal. In this study we intend to add a piece to the history of this word, with particular reference to the first attestations of non-nominal uses. Some interesting examples allow us to identify, for the non-nominal uses of tipo, a transition from a sectoral context to less marked contexts, in which the word has taken on different semantic features.