“Not gonna lie, that’s a real bummer”—The Usualization of the Pragmatic Marker not gonna lie

• Published in: Languages (Basel) Vol. 10; no. 8; p. 186
• Main Author: Benker, Nicole
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 29.07.2025
• Subjects: American English; Case studies; Conformity; Discourse functions; Grammar; Grammaticalization; Language; Language usage; Linguistics; Noun phrases; Politeness; Pragmatics; Prepositional phrases; Syntax
• ISSN: 2226-471X; 2226-471X
• DOI: 10.3390/languages10080186

This study is concerned with the formal and functional development of the pragmatic marker not gonna lie. It comprises a detailed investigation into the usage and development of not gonna lie in American English. This study shows that not gonna lie develops from the clause NP BE not going to lie to NP. From its earliest attestations onward, the marker occurs in contexts carrying face threats, which points towards face-threat mitigation as its main function. This discourse function can only be observed for variants with first-person subjects and you in the prepositional phrase (if present). The later omission of elements through the course of the development indicates an increase in syntactic autonomy. The remaining chunk, not gonna lie, leaves little room for variability and is dominated by its discursive function. The findings are interpreted through the lens of usualization as described in the Entrenchment-and-Conventionalization Model. This dynamic, usage-based and cognitive model of language use and change lends itself to providing a fine-grained description and explanation of the grammaticalization-like processes observed in this case study.