Article published In:
Parts of Speech: Descriptive tools, theoretical constructsEdited by Umberto Ansaldo, Jan Don and Roland Pfau
[Studies in Language 32:3] 2008
► pp. 701–726
Edited by Umberto Ansaldo, Jan Don and Roland Pfau
[Studies in Language 32:3] 2008
► pp. 701–726
Degree words, intensification, and word class distinctions in Romance languages
This paper emphasises the explanatory possibilities of a parts-of-speech theory in which the notions of differentiation, flexibility, and rigidity are not perceived as mutually exclusive typological paths, but as potentially compatible grammatical strategies. The type of analysis such a theory makes possible is first applied to Spanish quantifiers and subsequently extended to degree words expressing intensification in modern Romance languages. The paper also pays attention to the formal mechanisms associated with the expression of degree words. One of the most significant conclusions is that degree words classified as differentiated adverbs tend to function as modifiers of modifiers. The modification of predicates and that of terms (especially, mass nouns) are roles usually played by flexible modifiers.
Cited by
Cited by 3 other publications
Aaron, Jessi Elana
Giomi, Riccardo
2022. Similatives are Manners, comparatives are Quantities (except when they aren’t). Open Linguistics 8:1 ► pp. 650 ff. 
Pan, Yun
2022. Intensification for discursive evaluation: a corpus-pragmatic view. Text & Talk 42:3 ► pp. 391 ff.
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