219-7677
10
7500817
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Marketing Department / Karin Plijnaar, Pieter Lamers
onix@benjamins.nl
201801191037
ONIX title feed
eng
01
EUR
294017079
03
01
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JB
John Benjamins Publishing Company
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JB code
SLCS 189 Eb
15
9789027265128
06
10.1075/slcs.189
13
2018001613
DG
002
02
01
SLCS
02
0165-7763
Studies in Language Companion Series
189
01
Exploring Intensification
Synchronic, diachronic and cross-linguistic perspectives
01
slcs.189
01
https://benjamins.com
02
https://benjamins.com/catalog/slcs.189
1
B01
Maria Napoli
Napoli, Maria
Maria
Napoli
University of Eastern Piedmont
2
B01
Miriam Ravetto
Ravetto, Miriam
Miriam
Ravetto
University of Eastern Piedmont
01
eng
402
vii
394
LAN009060
v.2006
CFK
2
24
JB Subject Scheme
LIN.SEMAN
Semantics
24
JB Subject Scheme
LIN.SYNTAX
Syntax
24
JB Subject Scheme
LIN.THEOR
Theoretical linguistics
06
01
This book is the first collective volume specifically devoted to the multifaceted phenomenon of intensification, which has been traditionally regarded as related to the expression of degree, scaling a quality downwards or upwards. In spite of the large amount of studies on intensifiers, there is still a need for the characterization of intensification as a distinct functional category in the domain of modification. The eighteen papers of the volume contribute to this aim with a new approach (mainly corpus-based). They focus on intensification from different perspectives (both synchronic and diachronic) and theoretical frameworks, concern ancient languages (Hittite, Greek, Latin) and modern languages (mainly Italian, German, English, Kiswahili), and involve different levels of analysis. They also identify and examine different types of intensifiers, applied to different forms and structures, such as adverbs, adjectives, evaluative affixes, discourse markers, reduplication, exclamative clauses, coordination, prosodic elements, and shed light on issues which have not been extensively studied so far.
05
Maria Napoli and Miriam Ravetto have successfully put together an edited volume, focussing on theoretical aspects of the semantics and pragmatics of intensification, and corpus based studies of realizations of intensification ranging from single word forms to larger chunks, intensification and prosody, and the appearance of new expressions and the decline of others. The book takes stock of previous work in this fascinating field of research, provides new insights in a range of languages and poses questions for future research. In addition to the editors’ eminent introductory overview, the volume offers 18 engaging and well-written chapters, grouped together in a clear and lucid way. It is a most stimulating and extremely readable book – a must for anybody interested in intensifiers and intensification.
Carita Paradis, Lund University
05
This volume provides new data, descriptions, and insights in the challenging and intriguing phenomenon of intensification. Recurring themes in the volume are the relation between intensification and other notional categories like comparison, focusing, and evaluation, the distribution of intensifiers across different text types and sociolinguistic parameters, and in particular the objective vs. subjective, emotional-evaluative, dimension of intensification. As Ekkehard König, in his contribution to the volume, puts it : “More often than not, the use of intensifiers tells us more about a speaker than about the situation described”.
Ad Foolen, Radboud University
05
The eighteen high-quality papers in this volume make for a most enlightening and stimulating read. The overall structure of the collection not only presents the reader with a wide variety of approaches to intensification (historical, cross-linguistic, sociolinguistic and corpus-based), but does so through discussions of a wide variety of languages other than English, and thus the volume constitutes a much needed and very valuable contribution to the field.
Zeltia Blanco-Suárez, University of Santiago de Compostela, in Journal of Historical Pragmatics 23:2 (2022).
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JB code
slcs.189.01nap
1
12
12
Chapter
1
01
New insights on intensification and intensifiers
1
A01
Maria Napoli
Napoli, Maria
Maria
Napoli
Università del Piemonte Orientale
2
A01
Miriam Ravetto
Ravetto, Miriam
Miriam
Ravetto
Università del Piemonte Orientale
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.p1
Section header
2
01
Part I. The category of intensification
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.02kon
15
32
18
Chapter
3
01
Chapter 1. The comparative basis of intensification
1
A01
Ekkehard König
König, Ekkehard
Ekkehard
König
Freie Universität Berlin/Universität Freiburg
20
comparison
20
demonstratives
20
exclamatives
20
intensifiers
20
semantic typology
01
This paper argues that the ubiquitous cognitive process of comparing and the resultant judgements of similarity and dissimilarity also underlie the semantic processes of intensification and grading to a large extent. This comparative basis is visible both in the formal properties of many intensifiers and in central aspects of their semantics: Intensifiers may overtly encode a comparison (e.g. <i>crystal clear, royally, outstanding</i>) and an emotional reaction to a comparison (<i>surprisingly, frightfully</i>), or they may imply a comparison with a covert standard in endocentric expansions of simple adjectival predications. In order to gain a new perspective on their meaning, the relations between intensifiers, on the one hand, and demonstratives, exclamatives and comparative constructions, on the other, are analyzed and a semantic typology of comparative constructions is outlined and discussed in relation to the central hypothesis.
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.03ghe
33
54
22
Chapter
4
01
Chapter 2. Intensification and focusing
The case of <i>pure(ly)</i> and <i>mere(ly</i>)
1
A01
Lobke Ghesquière
Ghesquière, Lobke
Lobke
Ghesquière
University of Mons
20
(inter)subjectivity
20
adjectives
20
adverbs
20
focusing
20
intensification
20
interpersonal modification
20
scalarity
01
Intensification or degree modification by means of adverbs and adjectives has been the object of linguistic study for many years, yet there is still a need for clear delineation of this functional category. This study focuses on the differences and similarities between the functional domains of intensification and focusing. The latter function has mainly been described for adverbs, with little attention to its adjectival realizations and to its relation to intensification. By means of corpus studies of <i>pure, purely, mere</i> and <i>merely</i>, it is shown that intensification and focusing are similar to some extent, both engaging in interpersonal modification (McGregor 1997), yet also distinct with intensification being semantically scalar, attitudinal and inherently subjective and focusing being only potentially pragmatically scalar, rhetorical and textually intersubjective.
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.04gra
55
78
24
Chapter
5
01
Chapter 3. Intensification processes in Italian
A survey
1
A01
Nicola Grandi
Grandi, Nicola
Nicola
Grandi
Università di Bologna
20
augmentative
20
evaluative morphology
20
prefixation
20
reduplication
20
suffixation
20
superlative
20
synonymy
01
In this paper intensification will be considered an instantiation of evaluative morphology. Intensification will be defined as a uniform semantic-functional operation formally performed by different strategies. The main goal of this paper is to survey these formal strategies in order to understand the reciprocal relationships among them and in order to understand which of them can be considered the most typical expressions of this semantic operation. My main focus will be on Italian. After a brief survey of the constructions usually used to express intensification in contemporary Italian, I will concentrate on two specific issues: the synonymy among the intensifiers described in the first part of the article and the internal structure of constructions where more intensifiers are present at the same time. In this way, it will be possible to single out which are the most typical Italian intensifiers.
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.05cas
79
98
20
Chapter
6
01
Chapter 4. Noun classification in Kiswahili
Linguistic strategies to intensify or to reduce
1
A01
Marina Castagneto
Castagneto, Marina
Marina
Castagneto
Università del Piemonte Orientale
20
diminution
20
evaluation
20
intensification
20
Kiswahili
20
noun classes
01
The evaluation strategies in Kiswahili display an ambiguous status between inflection (as it was in Proto-Bantu, where classes 12–13, 19 expressed diminution, and classes 20–23 intensification) and derivation. In Modern Kiswahili these classes are lost, and the evaluative category arises by means of a highly productive derivational rule shifting a noun stem to another class: to class 5 for augmentatives, to class 7 for diminutives, because of the semantics of these classes.
<br />The morpheme <i>(−)ji-</i>, originally the prefix marker of class 5, is actually admitted also within a word after another class prefix, sanctioning the birth of noun derivational morphology in Kiswahili: in most cases it has become a morpheme of intensification, but sometimes it can mark a change in size, either augmentative or diminutive.
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.p2
Section header
7
01
Part II. Strategies of intensification in ancient languages: Hittite, Greek and Latin
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.06dar
101
126
26
Chapter
8
01
Chapter 5. Intensification and intensifying modification in Hittite
1
A01
Paola Dardano
Dardano, Paola
Paola
Dardano
Università per Stranieri di Siena
20
graduation of adjectives
20
Hittite language
20
lexical intensification
20
morphological intensification
20
reduplication
01
The present paper aims to describe intensification and intensifying modification in Hittite, a member of the Anatolian sub-branch of the extensive Indo-European family. Particular attention will be devoted to the following two questions: (i) Which are the most widespread means of intensification in Hittite? and (ii) Which linguistic levels are involved in the expression of intensification (phonological, grammatical, lexical, pragmatic or textual)? Using a corpus-based approach, the study integrates both quantitative and qualitative observations from a theoretical perspective that provides a semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic account of the intensification markers in different documented texts and genres in Hittite.
10
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slcs.189.07mel
127
146
20
Chapter
9
01
Chapter 6. Diminutives in Ancient Greek
Intensification and subjectivity
1
A01
Chiara Meluzzi
Meluzzi, Chiara
Chiara
Meluzzi
Scuola Normale Superiore
20
Ancient Greek
20
Aristophanes
20
diminutives
20
subjectivity
01
This work analyzes diminutives in three Ancient Greek comedies by Aristophanes. Although this work may not be strictly defined as morphopragmatic in the very specific sense of the term provided by Dressler & Merlini Barbaresi (1994: 56–7), many considerations emerged within this theoretical framework. Ancient Greek diminutives were usually considered as related to gender: Fögen (2004: 228) refers to diminutives only as markers of emotion, with a “general tendency of women to be more affective or emotional than men”. However, data emerging from the analysis of Aristophanes’ three female comedies do not justify this claim. Another interpretation may be advanced: diminutives could be seen as markers of subjectivity, since they fulfill the function of indexing a speaker’s perspective, viewpoint and attitude (Athanasiadou 2007: 554), and also of affecting the addressee’s positive and negative faces (Brown & Levinson 1987).
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.08fed
147
170
24
Chapter
10
01
Chapter 7. <i>Nulla sum, nulla sum: Tota, tota occidi</i>
Repetition as a (rare) strategy of intensification in Latin
1
A01
Chiara Fedriani
Fedriani, Chiara
Chiara
Fedriani
Università di Genova
20
degree intensification
20
illocutionary intensification
20
Latin
20
pragmatics
20
repetition
01
Repetition of a linguistic form is a widespread strategy in the world’s languages to express a number of related functions, such as pluralization, distribution, collectivity and, crucially, intensification. This last function is the core meaning expressed by word repetition in Latin, a language where this copying process does not constitute a morphological rule, but rather an occasional mean to express intensification among the typical grammaticalized strategies (prefixes, the superlative suffix ‑<i>issimus</i>, and adverbs). This paper firstly provides a survey of forms and functions of repetition in Latin and suggests a distinction between <sc>degree</sc> and <sc>illocutionary intensification</sc> depending on their specific meaning, their scope, and the status of the source involved. Secondly, it contains a corpus-based study of word repetition based on the Plautine comedies, providing evidence about its uses and productivity effects across different lexical categories. The paper closes with a reassessment of the status of repetition as a pragmatic strategy of intensification in Latin, with a focus on Plautus, also offering some diachronic remarks.
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.p3
Section header
11
01
Part III. Strategies of intensification in modern languages: Italian, German, English
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.09fio
173
192
20
Chapter
12
01
Chapter 8. Intensifiers between grammar and pragmatics
A lesson from a language contact situation
1
A01
Ilaria Fiorentini
Fiorentini, Ilaria
Ilaria
Fiorentini
2
A01
Andrea Sansó
Sansó, Andrea
Andrea
Sansó
Università dell'Insubria
20
borrowing
20
intensifiers
20
Italian
20
Ladin
20
language contact
20
pragmatics
01
Intensification is a more pervasive phenomenon than usually thought, involving modification and scaling at different levels. Besides adjectives and adverbs, also the epistemic stance and the illocutionary force of speech acts can be modulated (Bazzanella et al. 1991; Ghezzi 2013). The strategies speakers use to weaken or intensify the speaker’s epistemic stance and the illocutionary force of the utterance include the class of so-called discourse markers (Bazzanella 1995, 2006), such as, for instance, hedges and boosters, which are hearer-oriented and “work as social and politeness markers” (Bazzanella 2006: 463), and modalizers, which modify the speaker’s commitment towards the propositional content. This article aims to investigate these strategies in a specific language contact situation, which turns out to be a privileged vantage point to tease out the manifestations of intensification in everyday language use. We will focus on the Ladin-Italian (and German) contact area in Trentino-South Tyrol (Northern Italy), with a view to identifying the strategies that bilingual speakers adopt to express intensification in their speech. The results of the investigation show that there are different borrowability rates in the adoption of intensifiers from the pragmatically dominant languages (Italian and German), whereby intensifiers with a strong intersubjective function such as those modifying the illocutionary force of the utterance are borrowed more easily than intensifiers operating at lower (i.e. propositional or subjective) levels.
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.10cos
193
206
14
Chapter
13
01
Chapter 9. Stress and tones as intensifying operators in German
1
A01
Gianluca Cosentino
Cosentino, Gianluca
Gianluca
Cosentino
Università di Pisa
20
accents
20
contour choice
20
conversation structure
20
information structure
20
prosodic intensification
20
speakers' attitudes
20
tones
01
Unlike the classic, most widely studied phenomena, prosody has been insufficiently investigated as form of linguistic intensification. This paper attempts to look upon some prosodic features as independent means of intensification in German. Accents, tones and contour choice may open up the possibility of distinguishing between intensified and unintensified predicates, however this differentiation cannot be described within a gradually increasing system, but it is only measurable within a bipolar, two-dimensional scale.
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.11sie
207
228
22
Chapter
14
01
Chapter 10. English exclamative clauses and interrogative degree modification
1
A01
Peter Siemund
Siemund, Peter
Peter
Siemund
Universität Hamburg
20
degree modification
20
exclamations
20
exclamative clauses
20
intensifiers
20
interrogative words
01
I here explore the relationship between interrogative degree modification (<i>What a mess!</i>; <i>How awful!</i>) and exclamative clauses like <i>What a wonderful conference we had</i> or <i>How wonderful this conference was</i>. The former are usually viewed as derived from the latter by means of ellipsis. The ellipsis account is based on the prerogative of clausal over non-clausal structures, a silent assumption behind much of contemporary grammatical reasoning. My study provides quantitative evidence that this reasoning may well have to go into the opposite direction. It is based on the <i>British National Corpus</i> and the <i>International Corpus of English, British Component</i>.
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.p4
Section header
15
01
Part IV. Contrastive analysis of intensification in Italian and German
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.12sal
231
250
20
Chapter
16
01
Chapter 11. A pragmatic view on intensification
Expansions in German and Italian
1
A01
Katharina Salzmann
Salzmann, Katharina
Katharina
Salzmann
Istituto Italiano di Studi Germanici (Roma)
20
expansions
20
illocutionary force modification
20
intensification
20
pragmatic upgrading
20
semantic upgrading
01
The aim of this paper is to show that <i>Expansionen</i> (‘expansions’), a category belonging to the grammar of spoken German, in addition to other functions described in previous studies (Salzmann 2017), can serve as intensifiers both in German and Italian. For this purpose, I will first define the concept of <i>expansion</i> and afterwards establish a definition of intensification that can be applied to the analysis of expansions. Intensification is considered as a phenomenon with both semantic and pragmatic aspects, which can be analysed at all levels of the speech act (locution, illocution and perlocution). The central part of this article is dedicated to the interpretation of various examples from a bilingual corpus of academic talks held at conferences.
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.13mal
251
264
14
Chapter
17
01
Chapter 12. Intensifying structures of adjectives across German and Italian
1
A01
Patrizio Malloggi
Malloggi, Patrizio
Patrizio
Malloggi
Università di Pisa
20
equivalences and divergences between German and Italian
20
intensification
20
structures of adjective intensification in German and Italian
01
Grading and intensifying are primary cognitive operations that have an important expressive function. This paper analyses examples of composition, prefix‑ and suffix-derivation as adjective formation methods that intensify the meaning of adjectives in the German (e.g. <i>eiskalt, blitzschnell, steinreich, erzfrech, urgesund, superelegant</i> etc.) and Italian (e.g. <i>ricco sfondato, stanco morto</i>; <i>strafelice, straricco</i> etc.) language. Both languages have wide range of possibilities for intensifying the meaning of adjectives: In the German language, research literature (Fleischer & Barz 1995; Eichinger 2000; Kirschbaum 2002) states that composition and prefix-derivation are the most used methods of adjective intensification. Italian, like other Romance languages, intensifies adjectives through the absolute superlative with the Latin-derived suffix ‑<i>issimo</i> or with some intensifying prefixes derived from Greek, Latin or English (<i>iperattivo, ultranazionale, supergentile</i> etc.) (Rainer 1983; Costa 1997; Serianni 2006). This paper focuses on the argument that even if German and Italian are two languages belonging to a different language family, they share some means to express intensity in adjectives. The data used for this analysis will be mainly extracted from the most relevant monolingual encyclopaedic dictionaries as comparative databases.
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.14fos
265
288
24
Chapter
18
01
Chapter 13. The coordination of identical conjuncts as a means of strengthening expressions in German and Italian
1
A01
Marina Foschi
Foschi, Marina
Marina
Foschi
Università di Pisa
20
coordination
20
German-Italian contrastive linguistics
20
grammar vs. style
20
intensification
01
The article deals with syntactic units which are formed in German and in Italian by means of coordination of identical conjuncts with <i>und</i> or <i>e</i>. The resulting structure can be characterized as <i>x ˄ x</i>. <i>x ˄ x</i> units show weak productivity with a strong tendency to idiomaticity. They are often seen as stylistic means and idiomatic expressions to which the general rules of coordination do not strictly apply. Coordination of identical conjuncts is usually viewed as a case of “false coordination”, wherein the <i>und/e</i> conjugation does not have linking function. <i>x ˄ x</i> expressions are often used for specific stylistic effects, including intensification. Based on the observation of about 100 authentic examples in both languages, the article offers a description of different types of <i>x ˄ x</i> structures, in order to focus on those serving as intensifiers. The main issues addressed regard the roles of reduplication and conjunction in the intensification and the status of <i>x ˄ x</i> structures (independent groups or idioms). First contrastive observations are offered about frequency, form and function of <i>x ˄ x</i> structures in German and in Italian.
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.15bon
289
304
16
Chapter
19
01
Chapter 14. What does reduplication intensify?
The semantics and pragmatics of reduplicated forms in Italian and their equivalents in German
1
A01
Silvia Bonacchi
Bonacchi, Silvia
Silvia
Bonacchi
University of Warsaw
20
embodied communication
20
implicatures
20
intensification
20
modulation of affective intensity
20
reduplication
01
In the present paper, the semantics of reduplication forms in Italian is analyzed on the basis of their <i>intensifying</i> pragmatic functions in regard to their base-forms (duration, graduation, modulation, disambiguation, accreditation of speaker, appeal to hearer) and to their “embodied” character (evoking gestuality and suprasegmentality) and compared with their possible equivalents in German. Reduplicative forms in Italian not only modify the truth-conditional value of verbal units – in the direction of a quantitative or qualitative intensification –; furthermore they express a new use-conditional (pragmatic) meaning. Reduplication is, in face-to-face-communication, therefore to be considered an important instrument of <i>emotive</i> communication (as strategic and intentional conveying of emotional information about feelings and attitudes towards things, events, interlocutors), used in specific contexts to express an affective register. Its main function is the <i>modulation</i> of affective intensity and the evocation of conversational and emotional (affective) implicatures. Instead of reduplicated forms, German uses other language resources which produce use-conditional (pragmatic) meanings: intensifiers, intensifying prefixes, modal particles, adverbs, verbal forms.
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.16cal
305
326
22
Chapter
20
01
Chapter 15. Intensification strategies in German and Italian written language
The case of <i>prefissi intensivi</i> or <i>Fremdpräfixe</i>. A corpus-based study
1
A01
Nicolò Calpestrati
Calpestrati, Nicolò
Nicolò
Calpestrati
Università di Milano
20
contrastive analysis
20
foreign prefixes
20
intensification
20
intensity scale
20
prefix combination
01
The aim of this study is to investigate a group of six <i>Fremdpräfixe</i> or <i>prefissi intensivi</i> within the context of intensification and to observe both how they work and are perceived by native Italian and German speakers. This work is structured in two parts: the first part is made up of a structured questionnaire to investigate how such prefixes are considered and evaluated from speakers of both languages with the aim of creating an intensity scale. The second part investigates the combinability of the foreign prefixes with specific stems and their presence in a corpus of written language: COSMASII Korpus (IDS Mannheim) for German and CORIS/CODIS Corpus (University of Bologna) for Italian.
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.17nap
327
352
26
Chapter
21
01
Chapter 16. Ways to intensify
Types of intensified meanings in Italian and German
1
A01
Maria Napoli
Napoli, Maria
Maria
Napoli
Università del Piemonte Orientale
2
A01
Miriam Ravetto
Ravetto, Miriam
Miriam
Ravetto
Università del Piemonte Orientale
20
emphasis
20
intensification
20
prefixes
20
subjectification
20
subjectivity
01
Intensification has traditionally been regarded as a category that is closely related to the concept of <i>degree</i>, i.e., to <i>gradability</i> (since Bolinger 1972). However, as has been shown by, among others, Paradis (2001, 2008), intensifiers are used not only with gradable bases (as adjectives typically are), but also with non-gradable bases, including nouns and verbs. The nature of the modified base – gradable vs. non-gradable, but also bounded vs. unbounded – may influence the value of the intensifiers, which as a result do not represent a homogenous category. Italian and German confirm this state of affairs in their use of some evaluative prefixes, mainly of Greek and Latin origin, with different kinds of base and different semantic and pragmatic functions. The aim of this paper is to analyze the behaviour of the most representative of these prefixes using a corpus-based approach. We will try to illustrate how the values assumed by Italian and German prefixes cannot be accounted for only in terms of <i>degree modification</i>, as related to the quantity and/or quality dimensions of intensification, since these forms show an increase in their subjectivity and expressive strength, which leads them to lose their semantic specificity and to assume a more general intensifying (and emphasizing) function.
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.18cos
353
370
18
Chapter
22
01
Chapter 17. Augmentatives in Italian and German
From contrastive analysis to translation
1
A01
Marcella Costa
Costa, Marcella
Marcella
Costa
Università di Torino
20
augmentative
20
augmentatives in bilingual lexicography
20
pejorative
20
translation strategies for Italian augmentative
01
The present paper deals with Italian and German augmentation, analyzed both from a contrastive linguistic and translational perspective. It explores the Italian suffixes ‑<i>one</i> and ‑<i>accio</i> as well as German formatives conveying similar meaning (AUG and PEJ) paralleling the presentation of the Italian augmentation features in their formal, semantic features and pragmatic-interactive dimensions with the equivalent features in German in order to work out similarities and differences between the two languages. In a second step the analysis focuses the <i>parole</i>-level and investigates the bidirectional translation strategies of augmentatives (Italian-German; German-Italian) in bilingual lexicography and in an Italian-German translation corpus. The goal is to verify what happens on the <i>parole</i>-level, checking different possible solutions to translate and express augmentatives in context and contrasting them with the findings of the contrastive analysis on the <i>langue</i>-level.
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.19vog
371
390
20
Chapter
23
01
Chapter 18. Intentional vagueness
A corpus-based analysis of Italian and German
1
A01
Miriam Voghera
Voghera, Miriam
Miriam
Voghera
Università di Salerno
2
A01
Laura Collu
Collu, Laura
Laura
Collu
Università di Salerno
20
corpus-based analysis
20
German
20
intentional vagueness
20
Italian
20
spoken language
20
systemic vagueness
20
vagueness
01
In this article, we present a corpus-based analysis to illustrate the extent and the depth of the similarities in the use of Vagueness Expressions (VEs) in spoken Italian and German. Adopting a semiotic approach to the study of vagueness, we have investigated the frequency and the distribution of VEs, conveying informational, relational and discourse vagueness in conversations, non-free-dialogues and monologues. The two languages do not exhibit the same qualitative and quantitative distribution of VEs because (a) German has twice as many VEs as Italian and (b) in Italian VEs are fairly limited to spontaneous conversations, while German speakers use VEs in all kinds of texts conveying the three types of Vagueness. This suggests that in German VEs are part of the linguistic norm, and not only a choice on the part of the speaker.
10
01
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slcs.189.index
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Miscellaneous
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Index
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JBENJAMINS
John Benjamins Publishing Company
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John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam/Philadelphia
NL
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20170930
2017
John Benjamins B.V.
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WORLD
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15
9789027259547
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JB
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John Benjamins e-Platform
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jbe-platform.com
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WORLD
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99.00
EUR
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83.00
GBP
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149.00
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433017078
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JB
John Benjamins Publishing Company
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JB code
SLCS 189 Hb
15
9789027259547
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2017025559
BB
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SLCS
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0165-7763
Studies in Language Companion Series
189
01
Exploring Intensification
Synchronic, diachronic and cross-linguistic perspectives
01
slcs.189
01
https://benjamins.com
02
https://benjamins.com/catalog/slcs.189
1
B01
Maria Napoli
Napoli, Maria
Maria
Napoli
University of Eastern Piedmont
2
B01
Miriam Ravetto
Ravetto, Miriam
Miriam
Ravetto
University of Eastern Piedmont
01
eng
402
vii
394
LAN009060
v.2006
CFK
2
24
JB Subject Scheme
LIN.SEMAN
Semantics
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JB Subject Scheme
LIN.SYNTAX
Syntax
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JB Subject Scheme
LIN.THEOR
Theoretical linguistics
06
01
This book is the first collective volume specifically devoted to the multifaceted phenomenon of intensification, which has been traditionally regarded as related to the expression of degree, scaling a quality downwards or upwards. In spite of the large amount of studies on intensifiers, there is still a need for the characterization of intensification as a distinct functional category in the domain of modification. The eighteen papers of the volume contribute to this aim with a new approach (mainly corpus-based). They focus on intensification from different perspectives (both synchronic and diachronic) and theoretical frameworks, concern ancient languages (Hittite, Greek, Latin) and modern languages (mainly Italian, German, English, Kiswahili), and involve different levels of analysis. They also identify and examine different types of intensifiers, applied to different forms and structures, such as adverbs, adjectives, evaluative affixes, discourse markers, reduplication, exclamative clauses, coordination, prosodic elements, and shed light on issues which have not been extensively studied so far.
05
Maria Napoli and Miriam Ravetto have successfully put together an edited volume, focussing on theoretical aspects of the semantics and pragmatics of intensification, and corpus based studies of realizations of intensification ranging from single word forms to larger chunks, intensification and prosody, and the appearance of new expressions and the decline of others. The book takes stock of previous work in this fascinating field of research, provides new insights in a range of languages and poses questions for future research. In addition to the editors’ eminent introductory overview, the volume offers 18 engaging and well-written chapters, grouped together in a clear and lucid way. It is a most stimulating and extremely readable book – a must for anybody interested in intensifiers and intensification.
Carita Paradis, Lund University
05
This volume provides new data, descriptions, and insights in the challenging and intriguing phenomenon of intensification. Recurring themes in the volume are the relation between intensification and other notional categories like comparison, focusing, and evaluation, the distribution of intensifiers across different text types and sociolinguistic parameters, and in particular the objective vs. subjective, emotional-evaluative, dimension of intensification. As Ekkehard König, in his contribution to the volume, puts it : “More often than not, the use of intensifiers tells us more about a speaker than about the situation described”.
Ad Foolen, Radboud University
05
The eighteen high-quality papers in this volume make for a most enlightening and stimulating read. The overall structure of the collection not only presents the reader with a wide variety of approaches to intensification (historical, cross-linguistic, sociolinguistic and corpus-based), but does so through discussions of a wide variety of languages other than English, and thus the volume constitutes a much needed and very valuable contribution to the field.
Zeltia Blanco-Suárez, University of Santiago de Compostela, in Journal of Historical Pragmatics 23:2 (2022).
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New insights on intensification and intensifiers
1
A01
Maria Napoli
Napoli, Maria
Maria
Napoli
Università del Piemonte Orientale
2
A01
Miriam Ravetto
Ravetto, Miriam
Miriam
Ravetto
Università del Piemonte Orientale
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slcs.189.p1
Section header
2
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Part I. The category of intensification
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slcs.189.02kon
15
32
18
Chapter
3
01
Chapter 1. The comparative basis of intensification
1
A01
Ekkehard König
König, Ekkehard
Ekkehard
König
Freie Universität Berlin/Universität Freiburg
20
comparison
20
demonstratives
20
exclamatives
20
intensifiers
20
semantic typology
01
This paper argues that the ubiquitous cognitive process of comparing and the resultant judgements of similarity and dissimilarity also underlie the semantic processes of intensification and grading to a large extent. This comparative basis is visible both in the formal properties of many intensifiers and in central aspects of their semantics: Intensifiers may overtly encode a comparison (e.g. <i>crystal clear, royally, outstanding</i>) and an emotional reaction to a comparison (<i>surprisingly, frightfully</i>), or they may imply a comparison with a covert standard in endocentric expansions of simple adjectival predications. In order to gain a new perspective on their meaning, the relations between intensifiers, on the one hand, and demonstratives, exclamatives and comparative constructions, on the other, are analyzed and a semantic typology of comparative constructions is outlined and discussed in relation to the central hypothesis.
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slcs.189.03ghe
33
54
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4
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Chapter 2. Intensification and focusing
The case of <i>pure(ly)</i> and <i>mere(ly</i>)
1
A01
Lobke Ghesquière
Ghesquière, Lobke
Lobke
Ghesquière
University of Mons
20
(inter)subjectivity
20
adjectives
20
adverbs
20
focusing
20
intensification
20
interpersonal modification
20
scalarity
01
Intensification or degree modification by means of adverbs and adjectives has been the object of linguistic study for many years, yet there is still a need for clear delineation of this functional category. This study focuses on the differences and similarities between the functional domains of intensification and focusing. The latter function has mainly been described for adverbs, with little attention to its adjectival realizations and to its relation to intensification. By means of corpus studies of <i>pure, purely, mere</i> and <i>merely</i>, it is shown that intensification and focusing are similar to some extent, both engaging in interpersonal modification (McGregor 1997), yet also distinct with intensification being semantically scalar, attitudinal and inherently subjective and focusing being only potentially pragmatically scalar, rhetorical and textually intersubjective.
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slcs.189.04gra
55
78
24
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5
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Chapter 3. Intensification processes in Italian
A survey
1
A01
Nicola Grandi
Grandi, Nicola
Nicola
Grandi
Università di Bologna
20
augmentative
20
evaluative morphology
20
prefixation
20
reduplication
20
suffixation
20
superlative
20
synonymy
01
In this paper intensification will be considered an instantiation of evaluative morphology. Intensification will be defined as a uniform semantic-functional operation formally performed by different strategies. The main goal of this paper is to survey these formal strategies in order to understand the reciprocal relationships among them and in order to understand which of them can be considered the most typical expressions of this semantic operation. My main focus will be on Italian. After a brief survey of the constructions usually used to express intensification in contemporary Italian, I will concentrate on two specific issues: the synonymy among the intensifiers described in the first part of the article and the internal structure of constructions where more intensifiers are present at the same time. In this way, it will be possible to single out which are the most typical Italian intensifiers.
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slcs.189.05cas
79
98
20
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6
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Chapter 4. Noun classification in Kiswahili
Linguistic strategies to intensify or to reduce
1
A01
Marina Castagneto
Castagneto, Marina
Marina
Castagneto
Università del Piemonte Orientale
20
diminution
20
evaluation
20
intensification
20
Kiswahili
20
noun classes
01
The evaluation strategies in Kiswahili display an ambiguous status between inflection (as it was in Proto-Bantu, where classes 12–13, 19 expressed diminution, and classes 20–23 intensification) and derivation. In Modern Kiswahili these classes are lost, and the evaluative category arises by means of a highly productive derivational rule shifting a noun stem to another class: to class 5 for augmentatives, to class 7 for diminutives, because of the semantics of these classes.
<br />The morpheme <i>(−)ji-</i>, originally the prefix marker of class 5, is actually admitted also within a word after another class prefix, sanctioning the birth of noun derivational morphology in Kiswahili: in most cases it has become a morpheme of intensification, but sometimes it can mark a change in size, either augmentative or diminutive.
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slcs.189.p2
Section header
7
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Part II. Strategies of intensification in ancient languages: Hittite, Greek and Latin
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slcs.189.06dar
101
126
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8
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Chapter 5. Intensification and intensifying modification in Hittite
1
A01
Paola Dardano
Dardano, Paola
Paola
Dardano
Università per Stranieri di Siena
20
graduation of adjectives
20
Hittite language
20
lexical intensification
20
morphological intensification
20
reduplication
01
The present paper aims to describe intensification and intensifying modification in Hittite, a member of the Anatolian sub-branch of the extensive Indo-European family. Particular attention will be devoted to the following two questions: (i) Which are the most widespread means of intensification in Hittite? and (ii) Which linguistic levels are involved in the expression of intensification (phonological, grammatical, lexical, pragmatic or textual)? Using a corpus-based approach, the study integrates both quantitative and qualitative observations from a theoretical perspective that provides a semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic account of the intensification markers in different documented texts and genres in Hittite.
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slcs.189.07mel
127
146
20
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9
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Chapter 6. Diminutives in Ancient Greek
Intensification and subjectivity
1
A01
Chiara Meluzzi
Meluzzi, Chiara
Chiara
Meluzzi
Scuola Normale Superiore
20
Ancient Greek
20
Aristophanes
20
diminutives
20
subjectivity
01
This work analyzes diminutives in three Ancient Greek comedies by Aristophanes. Although this work may not be strictly defined as morphopragmatic in the very specific sense of the term provided by Dressler & Merlini Barbaresi (1994: 56–7), many considerations emerged within this theoretical framework. Ancient Greek diminutives were usually considered as related to gender: Fögen (2004: 228) refers to diminutives only as markers of emotion, with a “general tendency of women to be more affective or emotional than men”. However, data emerging from the analysis of Aristophanes’ three female comedies do not justify this claim. Another interpretation may be advanced: diminutives could be seen as markers of subjectivity, since they fulfill the function of indexing a speaker’s perspective, viewpoint and attitude (Athanasiadou 2007: 554), and also of affecting the addressee’s positive and negative faces (Brown & Levinson 1987).
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slcs.189.08fed
147
170
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Chapter 7. <i>Nulla sum, nulla sum: Tota, tota occidi</i>
Repetition as a (rare) strategy of intensification in Latin
1
A01
Chiara Fedriani
Fedriani, Chiara
Chiara
Fedriani
Università di Genova
20
degree intensification
20
illocutionary intensification
20
Latin
20
pragmatics
20
repetition
01
Repetition of a linguistic form is a widespread strategy in the world’s languages to express a number of related functions, such as pluralization, distribution, collectivity and, crucially, intensification. This last function is the core meaning expressed by word repetition in Latin, a language where this copying process does not constitute a morphological rule, but rather an occasional mean to express intensification among the typical grammaticalized strategies (prefixes, the superlative suffix ‑<i>issimus</i>, and adverbs). This paper firstly provides a survey of forms and functions of repetition in Latin and suggests a distinction between <sc>degree</sc> and <sc>illocutionary intensification</sc> depending on their specific meaning, their scope, and the status of the source involved. Secondly, it contains a corpus-based study of word repetition based on the Plautine comedies, providing evidence about its uses and productivity effects across different lexical categories. The paper closes with a reassessment of the status of repetition as a pragmatic strategy of intensification in Latin, with a focus on Plautus, also offering some diachronic remarks.
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slcs.189.p3
Section header
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Part III. Strategies of intensification in modern languages: Italian, German, English
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slcs.189.09fio
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192
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Chapter 8. Intensifiers between grammar and pragmatics
A lesson from a language contact situation
1
A01
Ilaria Fiorentini
Fiorentini, Ilaria
Ilaria
Fiorentini
2
A01
Andrea Sansó
Sansó, Andrea
Andrea
Sansó
Università dell'Insubria
20
borrowing
20
intensifiers
20
Italian
20
Ladin
20
language contact
20
pragmatics
01
Intensification is a more pervasive phenomenon than usually thought, involving modification and scaling at different levels. Besides adjectives and adverbs, also the epistemic stance and the illocutionary force of speech acts can be modulated (Bazzanella et al. 1991; Ghezzi 2013). The strategies speakers use to weaken or intensify the speaker’s epistemic stance and the illocutionary force of the utterance include the class of so-called discourse markers (Bazzanella 1995, 2006), such as, for instance, hedges and boosters, which are hearer-oriented and “work as social and politeness markers” (Bazzanella 2006: 463), and modalizers, which modify the speaker’s commitment towards the propositional content. This article aims to investigate these strategies in a specific language contact situation, which turns out to be a privileged vantage point to tease out the manifestations of intensification in everyday language use. We will focus on the Ladin-Italian (and German) contact area in Trentino-South Tyrol (Northern Italy), with a view to identifying the strategies that bilingual speakers adopt to express intensification in their speech. The results of the investigation show that there are different borrowability rates in the adoption of intensifiers from the pragmatically dominant languages (Italian and German), whereby intensifiers with a strong intersubjective function such as those modifying the illocutionary force of the utterance are borrowed more easily than intensifiers operating at lower (i.e. propositional or subjective) levels.
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slcs.189.10cos
193
206
14
Chapter
13
01
Chapter 9. Stress and tones as intensifying operators in German
1
A01
Gianluca Cosentino
Cosentino, Gianluca
Gianluca
Cosentino
Università di Pisa
20
accents
20
contour choice
20
conversation structure
20
information structure
20
prosodic intensification
20
speakers' attitudes
20
tones
01
Unlike the classic, most widely studied phenomena, prosody has been insufficiently investigated as form of linguistic intensification. This paper attempts to look upon some prosodic features as independent means of intensification in German. Accents, tones and contour choice may open up the possibility of distinguishing between intensified and unintensified predicates, however this differentiation cannot be described within a gradually increasing system, but it is only measurable within a bipolar, two-dimensional scale.
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slcs.189.11sie
207
228
22
Chapter
14
01
Chapter 10. English exclamative clauses and interrogative degree modification
1
A01
Peter Siemund
Siemund, Peter
Peter
Siemund
Universität Hamburg
20
degree modification
20
exclamations
20
exclamative clauses
20
intensifiers
20
interrogative words
01
I here explore the relationship between interrogative degree modification (<i>What a mess!</i>; <i>How awful!</i>) and exclamative clauses like <i>What a wonderful conference we had</i> or <i>How wonderful this conference was</i>. The former are usually viewed as derived from the latter by means of ellipsis. The ellipsis account is based on the prerogative of clausal over non-clausal structures, a silent assumption behind much of contemporary grammatical reasoning. My study provides quantitative evidence that this reasoning may well have to go into the opposite direction. It is based on the <i>British National Corpus</i> and the <i>International Corpus of English, British Component</i>.
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slcs.189.p4
Section header
15
01
Part IV. Contrastive analysis of intensification in Italian and German
10
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JB code
slcs.189.12sal
231
250
20
Chapter
16
01
Chapter 11. A pragmatic view on intensification
Expansions in German and Italian
1
A01
Katharina Salzmann
Salzmann, Katharina
Katharina
Salzmann
Istituto Italiano di Studi Germanici (Roma)
20
expansions
20
illocutionary force modification
20
intensification
20
pragmatic upgrading
20
semantic upgrading
01
The aim of this paper is to show that <i>Expansionen</i> (‘expansions’), a category belonging to the grammar of spoken German, in addition to other functions described in previous studies (Salzmann 2017), can serve as intensifiers both in German and Italian. For this purpose, I will first define the concept of <i>expansion</i> and afterwards establish a definition of intensification that can be applied to the analysis of expansions. Intensification is considered as a phenomenon with both semantic and pragmatic aspects, which can be analysed at all levels of the speech act (locution, illocution and perlocution). The central part of this article is dedicated to the interpretation of various examples from a bilingual corpus of academic talks held at conferences.
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slcs.189.13mal
251
264
14
Chapter
17
01
Chapter 12. Intensifying structures of adjectives across German and Italian
1
A01
Patrizio Malloggi
Malloggi, Patrizio
Patrizio
Malloggi
Università di Pisa
20
equivalences and divergences between German and Italian
20
intensification
20
structures of adjective intensification in German and Italian
01
Grading and intensifying are primary cognitive operations that have an important expressive function. This paper analyses examples of composition, prefix‑ and suffix-derivation as adjective formation methods that intensify the meaning of adjectives in the German (e.g. <i>eiskalt, blitzschnell, steinreich, erzfrech, urgesund, superelegant</i> etc.) and Italian (e.g. <i>ricco sfondato, stanco morto</i>; <i>strafelice, straricco</i> etc.) language. Both languages have wide range of possibilities for intensifying the meaning of adjectives: In the German language, research literature (Fleischer & Barz 1995; Eichinger 2000; Kirschbaum 2002) states that composition and prefix-derivation are the most used methods of adjective intensification. Italian, like other Romance languages, intensifies adjectives through the absolute superlative with the Latin-derived suffix ‑<i>issimo</i> or with some intensifying prefixes derived from Greek, Latin or English (<i>iperattivo, ultranazionale, supergentile</i> etc.) (Rainer 1983; Costa 1997; Serianni 2006). This paper focuses on the argument that even if German and Italian are two languages belonging to a different language family, they share some means to express intensity in adjectives. The data used for this analysis will be mainly extracted from the most relevant monolingual encyclopaedic dictionaries as comparative databases.
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slcs.189.14fos
265
288
24
Chapter
18
01
Chapter 13. The coordination of identical conjuncts as a means of strengthening expressions in German and Italian
1
A01
Marina Foschi
Foschi, Marina
Marina
Foschi
Università di Pisa
20
coordination
20
German-Italian contrastive linguistics
20
grammar vs. style
20
intensification
01
The article deals with syntactic units which are formed in German and in Italian by means of coordination of identical conjuncts with <i>und</i> or <i>e</i>. The resulting structure can be characterized as <i>x ˄ x</i>. <i>x ˄ x</i> units show weak productivity with a strong tendency to idiomaticity. They are often seen as stylistic means and idiomatic expressions to which the general rules of coordination do not strictly apply. Coordination of identical conjuncts is usually viewed as a case of “false coordination”, wherein the <i>und/e</i> conjugation does not have linking function. <i>x ˄ x</i> expressions are often used for specific stylistic effects, including intensification. Based on the observation of about 100 authentic examples in both languages, the article offers a description of different types of <i>x ˄ x</i> structures, in order to focus on those serving as intensifiers. The main issues addressed regard the roles of reduplication and conjunction in the intensification and the status of <i>x ˄ x</i> structures (independent groups or idioms). First contrastive observations are offered about frequency, form and function of <i>x ˄ x</i> structures in German and in Italian.
10
01
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slcs.189.15bon
289
304
16
Chapter
19
01
Chapter 14. What does reduplication intensify?
The semantics and pragmatics of reduplicated forms in Italian and their equivalents in German
1
A01
Silvia Bonacchi
Bonacchi, Silvia
Silvia
Bonacchi
University of Warsaw
20
embodied communication
20
implicatures
20
intensification
20
modulation of affective intensity
20
reduplication
01
In the present paper, the semantics of reduplication forms in Italian is analyzed on the basis of their <i>intensifying</i> pragmatic functions in regard to their base-forms (duration, graduation, modulation, disambiguation, accreditation of speaker, appeal to hearer) and to their “embodied” character (evoking gestuality and suprasegmentality) and compared with their possible equivalents in German. Reduplicative forms in Italian not only modify the truth-conditional value of verbal units – in the direction of a quantitative or qualitative intensification –; furthermore they express a new use-conditional (pragmatic) meaning. Reduplication is, in face-to-face-communication, therefore to be considered an important instrument of <i>emotive</i> communication (as strategic and intentional conveying of emotional information about feelings and attitudes towards things, events, interlocutors), used in specific contexts to express an affective register. Its main function is the <i>modulation</i> of affective intensity and the evocation of conversational and emotional (affective) implicatures. Instead of reduplicated forms, German uses other language resources which produce use-conditional (pragmatic) meanings: intensifiers, intensifying prefixes, modal particles, adverbs, verbal forms.
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.16cal
305
326
22
Chapter
20
01
Chapter 15. Intensification strategies in German and Italian written language
The case of <i>prefissi intensivi</i> or <i>Fremdpräfixe</i>. A corpus-based study
1
A01
Nicolò Calpestrati
Calpestrati, Nicolò
Nicolò
Calpestrati
Università di Milano
20
contrastive analysis
20
foreign prefixes
20
intensification
20
intensity scale
20
prefix combination
01
The aim of this study is to investigate a group of six <i>Fremdpräfixe</i> or <i>prefissi intensivi</i> within the context of intensification and to observe both how they work and are perceived by native Italian and German speakers. This work is structured in two parts: the first part is made up of a structured questionnaire to investigate how such prefixes are considered and evaluated from speakers of both languages with the aim of creating an intensity scale. The second part investigates the combinability of the foreign prefixes with specific stems and their presence in a corpus of written language: COSMASII Korpus (IDS Mannheim) for German and CORIS/CODIS Corpus (University of Bologna) for Italian.
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.17nap
327
352
26
Chapter
21
01
Chapter 16. Ways to intensify
Types of intensified meanings in Italian and German
1
A01
Maria Napoli
Napoli, Maria
Maria
Napoli
Università del Piemonte Orientale
2
A01
Miriam Ravetto
Ravetto, Miriam
Miriam
Ravetto
Università del Piemonte Orientale
20
emphasis
20
intensification
20
prefixes
20
subjectification
20
subjectivity
01
Intensification has traditionally been regarded as a category that is closely related to the concept of <i>degree</i>, i.e., to <i>gradability</i> (since Bolinger 1972). However, as has been shown by, among others, Paradis (2001, 2008), intensifiers are used not only with gradable bases (as adjectives typically are), but also with non-gradable bases, including nouns and verbs. The nature of the modified base – gradable vs. non-gradable, but also bounded vs. unbounded – may influence the value of the intensifiers, which as a result do not represent a homogenous category. Italian and German confirm this state of affairs in their use of some evaluative prefixes, mainly of Greek and Latin origin, with different kinds of base and different semantic and pragmatic functions. The aim of this paper is to analyze the behaviour of the most representative of these prefixes using a corpus-based approach. We will try to illustrate how the values assumed by Italian and German prefixes cannot be accounted for only in terms of <i>degree modification</i>, as related to the quantity and/or quality dimensions of intensification, since these forms show an increase in their subjectivity and expressive strength, which leads them to lose their semantic specificity and to assume a more general intensifying (and emphasizing) function.
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.18cos
353
370
18
Chapter
22
01
Chapter 17. Augmentatives in Italian and German
From contrastive analysis to translation
1
A01
Marcella Costa
Costa, Marcella
Marcella
Costa
Università di Torino
20
augmentative
20
augmentatives in bilingual lexicography
20
pejorative
20
translation strategies for Italian augmentative
01
The present paper deals with Italian and German augmentation, analyzed both from a contrastive linguistic and translational perspective. It explores the Italian suffixes ‑<i>one</i> and ‑<i>accio</i> as well as German formatives conveying similar meaning (AUG and PEJ) paralleling the presentation of the Italian augmentation features in their formal, semantic features and pragmatic-interactive dimensions with the equivalent features in German in order to work out similarities and differences between the two languages. In a second step the analysis focuses the <i>parole</i>-level and investigates the bidirectional translation strategies of augmentatives (Italian-German; German-Italian) in bilingual lexicography and in an Italian-German translation corpus. The goal is to verify what happens on the <i>parole</i>-level, checking different possible solutions to translate and express augmentatives in context and contrasting them with the findings of the contrastive analysis on the <i>langue</i>-level.
10
01
JB code
slcs.189.19vog
371
390
20
Chapter
23
01
Chapter 18. Intentional vagueness
A corpus-based analysis of Italian and German
1
A01
Miriam Voghera
Voghera, Miriam
Miriam
Voghera
Università di Salerno
2
A01
Laura Collu
Collu, Laura
Laura
Collu
Università di Salerno
20
corpus-based analysis
20
German
20
intentional vagueness
20
Italian
20
spoken language
20
systemic vagueness
20
vagueness
01
In this article, we present a corpus-based analysis to illustrate the extent and the depth of the similarities in the use of Vagueness Expressions (VEs) in spoken Italian and German. Adopting a semiotic approach to the study of vagueness, we have investigated the frequency and the distribution of VEs, conveying informational, relational and discourse vagueness in conversations, non-free-dialogues and monologues. The two languages do not exhibit the same qualitative and quantitative distribution of VEs because (a) German has twice as many VEs as Italian and (b) in Italian VEs are fairly limited to spontaneous conversations, while German speakers use VEs in all kinds of texts conveying the three types of Vagueness. This suggests that in German VEs are part of the linguistic norm, and not only a choice on the part of the speaker.
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slcs.189.index
391
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Miscellaneous
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