Full Description
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.
Contents
1. New insights on intensification and intensifiers (by Napoli, Maria); 2. Part I. The category of intensification; 3. Chapter 1. The comparative basis of intensification (by Konig, Ekkehard); 4. Chapter 2. Intensification and focusing: The case of pure(ly) and mere(ly) (by Ghesquiere, Lobke); 5. Chapter 3. Intensification processes in Italian: A survey (by Grandi, Nicola); 6. Chapter 4. Noun classification in Kiswahili: Linguistic strategies to intensify or to reduce (by Castagneto, Marina); 7. Part II. Strategies of intensification in ancient languages: Hittite, Greek and Latin; 8. Chapter 5. Intensification and intensifying modification in Hittite (by Dardano, Paola); 9. Chapter 6. Diminutives in Ancient Greek: Intensification and subjectivity (by Meluzzi, Chiara); 10. Chapter 7. Nulla sum, nulla sum: Tota, tota occidi: Repetition as a (rare) strategy of intensification in Latin (by Fedriani, Chiara); 11. Part III. Strategies of intensification in modern languages: Italian, German, English; 12. Chapter 8. Intensifiers between grammar and pragmatics: A lesson from a language contact situation (by Fiorentini, Ilaria); 13. Chapter 9. Stress and tones as intensifying operators in German (by Cosentino, Gianluca); 14. Chapter 10. English exclamative clauses and interrogative degree modification (by Siemund, Peter); 15. Part IV. Contrastive analysis of intensification in Italian and German; 16. Chapter 11. A pragmatic view on intensification: Expansions in German and Italian (by Salzmann, Katharina); 17. Chapter 12. Intensifying structures of adjectives across German and Italian (by Malloggi, Patrizio); 18. Chapter 13. The coordination of identical conjuncts as a means of strengthening expressions in German and Italian (by Foschi, Marina); 19. Chapter 14. What does reduplication intensify?: The semantics and pragmatics of reduplicated forms in Italian and their equivalents in German (by Bonacchi, Silvia); 20. Chapter 15. Intensification strategies in German and Italian written language: The case of prefissi intensivi or Fremdprafixe. A corpus-based study (by Calpestrati, Nicolo); 21. Chapter 16. Ways to intensify: Types of intensified meanings in Italian and German (by Napoli, Maria); 22. Chapter 17. Augmentatives in Italian and German: From contrastive analysis to translation (by Costa, Marcella); 23. Chapter 18. Intentional vagueness: A corpus-based analysis of Italian and German (by Voghera, Miriam)
