Abstract
Language intensity has been investigated within several disciplines, such as
linguistics, stylistics and social psychology, and from several approaches. As a
result, a wide range of intensifying elements and effects have been identified.
In this chapter, we demonstrate on the basis of a qualitative corpus-analytical
study that two dimensions play a decisive role in the discrimination of intensified
language: contextuality and semantic richness. Contextuality reflects the
degree to which the intensifying meaning of an element depends on its context.
Semantic richness describes the amount of meaningful information that an
intensifying element contains on top of its intensification function. This chapter
is a starting point for further research concerning the characteristics of language
intensity. Our insights contribute to established approaches in corpus-analytical
and stylistic research.
linguistics, stylistics and social psychology, and from several approaches. As a
result, a wide range of intensifying elements and effects have been identified.
In this chapter, we demonstrate on the basis of a qualitative corpus-analytical
study that two dimensions play a decisive role in the discrimination of intensified
language: contextuality and semantic richness. Contextuality reflects the
degree to which the intensifying meaning of an element depends on its context.
Semantic richness describes the amount of meaningful information that an
intensifying element contains on top of its intensification function. This chapter
is a starting point for further research concerning the characteristics of language
intensity. Our insights contribute to established approaches in corpus-analytical
and stylistic research.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | The Construction of Discourse as Verbal Interaction |
| Editors | María de los Ángeles Gómez González, Lachlan Mackenzie |
| Publisher | John Benjamins Publishing Company |
| Pages | 274-297 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9789027263568 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9789027201416 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2018 |
Keywords
- language intensity
- evaluative discourse
- qualitative analysis
- corpus study
- stylistics
- taal
- linguistiek
- tekst