TY - JOUR
T1 - The missing link between truth and intensification
AU - Bardenstein, Ruti
AU - Ariel, Mira
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Truth markers commonly evolve into intensifiers ( Heine & Kuteva 2002 ), but we here argue that this shift is only indirect, and a counter-loosening phase necessarily mediates between truth marking and intensification. Counter-looseners instruct the addressee to avoid (or rather, constrain) the very natural interpretative process of broadening, whereby the speaker-intended concept would have been taken as a loosened, “more or less” interpretation of the meaning of the modified expression ( Carston 2002 ). We provide a diachronic analysis for Hebrew mamash ‘really’, which supports our point, and we reinterpret diachronic analyses of other truth markers in order to show that they too underwent a counter-loosening phase before turning intensifiers. Finally, we briefly distinguish between a counter-loosening mediated intensifier evolution (for truth markers, particularizers and maximizers) and a direct evolutionary path into intensification for originally upscaling expressions (extreme scalar modifiers and augmenters).,
AB - Truth markers commonly evolve into intensifiers ( Heine & Kuteva 2002 ), but we here argue that this shift is only indirect, and a counter-loosening phase necessarily mediates between truth marking and intensification. Counter-looseners instruct the addressee to avoid (or rather, constrain) the very natural interpretative process of broadening, whereby the speaker-intended concept would have been taken as a loosened, “more or less” interpretation of the meaning of the modified expression ( Carston 2002 ). We provide a diachronic analysis for Hebrew mamash ‘really’, which supports our point, and we reinterpret diachronic analyses of other truth markers in order to show that they too underwent a counter-loosening phase before turning intensifiers. Finally, we briefly distinguish between a counter-loosening mediated intensifier evolution (for truth markers, particularizers and maximizers) and a direct evolutionary path into intensification for originally upscaling expressions (extreme scalar modifiers and augmenters).,
KW - Loosening
KW - Intensifiers
KW - Truth attesters
KW - Paradis’ principle of harmony
KW - Semantic change
KW - Counter-loosening
U2 - 10.1075/sl.20076.bar
DO - 10.1075/sl.20076.bar
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JO - Studies in Language.International Journal sponsored by the Foundation “Foundations of Language”
JF - Studies in Language.International Journal sponsored by the Foundation “Foundations of Language”
ER -