1. WORKING DEFINITION OF ADVERBIAL
INTENSIFIERS
The definitions for parts of speech are not
in all cases the same. For instance, one
can argue that Intensifier is a subcategory of Degree Adverbs, since
some (most) Degree Adverbs are not necessarily intensifying. One
can also argue that an Intensifying Adverb is a different category altogether.
In this paper, I will not make either of these distinctions, but use Degree
Adverb and Intensifying Adverb interchangeably. The main reason for
this is that there seems to be no distinction between Degree Adverb and Intensifying
Adverb in academic literature or in corpus linguistic practice. For
example, the International Corpus of English (ICE) uses the part-of-speech tag,
“Adverb, Intensifier” to mean both. Compare the following extracts from ICE:
1.
“... for the relatively simple
way in which entries could be added....”
2.
“I chose this approach almost
immediately.”
3.
“... but is complicated severely
by the need to update the first....”
All three examples were tagged as
intensifying adverb. It should be obvious that examples 1 and 2 are in fact
downtoning the intensity, while example 3 is doing the “real” job of
intensifying. It is clear that ICE seems to use the term Intensifying Adverb to mean the same as Degree Adverb. To substantiate the claim that it is simply the
intensity that is referred to in Intensifying
Adverb, compare the Quirkian intensifier categories mentioned by Lorenz
(1998:56). It is a set of scalar intensifier categories defined according to
the respective degree they express.
CATEGORY
|
TYPICAL WORDS
|
EXPLANATION
|
TYPICAL EXAMPLES FROM DATA
|
Maximizers
|
completely,
absolutely, etc
|
Cannot get more
than this.
|
Now I’m going to ask you something completely different…
|
Boosters
|
very, highly,
immensely, etc
|
Very intense,
but there is the possibility of it getting even more intense.
|
Julie is very
nice.
|
Approximators
|
nearly,
virtually, etc
|
Showing “almost
but not quite.” Indicating that a statement is near to correct, but not 100%
so.
|
…even though in
practice it would be virtually impossible.
|
Compromisers
|
fairly,
pretty, rather, etc
|
Allowing
opportunity for someone else to disagree with the statement.
|
But she was
pretty insistent…
|
Diminishers
|
slightly, a
little, etc.
|
Showing the
statement is true to a small degree.
|
…in fact, it's
probably slightly stronger tasting…
|
Minimizers
|
hardly,
scarcely
|
Showing the
statement is not true or true to a very small degree.
|
These countries
can hardly afford to take care of…
|
