In
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
, an intensifier (
abbreviated
An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...
) is a lexical category (but ''not'' a traditional
part of speech
In grammar, a part of speech or part-of-speech (abbreviated as POS or PoS, also known as word class or grammatical category) is a category of words (or, more generally, of lexical items) that have similar grammatical properties. Words that are assi ...
) for a
modifier
Modifier may refer to:
* Grammatical modifier, a word that modifies the meaning of another word or limits its meaning
** Compound modifier, two or more words that modify a noun
** Dangling modifier, a word or phrase that modifies a clause in an am ...
that makes no contribution to the
proposition
In logic and linguistics, a proposition is the meaning of a declarative sentence. In philosophy, " meaning" is understood to be a non-linguistic entity which is shared by all sentences with the same meaning. Equivalently, a proposition is the no ...
al meaning of a
clause
In language, a clause is a constituent that comprises a semantic predicand (expressed or not) and a semantic predicate. A typical clause consists of a subject and a syntactic predicate, the latter typically a verb phrase composed of a verb with ...
but serves to enhance and give additional emotional context to the word it modifies. Intensifiers are grammatical
expletives, specifically ''expletive attributives'' (or, equivalently, ''attributive expletives'' or ''attributive-only expletives''; they also qualify as ''expressive attributives''), because they function as semantically
vacuous filler. Characteristically,
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
draws intensifiers from a class of words called ''degree modifiers'', words that
quantify the idea they modify. More specifically, they derive from a group of words called ''adverbs of degree'', also known as ''degree adverbs''. When used grammatically as intensifiers, these words cease to be degree
adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering ...
s, because they no longer quantify the idea they modify; instead, they emphasize it emotionally. By contrast, the words ''
moderately'', ''
slightly'', and ''
barely'' are degree adverbs, but ''not'' intensifiers. The other hallmark of prototypical intensifiers is that they are adverbs which lack the primary characteristic of adverbs: the ability to modify verbs. Intensifiers modify exclusively
adjective
In linguistics, an adjective (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that generally grammatical modifier, modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun.
Tra ...
s and adverbs, but this rule is
insufficient to classify intensifiers, since there exist other words commonly classified as adverbs that never modify verbs but are not intensifiers, e.g. ''
questionably''.
For these reasons,
Huddleston argues that intensifier not be recognized as a primary
grammatical
In linguistics, grammaticality is determined by the conformity to language usage as derived by the grammar of a particular variety (linguistics), speech variety. The notion of grammaticality rose alongside the theory of generative grammar, the go ...
or lexical category. Intensifier is a category with grammatical properties, but
insufficiently defined unless its
functional
Functional may refer to:
* Movements in architecture:
** Functionalism (architecture)
** Form follows function
* Functional group, combination of atoms within molecules
* Medical conditions without currently visible organic basis:
** Functional sy ...
significance is also described (what Huddleston calls a ''
notional
::''See Notional amount or Notional profit for economic terms ''
Notional (born February 1, 2004 in California) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse. He was sired by In Excess and out of the mare Truly Blessed. His damsire, French Deputy, is ...
definition'').
Technically, intensifiers roughly qualify a point on the
affective
Affect, in psychology, refers to the underlying experience of feeling, emotion or mood.
History
The modern conception of affect developed in the 19th century with Wilhelm Wundt. The word comes from the German ''Gefühl'', meaning "feeling."
...
semantic property
Semantic properties or meaning properties are those aspects of a linguistic unit, such as a morpheme, word, or sentence, that contribute to the meaning of that unit. Basic semantic properties include being ''meaningful'' or ''meaningless'' – fo ...
, which is
gradable
Grade most commonly refers to:
* Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance
* Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage
* Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope
Grade or grading may also r ...
.
Syntactically, intensifiers pre-modify either adjectives or adverbs.
Semantically
Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comput ...
, they increase the emotional content of an expression. The basic intensifier is ''very''. A versatile word, English permits ''very'' to modify adjectives and adverbs, but not verbs. Other intensifiers often express the same intention as ''very''.
Examples of English intensifiers
Syntax
Not all intensifiers are the same syntactically—they vary on whether they can be used attributively or
predicatively. For example, ''really'' and ''super'' can be used in both ways:
[Tagliamonte, Sali A. (2012). ''Variationist Sociolinguistics.'' UK: Wiley-Blackwell. p.9]
::a. The car is ''really'' expensive.
- Predicative intensifier
::b. the ''really'' expensive car
- Attributive intensifier
::a. Today was ''super'' cold.
- Predicative intensifier
::b. a ''super'' cold day
- Attributive intensifier
Words such as ''so'' can only occur as predicative intensifiers
while others, such as ''-ass'', typically are only attributive intensifiers:
::a. The car is ''so'' expensive.
- Predicative intensifier
::b. *the ''so'' expensive car
- Attributive intensifier (not grammatical)
::a. *Today was ''cold-ass''.
- Predicative intensifier (not grammatical)[The exception to this is ''badass'' which appears to be the source of this intensifier rather than an instance of it.]
::b. a ''cold-ass'' day
- Attributive intensifier
There is dialectal variation in the "correctness" of certain forms.
Illocutionary force
Use of an intensifier subtly suggests to the reader what emotion he should feel. By naming an emotion within the
predicate
Predicate or predication may refer to:
* Predicate (grammar), in linguistics
* Predication (philosophy)
* several closely related uses in mathematics and formal logic:
**Predicate (mathematical logic)
**Propositional function
**Finitary relation, o ...
, the writer compels the reader to consider this emotion and hence he begins to feel it.
Persuasiveness, credibility
Legal
In general, overuse of intensifiers negatively affects the persuasiveness or credibility of a legal argument. But if a judge's authoritative written opinion uses a high rate of intensifiers, a lawyer's written appeal of that opinion that also uses a high rate of intensifiers is associated with an increase in favorable outcomes for such appeals. Also, when judges disagree with each other in writing, they tend to use more intensifiers.
Business
A 2010 Stanford Graduate School of Business study
found that, in quarterly earnings conference calls, deceptive CEOs use a greater percent quantity of "extreme positive emotions words" than CEOs telling the truth.
This finding agrees with the presumption that a CEO attempting to hide poor performance exerts themself more forcefully to persuade their listeners.
David F. Larcker and Zakolyukinaz give a list of 115 extreme positive emotions words, including intensifiers: awful, deucedly, emphatically, excellently, fabulously, fantastically, genuinely, gloriously, immensely, incredibly, insanely, keenly, madly, magnificently, marvelously, splendidly, supremely, terrifically, truly, unquestionably, wonderfully, very
ood
The Ood are an alien species with telepathic abilities from the long-running science fiction series '' Doctor Who''. In the series' narrative, they live in the distant future (circa 42nd century).
The Ood are portrayed as a slave race, natura ...
A 2013
Forbes Magazine
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also rep ...
article
about counterproductive modes of expression in English specifically discouraged use of ''really'', observing that it provokes doubt and degrades the speaker's credibility: "'Really' – Finder calls this a 'poor attempt to instill candor and truthfulness' that makes clients and coworkers question whether you're ''really'' telling the truth."
Quotes
Philosopher
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...
, in ''
Human, All Too Human (1878)'', wrote:
''The narrator''. It is easy to tell whether a narrator is narrating because the subject matter interests him or because he wants to evoke interest through his narrative. If the latter is the case, he will exaggerate, use superlatives, etc. Then he usually narrates the worse, because he is not thinking so much about the story as about himself.['']Human, All Too Human
''Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits'' (german: Menschliches, Allzumenschliches: Ein Buch für freie Geister) is a book by 19th-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, originally published in 1878. A second part, ''Assorted Opinions a ...
'', § 343
A quote often attributed to
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
but probably by newspaper editor
William Allen White
William Allen White (February 10, 1868 – January 29, 1944) was an American newspaper editor, politician, author, and leader of the Progressive movement. Between 1896 and his death, White became a spokesman for middle America.
At a 193 ...
is "Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very'; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be."
[
]
See also
*
Comparison (grammar)
Comparison is a feature in the morphology or syntax of some languages whereby adjectives and adverbs are inflected to indicate the relative degree of the property they define exhibited by the word or phrase they modify or describe. In languages ...
*
''Do''-support
*
Intensive word form
In grammar, an intensive word form is one which denotes stronger, more forceful, or more concentrated action relative to the root on which the intensive is built. Intensives are usually lexical formations, but there may be a regular process for for ...
*
self-intensifier
*
So (sentence closer)
Notes
References
{{Reflist
External links
Modifying Meaning: Intensifiers
Grammar
*