Home General Interest Chapter 16. Ways to intensify
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Chapter 16. Ways to intensify

Types of intensified meanings in Italian and German
  • Maria Napoli and Miriam Ravetto
View more publications by John Benjamins Publishing Company
To Publisher Page
Exploring Intensification
This chapter is in the book Exploring Intensification

Abstract

Intensification has traditionally been regarded as a category that is closely related to the concept of degree, i.e., to gradability (since Bolinger 1972). However, as has been shown by, among others, Paradis (2001, 2008), intensifiers are used not only with gradable bases (as adjectives typically are), but also with non-gradable bases, including nouns and verbs. The nature of the modified base – gradable vs. non-gradable, but also bounded vs. unbounded – may influence the value of the intensifiers, which as a result do not represent a homogenous category. Italian and German confirm this state of affairs in their use of some evaluative prefixes, mainly of Greek and Latin origin, with different kinds of base and different semantic and pragmatic functions. The aim of this paper is to analyze the behaviour of the most representative of these prefixes using a corpus-based approach. We will try to illustrate how the values assumed by Italian and German prefixes cannot be accounted for only in terms of degree modification, as related to the quantity and/or quality dimensions of intensification, since these forms show an increase in their subjectivity and expressive strength, which leads them to lose their semantic specificity and to assume a more general intensifying (and emphasizing) function.

Abstract

Intensification has traditionally been regarded as a category that is closely related to the concept of degree, i.e., to gradability (since Bolinger 1972). However, as has been shown by, among others, Paradis (2001, 2008), intensifiers are used not only with gradable bases (as adjectives typically are), but also with non-gradable bases, including nouns and verbs. The nature of the modified base – gradable vs. non-gradable, but also bounded vs. unbounded – may influence the value of the intensifiers, which as a result do not represent a homogenous category. Italian and German confirm this state of affairs in their use of some evaluative prefixes, mainly of Greek and Latin origin, with different kinds of base and different semantic and pragmatic functions. The aim of this paper is to analyze the behaviour of the most representative of these prefixes using a corpus-based approach. We will try to illustrate how the values assumed by Italian and German prefixes cannot be accounted for only in terms of degree modification, as related to the quantity and/or quality dimensions of intensification, since these forms show an increase in their subjectivity and expressive strength, which leads them to lose their semantic specificity and to assume a more general intensifying (and emphasizing) function.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. New insights on intensification and intensifiers 1
  4. Part I. The category of intensification
  5. Chapter 1. The comparative basis of intensification 15
  6. Chapter 2. Intensification and focusing 33
  7. Chapter 3. Intensification processes in Italian 55
  8. Chapter 4. Noun classification in Kiswahili 79
  9. Part II. Strategies of intensification in ancient languages: Hittite, Greek and Latin
  10. Chapter 5. Intensification and intensifying modification in Hittite 101
  11. Chapter 6. Diminutives in Ancient Greek 127
  12. Chapter 7. Nulla sum, nulla sum: Tota, tota occidi 147
  13. Part III. Strategies of intensification in modern languages: Italian, German, English
  14. Chapter 8. Intensifiers between grammar and pragmatics 173
  15. Chapter 9. Stress and tones as intensifying operators in German 193
  16. Chapter 10. English exclamative clauses and interrogative degree modification 207
  17. Part IV. Contrastive analysis of intensification in Italian and German
  18. Chapter 11. A pragmatic view on intensification 231
  19. Chapter 12. Intensifying structures of adjectives across German and Italian 251
  20. Chapter 13. The coordination of identical conjuncts as a means of strengthening expressions in German and Italian 265
  21. Chapter 14. What does reduplication intensify? 289
  22. Chapter 15. Intensification strategies in German and Italian written language 305
  23. Chapter 16. Ways to intensify 327
  24. Chapter 17. Augmentatives in Italian and German 353
  25. Chapter 18. Intentional vagueness 371
  26. Index 391
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.189.17nap

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. New insights on intensification and intensifiers 1
  4. Part I. The category of intensification
  5. Chapter 1. The comparative basis of intensification 15
  6. Chapter 2. Intensification and focusing 33
  7. Chapter 3. Intensification processes in Italian 55
  8. Chapter 4. Noun classification in Kiswahili 79
  9. Part II. Strategies of intensification in ancient languages: Hittite, Greek and Latin
  10. Chapter 5. Intensification and intensifying modification in Hittite 101
  11. Chapter 6. Diminutives in Ancient Greek 127
  12. Chapter 7. Nulla sum, nulla sum: Tota, tota occidi 147
  13. Part III. Strategies of intensification in modern languages: Italian, German, English
  14. Chapter 8. Intensifiers between grammar and pragmatics 173
  15. Chapter 9. Stress and tones as intensifying operators in German 193
  16. Chapter 10. English exclamative clauses and interrogative degree modification 207
  17. Part IV. Contrastive analysis of intensification in Italian and German
  18. Chapter 11. A pragmatic view on intensification 231
  19. Chapter 12. Intensifying structures of adjectives across German and Italian 251
  20. Chapter 13. The coordination of identical conjuncts as a means of strengthening expressions in German and Italian 265
  21. Chapter 14. What does reduplication intensify? 289
  22. Chapter 15. Intensification strategies in German and Italian written language 305
  23. Chapter 16. Ways to intensify 327
  24. Chapter 17. Augmentatives in Italian and German 353
  25. Chapter 18. Intentional vagueness 371
  26. Index 391
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2026 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 26.2.2026 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/slcs.189.17nap/html
Scroll to top button