They’re proing it up hardcore
-
Ulrike Schneider
Abstract
The V it up construction expresses an exuberant or excessive performance of the activity denoted by the verb. The present study uses data from Twitter and the Urban Dictionary to analyse current uses of V it up. It employs the frameworks of extravagance (Haspelmath 1999/Keller 1994), expressiveness (Zwicky & Pullum 1987) and gradual transitivity (Hopper & Thompson 1980) to assess the range of heads that partake in the construction and the way it marks these as verbs. Results show that the construction is productively used with verbs converted from various word-classes and even with phrases in the open slot. The construction’s ability to take these extravagant heads goes hand in hand with its penchant for imperatives and progressives, which emphasise the action and are thus excellent verbalisers.
Abstract
The V it up construction expresses an exuberant or excessive performance of the activity denoted by the verb. The present study uses data from Twitter and the Urban Dictionary to analyse current uses of V it up. It employs the frameworks of extravagance (Haspelmath 1999/Keller 1994), expressiveness (Zwicky & Pullum 1987) and gradual transitivity (Hopper & Thompson 1980) to assess the range of heads that partake in the construction and the way it marks these as verbs. Results show that the construction is productively used with verbs converted from various word-classes and even with phrases in the open slot. The construction’s ability to take these extravagant heads goes hand in hand with its penchant for imperatives and progressives, which emphasise the action and are thus excellent verbalisers.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Extravagance in morphology 1
- What’s extravagant about be-sandal-ed feet ? 19
- Extravagance, productivity and the development of - ingly adverbs 51
- Diggers-out, leaf clearer-uppers and stayer-onner-for-nowers 73
- The extravagant dutch suffix -ke and its meandering through the interfaces 101
- Linguistic extravagance in compounds and idioms – an analysis of morphological marking 131
- Extravagant expressions denoting quite normal entities 155
- do not repeat 181
- They’re proing it up hardcore 207
- Wild words 233
- Index 255
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Extravagance in morphology 1
- What’s extravagant about be-sandal-ed feet ? 19
- Extravagance, productivity and the development of - ingly adverbs 51
- Diggers-out, leaf clearer-uppers and stayer-onner-for-nowers 73
- The extravagant dutch suffix -ke and its meandering through the interfaces 101
- Linguistic extravagance in compounds and idioms – an analysis of morphological marking 131
- Extravagant expressions denoting quite normal entities 155
- do not repeat 181
- They’re proing it up hardcore 207
- Wild words 233
- Index 255
