Chapter V Conclusion
5.2 Directions for future studies
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the idiomatized cases such as [DI. + 久 giu2] and [DI. + 早 zo2] are said to have become lexicalized and are frequently used as a unit.
Moreover, these linguistic phenomena also indicate that the use of the degree construction indeed brings about the rise of subjectivity. The same speaker may vary the use of a degree construction with the aim of intensifying his or her attitudes in one conversation and in another according to differences in the context of a conversation.
In particular, this study pinpoints the differences between the degree intensifiers 恁 an2 and 當 dong1. The use of the degree intensifier 恁 an2 can display not only the intensification but also the indexical reference made by the different speakers.
Comparing with the degree intensifier 恁 an2, the degree intensifier is used solely when any speaker attempts to add intensity.
To sum up, the operation of the six commonly-used degree intensifiers can be understood with respect to their different aspects by looking into the authentic usage in the spoken data. Although it is difficult to differentiate the individual degree intensifiers in certain cases, the analysis of the modified elements shows the diverse picture and the uses of 恁 an2, 當 dong1, and 盡 qin3 are more dominant than other intensifiers in discourse. Particularly, the differences between the degree intensifiers 恁 an2 and 當 dong1 are distinguishable. Regarding the six degree intensifiers as a set can help linguists understand the operation of the holistic degree construction.
Also, this research may be a base for the teachers of native language education.
5.2 Directions for future studies
The present study attempts to give an explanation and analysis of the six degree intensifiers with their modified elements based on the spoken corpus. In terms of directions for future research, further work could be done to explore interactional data in more detail. Since the uses of the degree construction may be regarded as a
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linguistic choice made by different speakers and to reflect the subjectivity of the speaker in the utterance, it would be useful to gain deeper insights into
intersubjectivity, which is concerned with the hearers’ intentions, state of knowledge, and speaker-hearer relations. For instance, in example (85), the [DI. + 大 tai3]
construction is adopted by two speakers to describe very strong typhoons. The utterances of each person reflect the subjectivity of the person uttering them. The meanings of their utterances could be teased out and intersected with different manifestations of degree such as the degree of ‘strength’ in reality, the degree of
‘strength’ in the utterances of each of the speakers, and the degree of ‘strength’
according to the understanding of the each of the speakers. If a future study can investigate the intersubjectivity of speaker-hearer interaction in the conversation, the discussion of the [DI. + X] construction in respect to the discourse-pragmatic function will become more diversified. Also, a future work may consider broadening the types of data. While the present study only considers spoken data from daily conversation, data from other spoken forms such as narratives, broadcasts or TV shows, and also written forms can be added into discussion. In addition, since the differences between the degree intensifiers 恁 an2 and 當 dong1 have been distinguished in this study, native speaker’s judgements on differentiating these two degree intensifiers can be included for extensive discussions. Further exploration can also pay attention to the degree intensifiers 恁 an2 and its other relevant linguistic expressions such as 恁樣 an2ngiong5, 恁形 an2hin5, 恁呢 an2ne5, 恁樣形 an2ngiong5hin5, and 恁仔 an2e2 ‘such, kind of, as.’
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Appendix
TABLE 21 The top 10 collocability of the [DI. + X] construction (X= relative adjectives)
[an2 + X] [dong1+X] [goi3 +X] [qin3 +X] [i3 + X] [han5 + X]
RA Freq. MI. RA Freq. MI. RA Freq. MI. RA Freq. MI. RA Freq. MI. RA Freq. MI.
多 139 13.7385 多 81 10.6052 多 12 3.29002 好 26 6.19243 多 6 2.203 慶 8 6.06075
大 66 12.0074 好 37 7.9822 好 3 1.9894 多 24 5.70699 好 5 2.0294 好 6 1.2472
好 37 4.0987 大 31 6.7984 奇妙 3 2.2299 好食 4 2.0973 少 3 2.97843 大 1 0.75415
慶 15 4.96028 遽 12 3.982 鬧 2 1.72727 毋好 3 2.28702 靚 3 1.69203 健 1 0.99247
高 14 1.6981 好食 11 3.724 燒 2 1.38496 少 2 1.28066 大 2 1.85674 多 1 1.14117
遠 11 0.84318 少 8 2.94977 大 1 1.17241 香 2 1.33313 闊 1 0.98383 好食 1 0.65371
長 9 4.1872 慶 6 3.15292 大肥 1 0.99724 大 1 0.16357 快 1 0.99307 溫暖 1 0
老 8 2.40147 香 6 2.68418 大聲 1 0.98897 低 1 0.99325 長 1 0.97227 靚 1 1.25452
靚 8 2.97631 毋好 5 2.32779 少 1 1.35961 後生 1 0.93929 香 1 0.96072 遽 1 0.97742
簡單 7 2.71754 闊 5 2.3809 長 1 0.51022 暢 1 0.79562 高 1 0.77254
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TABLE 22 The top 10 collocability of the [DI. + X] construction (X= absolute adjectives)
[an2 + X] [dong1+X] [goi3 +X] [qin3 +X] [i3 + X] [han5 + X]
AA Freq. MI. AA Freq. MI. AA Freq. MI. AA Freq. MI. AA Freq. MI. AA Freq. MI.
奇怪 5 2.52066 生趣 14 4.43046 趣味 8 0 乖 5 5.74725 辛苦 8 7.2554 奇怪 2 3.10655
暗 5 4.15292 奇怪 13 4.19873 滑 2 9.51843 特別 5 6.01028 生趣 2 4.72557 衰過 2 4.47579
乖 4 2.8310 暢 11 7.15292 嚴重 2 7.51843 艱苦 4 6.48421 衰過 2 6.18501 夭壽 1 4.06075
衰過 4 3.56796 有名 6 5.02739 天真 1 6.51843 重要 3 6.01028 敗勢 2 7.18501 生趣 1 2.01635
亂 3 4.8310 無閒 6 5.15292 主要 1 6.93347 方便 2 4.28782 艱苦 1 6.18501 岐 1 7.06075
方便 3 3.69349 衰過 4 3.56796 生趣 1 3.47404 麻煩 2 5.57732 乖 1 4.44804 耐心 1 6.06075
生趣 3 2.43046 悿 4 5.15292 耐用 1 0 詳細 2 6.74725 淨 1 7.76997 冤枉 1 7.06075
辛苦 3 2.8310 精 4 4.41596 重要 1 6.1965 懶尸 2 6.33221 無閒 1 4.76997 衰 1 6.06075
絕 3 3.15292 夭壽 3 3.73789 屙糟 1 8.51843 打爽 1 5.74725 對 1 3.37765 絕 1 4.06075
絕 1 2.11864 強勢 1 8.51843 生趣 1 1.70285 精緻 1 0
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