Chapter Ⅱ Literature review
2.3 The degree intensifier and subjectivity
2.3 The degree intensifier and subjectivity
As discussed above, some basic understandings such as various categorizations or the interplay with modified adjectives have been explored in terms of degree intensifiers.
Another significant aspect, which has aroused interest among researchers, is the use of a degree intensifier during speech. The way in which a degree intensifier is selected by a speaker shows the operation of subjectivity. Subjectivity, by definition, refers to “a pragmatic-semantic process whereby meanings become increasingly based on the speaker’s subjective belief state/attitude toward the proposition”
(Traugott 1995:31).
In order to explore the correlation between degree intensifiers and subjectivity, several relevant works are reviewed below. Athanasiadou (2007) investigates how a degree intensifier displays its involved subjectivity at stages. Four degree intensifiers completely, perfectly, absolutely and totally are discussed and analyzed based on their original adjectival forms. Three aspects of the formation of subjectivity in the cline are illustrated by the degree intensifier completely (see Table 4).
TABLE 4 Synchronic analysis of the degree intensifier (Athanasiadou, 2007)
Stages Contents Examples Subjectivity
Property
‘completeness’
Objective and spatial configuration
The complete works of Shakespeare are on sale.
subjective
Quantification Subjective evaluation I felt a complete fool. More subjective Intensification Involvement of the
speaker and the
Emphasis Expression on the truth value as subjuncts
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Athanasiadou (2007) concludes that the mark of subjectivity which is associated with the use of the degree intensifiers can be explored through not only the diachronic approach but also the synchronic analysis demonstrated in her study.
One can also observe the interplay between subjectivity and degree intensifiers in studies of the nuances in new usage. Waksler (2012:18) examines over-the-top (OTT) intensification in the use of degree intensifiers which reflect the opinion of the speaker that the action or state of a person, situation, or entity has surpassed the usual limits of the certain action or state in way that is much beyond the usual standard.
Four intensifiers super, uber, so and totally are re-examined in such specific register.
Several examples are presented as follows. In terms of the syntactic behaviors, she found that two of the intensifiers so and totally could appear broadly than they usually do when functioning as discourse cues to mark subjectivity. Example (4) shows the new noun phrase environments in which they can be found.
(4) a. This place is so San Francisco to me.
b. It only took about ten minutes, but she totally could have charged us for that.
c. Dude. Shrimp is so not vegetarian.
d. Sean Connery was totally the best James Bond.
In terms of semantic aspect, OTT intensifiers could excel the limits set by gradability and boundedness which were described in §2.2. To be more specific, OTT intensifiers can take [-gradable] entities and transform them into [+gradable] ones as in the following example.
(5) And that's when I realize something: this dude is SO not my age.
The constituent not my age has not been regarded as a gradable property traditionally.
However, when the degree intensifier so is placed before the constituent not my age, the expression is mapped onto a gradable continuum. Thus, by saying so, the speaker
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‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
thinks that the difference in age is beyond what might be considered acceptable when thinking about the difference in ages between his and the dude’s. A similar situation happens to the notion of boundedness, which refers to whether the endpoint of an entity exists or not. The following example (6) illustrates that when the unbounded adjective funny is modified by a bounded intensifier such as totally, funny, it is placed on a scale/continuum.
(6) Everyone there is really funky and totally funny.
In addition to the discussion above, OTT intensification can also be used to extend pragmatic limits in colloquial discourse. Waksler discovered that the intensifiers super and uber can expand the intrinsic scale and hold subjectivity on different positions. Super is usually employed by a speaker to show his or her view that certain entity has exceeded expectations in some way. Yet, the use of super in example (7) presents a different reading. Here, the pragmatic function excels the intrinsic scale on carefulness.
(7) The women who work here are super careful; they measure and check with you on the front end to make sure everything is as you want them.
Similarly, uber is said to operate its pragmatic function in the same way as super.
The distinction between super and uber is that uber provides additional discourse information about the entity on which the speaker is expressing a view of
disassociation. Example (8) illustrates not only the speaker's perspective on the yogurt bar, which is beyond her expectations of what she considers to be the normal
attributes of a yoghurt bar, but also her wish to disassociate herself from being from identified as the kind of person who would normally frequent such a place.
(8) It's still an uber-modern... trendy yogurt bar, so if you don't like that vibe—
like me—you won't like the vibe here.
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‧
By investigating the OTT intensification, Waksler’s study (2012) thus provides insights into another aspect of the use of degree intensifiers with regard to subjectivity in colloquial discourse.
In another crucial study, Beltrama (2015) identifies three sources of scale:
lexical, pragmatic precision, and the speaker’s perspective to explore the use of degree intensifiers. First, the lexical scale is directly encoded in a lexical item and brings about the compositional manner. For example, if someone is described as very tall, what it can be inferred is that the person has to exceed a certain height. Second, pragmatic precision causes the meaning of the target property to be interpreted strictly. The combination of the intensifier and the modified predicates will not be change truth condition. Third, the speaker-oriented scale displays the involvement of speaker’s attitude or stance. These sources of scale interact with two important parameters of variation in the intensifier: (i) the restriction and (ii) influence on the meaning of the modified predicate. Furthermore, he argues that there is a tendency that these three sources of intensification undergo stage by stage to form subjectivity in the end. The operation of these sources and examples are summarized in Table 5 below.
TABLE 5 Different aspects of the intensifiers (Beltrama 2015: 126-8 Table 5)
Intensifier Targeted scale Distribution Semantic impact Examples Degree
modifiers
Lexical scale Gradable predicates Changes truth-conditions
Mark is very tall.
Slack regulator Scale of precision
Expressions amenable to imprecision
Changes extension The ball is perfectly
Any expression Specifies independent content
Try answering the fucking question.
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